Although it might be snowing outside, it doesn’t mean the baseball team has to sit around doing nothing.
The Stingers are going into their 12th season which starts early in September. This year, however, marks the first time that the athletics administration has given the team their facilities for indoor training.
“We think that giving the facilities to the baseball team, even though they are a club team, can make a difference,” said Vlad Pavlicik, Concordia’s campus recreation coordinator.
Every Saturday morning, about 10 players come out to loosen themselves up.
“It provides a good opportunity for the boys to get in shape,” said Howard Schwartz, the head coach since their inception in 1995.
“We are going to use this gesture from the administration and hopefully capitalize on having the facilities in order to prepare for the upcoming season.”
Schwartz hopes the workouts will help the team bounce back from a dismal 7-9 season. Last year, the team tied for third place in the Northern conference. This year’s conference will be composed of teams from McGill, John Abbott College, Carleton, and the University of Ottawa.
The Stingers have their work cut out for them in the rebuilding stages as well. With many veteran notables like Nat Thomas, Jamieson Belanger and Paul St Jacques no longer eligible, the team will have to look to the younger players like Mike Panton, Alex Monfette (last year’s rookie of the year) and Fabien Dunston to pick up the slack.
“We have big shoes to fill, there is no doubt,” said third year veteran Neil Jansen.
“But with these workouts, it gives the younger players time to get acquainted with one another and it gives them a feel of what College ball is all about.”
From the way things look now, the players usually run out of energy early in the workouts. However, Schwartz believes this will change as the process continues.
“The players are tired, that’s natural. But if they keep working hard like this until September it will all be worth it,” said Schwartz.
For more information on the league, visit www.ciba-abic.org, and for more information on how you can sign up and tryout, you can contact coach Schwartz at (514) 944-2294, or reach him by e-mail at [email protected]
