BACK IN THE GAME

After 20 months of unwanted inactivity where i spent unimaginable hours cultivating long standing business contacts, old friends and innumerable leads, some unexpected circumstances opened a door that i thought was permanently closed to me.  I am finally back to work doing the thing that i love doing, and working in the industry where i have dedicated so many years of my life.

The circumstances that put me in this position were really due to no fault of my own.  I spent many years working in a particular part of the business, and over the years becoming one of the more knowledgable people involved in it.  I also developed a distinct ability to communicate well with others, while becoming somewhat of a technical expert in that particular field.  This, in turn opened up avenues to some new and exciting technology, which i was able to find a niche for with a few of the oil companies.  This, again opened up an opportunity to work with a company that was pioneering the ability to preform riser-less intervention operations in ultra deep sub-sea wells, where the completed wellhead was under up to 7000 feet of  water.  

For about 2 years, i was paid a fairly high salary as well as bonuses that i never thought would be available to me.  Perfect scenario, right?  Well, it was, until the unexpected happened.  Oil prices went from several years at more than 100 dollars per barrel, to between 30 and 40 dollars per barrel in the span of only a few months.  This caused a wide spread panic throughout the oil and gas industry, immediately resulting in companies throughout the industry tightening their belts by almost amy means necessary, short of laying off a percentage of their employees, all hoping against hope that the down-turn would be short lived, and things would soon be back to "business as usual".  Unfortunately, this was not to be the case.  

Weeks went by, then months and years with no sign of a resurgence.  Soon, people began to be unceremoniously wiped from the employee rolls.  Some with enough seniority to be offered retirement packages that would help to see them through some upcoming very dark times; however, there were many, including myself who were simply given a swift kick out into the streets with absolutely nothing to fall back on due to the fact that they had been lured into situations where they could see themselves finishing out their careers successfully.  Unfortunately, no one saw what was just over the horizon. 

After spending the next couple of years taking lower and lower paying jobs in the industry, and trying to sell jobs where there were very few jobs to be sold, I ended up on the unemployment lines, where i remained until long after any benefits were available to me.  

I spent 20 months checking the oil prices on a daily basis, while calling each and every friend, associate and colleague who i had known over the years in search of an opportunity that i knew did not exist. We, as a family liquidated assets, tightened our belts and lived on bread crumbs for a while, before it was inevitable that my wife was going to have to venture back into the working world, that we had avoided throughout the entire lives of our two teenaged sons.  

I have to give her credit where credit is due, she never complained at all and poured herself into the work environment like the champion that i always knew her to be.  Not only did she keep the wolves away from the door for almost an entire year, allowing me to continue to cultivate the business that i know well in hopes of finding another lucrative opportunity, she proved to be incredibly good at what she was doing, even after not working outside the home for more than 18 years.  She eventually worked her way into the general manager's position in one of the more popular fine restaurants of the area that we live in.  

After a long and dark spell, circumstances presented themselves, opening up an opportunity for me to get back to work on a full time basis, while at the same time, my wife was offered a very good salary to take the position that she is now working in.  

Looking back on the way that things transpired, I still cant see how we were able to make it through the things that we did.  I can take a few things away from the experience.  Number one is, you never know who your friends are until you are put in a situation where you really need friends.  Not necessarily for monetary support, but more for moral support.  The loss of your income and lack of ability to make a living for your family with no end in sight takes a toll on your confidence.  I can assure you that if you are ever able to put this theory to the test, you will come away with the same results that i did.  There are really no such things as friends.  Almost all of them, to the man will avoid you like you have some extremely contagious disease. None of them will reach out to you, stick their necks out for you or even offer to help bring you necessities, such as food or clothing for your kids.  They will not return your phone calls, which i can see up to a point.  It is simply human nature not to want to have to deliver bad news; although, most don't seem to understand that i already knew the bad news, and i mostly just needed the moral support or just someone to talk to.

I have always believed that you should always treat others the way that you would want to be treated, at least until they have proven several times that they simply cannot be trusted to do the same.  at that point, you simply have to cut them out of your life, and never give them an opportunity to mistreat you or your family again. 

I harbor no ill will toward anyone, regardless of the circumstances.  I do; however, have a long memory and will not forget when in am wronged.  Even still, if any of those people come to me and need help, I will help them, although reluctantly. 

Integrity:   An inherent sense of honesty and fair play in which a person is honor and conscience bound to uphold in their every day walk of life.  

In this day it is a very rare commodity.  You either have it or you don't.  Like the proverbial difference between good and evil, I believe that a person is either born with or without it and either genetically inherits this trait or brings it into this world with them from whatever existence that they may have come from before being born.

Integrity is an admirable and magnetic trait that people are drawn to.  People with truly high integrity are usually successful in whatever life endeavor that they may choose and usually follow careers that allow them the opportunity to help others and make a difference in people's lives, such as teachers, medical professionals, soldiers or coaches.  

I recently had a conversation with a friend who had recently been touched by a chance encounter with a retired Navy Seal where he had an hour long conversation about the nobility of the man's profession and the fact that he had devoted his life to being a real life hero.  

Heroes come in many different forms, and all are men of high integrity.  This friend of whom I speak has been instrumental in sending literally hundreds of boys on to play baseball at the college level, while gaining access to a high level of education as well as turning many boys into successful, confident men of integrity and continues to do so on a daily basis. 

If that is not the definition of a real life American hero, then I don't know what is.

THE ABCs OF HIGH LEVEL SELECT BASEBALL IN HOUSTON, TEXAS

THE ABCs OF HIGH LEVEL SELECT BASEBALL IN HOUSTON TEXAS

The Story of The Allen Baseball Club

After spending years dealing with the "Good-Old-Boy" network of select baseball organizations throughout the somewhat close nit Houston area fraternity of baseball programs that are available for up and coming baseball players who have aspirations of making their High School Baseball team and possibly going on to play college and maybe even pro ball, we had come to the realization that most, if not all of them were money motivated and either owned and/or staffed by parents with kids on the teams.  

These "Daddy-Ball" teams are built around their own kids and possibly a few kids of close friends or contributors to the program, who got most of the best opportunities and held the highest profile starting positions, regardless of their ability to honestly win those positions.  

We were resigned to continuing to deal with these situations, all the while supplementing the meager amount of real baseball training that were afforded to the kids in order to provide our son with the chance to develop into a high school starter.  

Most were motivated by three things:  

1.  Attempting to glorify and make stars out of their own kids, regardless 

    of their actual baseball ability.

2.  Money 

3.  Winning, as long as no kids on the team out performed their own.

After doing the allotted research, I was able to locate several higher level travel type baseball groups who offered showcase opportunities for up and coming high school age players; however, I kept running into the same things that motivated these groups.  Favoritism and money.

I exhausted a lot of effort sending e-mails and making phone calls in order to get a chance to talk with these guys and hopefully find the right type of person to work with my son.  

I finally found some information about the Allen Baseball Club online and sent an e-mail to Skip Allen describing my son along with a short video of him throwing and hitting.  Skip called me back on the same day and we spent over an hour on the phone, after which we followed up with another phone conversation the following day.  I'm not sure whether I was interviewing him, or he was interviewing me, but I walked away from the experience very impressed with the experience.  

Where  most baseball organizations seem to be motivated by picking the biggest and strongest boys in order to win first and develop the player second, regardless of the character of the boy or his parents, Skip seemed to be motivated by other things that caught my attention.

Skip described his group as a developmental organization that placed a premium on developing the boy's character as well as their baseball ability.  He looks for good parents in order to cultivate a more family oriented team, meanwhile providing proper baseball training and a rigorous training schedule that tends to cause a lot of people to not stay with the program.

First and foremost, he develops their skills, stamina, work ethic and attention to their grades in order to get them ready for the difficulties that they will face while playing college baseball.  

We were told that he has close to a 100% record of getting all of the kids who make it to his senior program signed on to play college baseball.  This has proven to be true, as he signed 100% of all of the senior players who just graduated for the program this year.  All of this based on his connections as well as his reputation among the local colleges who know that any of Skip's boys are mentally and physically ready for whatever they have to face. 

We were invited to attend their weekly practice sessions as a tryout before he would offer our son a spot in his program.  We attended 2 successive 6 hour days of rigorous practice in 95 degree heat, after which we were told that they had a place for him and were impressed enough with his ability that Skip told us that he is the kind of player that he expects to play all of the way through his program until he graduates and goes off to college.  

One of the things that I was most impressed with was the fact that each of the players who have been with him for any length of time is always greeted with a hug And a genuine show of affection.  Skip shows genuine care and concern for all of his boys, giving them the proper discipline when necessary and always giving them positive reinforcement when it is warranted, all the while showing no favoritism as far as I can see.  

Skip is a great father and family man who doesn't drink or smoke and spends quality time with his wife and kids in addition to his total dedication to his baseball family.  He has a son who plays in the Sugarland Skeeters Baseball organization as well as a younger son and daughter who often accompany him to baseball games and practice sessions. 

Matthew has made great strides as a ball player as well as a young man based solely on his association with a Skip Allen. 

 I am usually a very good judge of character and am able to discern a mans honesty and integrity in short order.  As a testament to where I rate this man on a scale with all other men with whom I deal on a regular basis, I will say only that I have allowed only one of my children to leave home at the age of 15, traveling over the course of even one night away from home with only one person, period.  That person was Skip Allen.

MOTHER NATURE AND BASEBALL

MOTHER NATURE AND BASEBALL

The subtle changing of the seasons usually sneaks up on you slowly and rarely causes any major inconvenience as we go through your every day lives.  

Sometimes it is nice to walk out of the house early one morning and feel the brisk cool air hit you in the face after enduring a rash of miserably hot weather which has had your anxiety level higher than normal, your shirts wet with perspiration and your temper on the verge of getting out of control.

Occasionally, it lightens your mood and opens up channels of creative juices as well as the motivation to get busy with projects that have been resigned to the back burner because it has been too damned hot to get out and work on them.

There are times, however, when weather changes sneak up on you and catch you unaware and not prepared to deal with them.  

This past weekend we were 50 miles across town at a neighboring high school with our son playing in a baseball tournament.  Saturday required us to be at the ballpark for 7 straight hours in 100 degree heat, which we have been accustomed to throughout the entire summer baseball season as well as the first 4 weeks of the fall season.

  As usual, we got to the park early and attempted to find the most shady area with the best access to what little wind that mother nature might possibly offer, set up our fancy chairs with the fold away umbrella type sun visors and withstood the blazing heat as best we could throughout the back to back games which we lost one and won the next.   We left the park sweaty, dusty, tired and ready to make the hour drive home to relax and get ready for the early morning trek back to the park for our 10am Sunday game.  

As we walked out the door at 8am on Sunday we were rudely met with a 50 degree drop in temperature and a stiff, cold wind coming directly out of the north causing us to run back into the house and grab for as much clothing as we could in short order so that we wouldn't fall behind on our schedule.  

We spent the next 8 hours bundled up with jackets and beach towels trying to avoid the cold wind while Matthew and the rest of the team seemed to be oblivious to the offending weather.  

We went on to win the tournament with a dominant championship game which caused the appropriate amount of excitement in the boys along with relief from the parents for being able to get into their warm vehicles and head home.  

My wife and I came away with a valuable lesson learned and have decided to keep an extra bag packed for just such occasions.   No dog is ever too old to learn a new trick.

DISCLAIMER:  The "Old Dog" comment should be associated with me and not my beautiful wife.  (I'm not that dumb)....

VARIOUS RAMBLINGS OF A BASEBALL PARENT

   

VARIOUS RAMBLINGS OF A BASEBALL PARENT:

I grew up playing the great game of baseball in a time when there weren't many distractions.   At least not like the kids of today are faced with.  

We didn't have access to and the rampant use of drugs that seems to infect most communities in America today.  

We didn't have video games that keep a high percentage of today's youth so preoccupied that their pasty white skin rarely sees enough daylight sun to cause even the slightest skin irritation.  Hell, we only had three channels on the television.

We lived in a public housing project in an apartment that had no air conditioning, where the only tolerable air moving around inside was generated by a large attic fan that was recessed in the ceiling of the hallway.  It was designed to draw air through the house by way of open doors and windows, which caused the summer nights to be miserable and the days to be down right intolerable.  It was little wonder that I spent as much time as humanly possible outdoors. 

Our housing project was constructed with a large open field in the middle of a number of duplex apartments that were situated in a circle around it, which allowed for a community recreational area that was utilized by most of the area boys as the community baseball field.  Every afternoon until dark and all day on Saturday and Sunday you could find loosely organized "pick-up" baseball games going on where the only requirement for admittance was a willing participant with a baseball glove.  It also helped if you could contribute a beat up old baseball bat or a worn, tattered baseball.

I grew to love the game of baseball and worked really hard to be one of the better players in our area.  I always pushed my younger brothers to play and excel at the game, which helped to mold them into the hard working, successful and honest people that they eventually became, despite the circumstances that we were forced to endure.

We didn't have access to the high level coaching that is available in the larger populated cities of today, albeit at a price that we wouldn't have been able to afford back then. I was privileged through local community programs to be able to play for a couple of coaches who volunteered their time to the local community, both of whom were upstanding community leaders who influenced and inspired me to deal fairly with others, set goals and work hard to accomplish them. These men did their best to teach baseball to the best of their ability; although, looking back on it, I came to realize that their role in my life reached far beyond the ballpark.  Coming from a family where I was the oldest of three boys who had virtually no male roll model to look up to, especially during my impressionable teenage years, I seriously don't know where I would have ended up without the influence and example set by Coach Woody Spiers.  

I have worked with, coached and tried to provide the best opportunities available for all of my boys to be able to enjoy, learn from and experience the great game of baseball; although the older ones eventually found other things that they thought were more important and lost interest in the game. I guess that a lot of that is m fault because I spent most of their young lives working in an industry that required me to spend a high percentage of my time working away from home in a harsh environment that afforded me the opportunity to make the most money; although I wasn't able to foresee the toll that it would take on my family life.

THE NEW AGE

All of my older boys showed a remarkable natural ability to play the game, as well as myself' my brothers and most of my cousins. Despite their inherent aptitude for hitting, throwing, running, etc., rarely did they display a long term desire to put in the hours required to give themselves every opportunity for success, until Matthew came along.  

At the age of three he seemed to have the uncanny ability to throw a baseball all of the way across the yard, hit a baseball thrown to him and even hit a golf ball crisply across the back field.

He started playing t- ball at 5 or 6 and from that point on, always stood out in the crowd.  He would constantly beg me to go outside and play.  We would show up an hour early for baseball practice and sometimes stay an hour after everyone else was gone with me pitching to him in the cages or hitting line drive and hard ground balls to him at third base.

He soon displayed a rocket for an arm and the ability to hit the ball hard every time that he came up to bat.  By the time that he was 13, he was routinely hitting the ball out of the park.  I can remember one batting practice session where he hit 6 out of 7 pitches out of the park with two of them traveling a considerable distance over the top of the scoreboard in left-center field.

At 12, he started playing select/travel ball and quickly became one of the best at the elite/premiere level, going through the entire 14U season at the elite level with over a .500 batting average and the ability to throw the ball close to 80mph.  

We went to the 14U Nations World Series in Denver, Colorado where he pitched two one hit ball games, one against a great team from Canada and one against a team from Oklahoma, meanwhile going 3 for 3 in both games.

During the fall of this year, he was noticed by a local showcase baseball organization that plays in the Houston-5A program, which is comparable to an upper high school level, where he quickly was promoted to the 16U squad and has exhibited a high enough level of ability that he has recently played a tournament with the 17/18U squad and has been invited to travel to Florida right after Christmas to be the starting third baseman for the 18U squad in a showcase tournament at the Atlanta Braves Spring Training facility in front of numerous high level baseball scouts; all while being only 14 years old until March 26th of next year.

We have had numerous conversations over the past few years where I have assured him that if he ever gets tired of playing and wants to quit or take a break, that I will stand behind his decision.  Matthew is an incredibly motivated kid who is very goal oriented.  His goal over the next few years is to maintain a high grade point average and continue to work every day to become a good enough ball player to get into a high level college with a great baseball program so that he can achieve his long term goal to play professional baseball.

 August 13, 2013
My last posted ended in a dramatic win by the Allen Baseball Club over the eventual winners of the NABF National Championship.  Further coverage seemed a bit unnecessary for either of 2 reasons:
1.  We went on to lose the next 2 games and were unceremoniously kicked to the curb and sent home.
2.  Matthew was taken out of the second game in the top of a disastrous first inning where we gave up 6 consecutive hits in conjunction with at least 4 walks and numerous errors for overthrowing his cut off man from left field, who, incidentally was looking the other way.  

He attempted to make the throw to home in order to try and stop a runner who was going to score from second bad and stop the bleeding.  The ball wasn't back to the pitcher before he was pulled from the game and, unfortunately, he couldn't be put back in.

It seemed a bit personal at the time; although, I realize that someone had to be made an example of in order to attempt to right the ship.

In my opinion, there were quite a few more costly errors that could have been exploited in order to make the point.  Taking one of your most productive hitters out of the line up seemed a bit counter productive to me, but what do I know?

What I do know is that after traveling back to Texas, they closed out the Summer season with 2 games on August 11th where Matthew went 4 for 4 with 3 singles and a double.

Pretty impressive by most people's standards.

NABF 16U National Championship Tournament

July 26, 2013

On Tuesday, July 23rd we did what all parents know is eventually coming, but dread all the same.  We put our 15 year old son into the car with his coach and two other players to make a 24 hour track across the country in order to play in the NABF 16U National Championship baseball tournament in Michigan.

Matthew is not your normal, ordinary 15 year old kid.  He is far advanced both mentally, emotionally and physically than his age implies. He has a love for, as well as a dedication to baseball that he developed at a very young age.  He has worked very hard over the past three or four years to accomplish his goal to play baseball on into college and into the professional ranks.  His drive and accomplished abilities have gotten him noticed and moved up to an elite group of 16U players that have proven to be very formidable on a National level and have earned their place in the NABF National a championship tournament.

After having not missed a single baseball game that he has played in over the past three years, it was incredibly difficult to let him go off that far without traveling along with him, but financial difficulties have caused us to not be able to make the trip, so it would have been heart breaking for him to be denied this opportunity.

We excitedly sat in front of our I-Pad yesterday and watched a live, play by play Game-Changer display as Matthew and the Allen Baseball Club won their opening game at the NABF World Series against Team Cincinnati by a score of 3 to 1 very disappointed that we weren't able to be there to share in his excitement while also coming to the realization that there will be many more bittersweet experiences to endure throughout his baseball career, however long it may last.