Bloomington High School North, Nikean, 2012, Page 178

Description:	With Paul Woelmer, Jason Jolivette, MichealOliphant, Colby Stratten, and Tyler HurtThe most difficult part^PleVRg with yourfailures cause baseballis a game of failures,and you have to dealwith them and moveon if you want to besuccessful.ning. We do4 out of themain tradition is win-that a lot. Weve wonlast 5 sectionals.Describe a typical practide and describe your position.Paul Woelmer: At practice, the first thing we do is run, stretch, and throw everyday. And we get a good dynamic warmup in. And then we usually focus on defensive stuff the first half of practice. We do cut off system stuff, bunt defense, stufflike that. And then the second half of the practice we break off into hitting groups and rotate between hitting in the cages,doing drills on the tee, hitting on the field, and thats pretty much a typical practice. Sometimes we have intersquad games.I play outfield.Jason Jolivette: I play second base.Michael Oliphant: I play first base this year. Last year I played pretty much every position, depending on who was pitching.Itll be nice to settle into one position this year.Colby Stratten: I play shortstop.Tyler Hurt: I play about every position, mainly 3rd and pitch. Third, otherwise known as the hot corner.-How do you duys det focused for a dame?Paul: Before every game, I normally lift. Its a great way to just clear my mind. Usually its just me in the weightroom cause nobody else does it. So its just time by myself to focus on whats gonna come up, and it definitely getsmy adrenaline going for whats gonna come up. Normally I say the Lords Prayer during the national anthem. Thatsa tradition that Ive had. Normally, I write Bible verses on my wrists. Usually Philippians 4:13, I can do all thingsthrough Christ who strengthens me.Jason: Before a game, I dont really have anything special to do. I usually listen to music. And then I hop over thefoul line for superstition.Michael: Baseball players are pretty superstitious. So we pretty much do the same thing before every game. Forhome games, well go either to Marsh or the gas station to get food. Last year I went to the gas station everyday andgot chocolate milk and a Payday just because I did that the first day and I went 3 for 3. So its pretty superstitious,but yeah thats what we do.Colby: Normally on game days, we go get a bite to eat after school and then go hang out in the locker room andlisten to music. For home games, we have pregame batting practices on the field. For away games, the bus ride. Andthose two things are when I really start to get focused.Tyler: Before every game I like to take some time to pray, making sure I give all my glory to God.Vhat are you hopma to aoheve ths season?Paul: Weve won four out of the last five sectionals. Were hoping to win another sectional this year and hopefully make ft to state.Colby: Our typical goals for the season are 20 plus wins, conference championship, and sectional, regional, semi-state, and statechampions. And this year were looking to accomplish all of those.-How dojou bond as a team?Michael: Basically team bonding is all we do. After practice, we just hang out in the locker room and mess around. Werenot serious at all; we just have some bonding time in there. And during the season when the practices are shorter, we alli^ejuler aft€igly iciose wiin xne seniors cauout to eat togetner aner practice, ana max s a reaiiy Dig Donaing urne. Last year we got realwe did stuff like that.Colby: Were a really close-knit group. Outside of baseball, were all friends with each other. That helps when were on thefield for when were playing together and communicating together.Paul: Pretty much were all best friends. Weve been hanging out together since middle school. And I know me and Jasongo back to elementary school, ever since playing waffle ball in the backyard in the summer. Thats been a lot of bondingtime. Weve had team games of capture the flag. That was pretty intense. We play ping-pong in the locker room a lot afterpractice; Michael brought a ping-pong table in. That was pretty cool.7
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomnorth/id/7340
Collection:	Bloomington High School North

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