The Cruisers

I can remember vividly my first day as a California Cruiser.  It was in 1992, I went to a tryout at Marina High School in Huntington Beach and I had no real competitive experience playing softball.  To tell you the truth I do not recall the details of what they made me do, or even how I performed for that matter, but I do remember feeling so comfortable with this new group of girls that I would come to call my friends for many years to come.

Even at that time, it was rare for athletes to stay loyal to an organization, but not for my Cruisers.  My Cruisers stayed together no matter what place we finished at nationals, our coaches didn’t take players that we didn’t need no matter who they were (even if they may have been better in some cases), and over seven seasons My Cruisers experienced laughter, tears, joy, sadness, wins and losses but most of all we shared the most important years of our lives together.

Almost 14 years later I am proud to still belong to the Cruiser family.  In today's travel ball world so many people get caught up on which team you are on, who it belongs to, who can “guarantee” you a scholarship, what field you are playing on in what tournament and of course who will win the National Championship. 

I can say without hesitation the one and only reason I ever wanted to come back and coach a Cruiser team was to simply offer the opportunity to the next generation of softball players  to be a part of something special, the same opportunity my coach Bill offered me all those years ago at the field in Huntington Beach.

Over the past 8 years Rose and I have had the chance to meet so many awesome young ladies that have each in their own small way helped add to the legacy of the Cruiser name.  Each year as athletes move along to the next phase in their lives I cannot help but smile knowing that they too will have this family that they shared all those weekends with, laughing when someone says something funny, crying when someone else is sad, and being there for one another no matter what.

I love to win.  But there is nothing like winning next to fifteen people that you care about.  This Cruiser organization is bigger than softball, it’s bigger than whoever coaches it or whoever ends up playing on it   This organization is about being able to pick up the phone ten years later and know you have made relationships that will last you a lifetime.

Thank you to everyone who I’ve either played with or for, and to those I have coached or those whom I have coached with, it is all of you that have helped make this such a special place for me.