I have always played baseball since I was a little kid. My father was a big baseball fan and always wanted me to play baseball but It all started with my Grandma who bought me a big bat and ball when I was 3 years old and we would spend hours outside throwing and hitting. From there I went on to play little league, high school baseball, and then went to play in the CTL, MSBL, and NABA league where I still play to this day. During this time of playing I also got my coaching certification, as I always wanted to give back to the community that was so good to me as a player.
I always wanted to coach freshman baseball because one of the biggest influences in my baseball life was a freshman baseball coach. Coach Gallucci had the largest impact on my baseball life, from his knowledge of the game to his one liners and his ability to grow players was something I always envied. So when the opportunity came I decided to apply and see if I could be the freshman coach to follow in the footsteps of one of the best baseball coaches I ever had. The ability to mold and show freshmen how great a program there was at Norwalk and to really prepare them to play a big role as they advanced in their career was something I always wanted to do.
I still play baseball to this day, and the dedication to coaching and playing was starting to conflict with each other, especially since I was playing in a weekday and weekend league. While I really enjoyed the Norwalk Program and believed in Coach Mitchell and his philosophy and message to growing and making better players, I was starting to recognize that I was becoming fatigued between coaching and playing. Ultimately I made the decision that I still want to play and was not ready to give up playing to coach full time, I am hoping to play until I am 40, but you never know when that time to hang it up may come.
It is not a high school sport but I would coach Olympic Lifting because I have a background in that and I was really passionate about it when I was lifting with my team. Other than that I would stick to baseball because it is my passion and I know it inside and out. Having played for 27 years I am pretty much dedicated to giving back to the baseball community. I do have interests in hockey and football, but I just don’t know enough about them to think I would make a good coach. I have a connection to Olympic Lifting because I was trained in olympic lifting by a former polish national olympic lifter and while working with him and the team I built some great friendships and learned a lot and always had fun with the competitions.
