It’s a big week for the Belle River Braves: at the end of the month they’re traveling to Kentucky to participate in the Youth Baseball Nationals.
As head coach, Todd Bouman brings a lot to his team in the Ontario town – and sure, that involves helping develop the team technically, but that’s not the highlight for him:
“The best part about working with the team his watching the kids have fun, and hopefully being an important part of their lives,” said Todd.
With the five-day trip coming up, there’s a lot to do – and surely the nationals will be a memory for a long time to come.
The Elizabethtown Sports Park is hosting teams from all over from 9U through to 14U, with a full tournament, skill-building activities, and some social events planned as well.
When it comes to the Braves, what the team values most of all is respect. The motto they play by is ‘Respect the Game, Respect the Team, Respect Others’.
After the tournament there’s an all-star game for each age group, where team members who just spent the week playing against each other are grouped together to play in a fun, spirited competition. It’s a great way for players and families that have competed all week to come together for the love of the sport, and fits perfectly with the team’s mantra of mutual respect.
But for now, Todd is getting the last details sorted and everything prepared for the trip. The work, however, is worth it to create memories like these!