It’s Baseball season, time for Friday night lights and walk-up songs.
11 games into the season, UHS News Team interviews varsity Coach Ford and senior Beau David about the season so far, including its highlights and lessons learned.
Coach Ford chose to coach baseball because it was a sport he enjoyed playing as a youth in his community. He shared that baseball “led to being able to receive a baseball scholarship and continue my higher education and give back to my community.” Ford considers his teaching a “revolving door,” constantly changing for certain types of players. “Certain years, I’ve had really sensitive kids where I’ve had to back off a little bit from my intensity. Certain kids thrive on the intensity, no different than in my classroom.”
When establishing a team, he looks for mental toughness and commitment. It can be challenging, due to students balancing busy school days with AP classes, jobs, practice, and games. Committing to a sport is not easy. To establish a bond between the team, Ford encourages them to hang out as much as they can outside of baseball. They celebrate with bonfires and In-N-Out after Friday night games.
Baseball is not just commitment and dedication on the field; it’s also about the community. Ford has the team participate in local service projects. They volunteer at the Christmas Effort, where they help over 900 families, and Read Across America, where they read to students at Yokayo Elementary School. “That’s part of my philosophy,” Ford says. “I think it’s important to give back.”
Senior Beau David reflects on his final year of high school baseball: “It’s been a long journey, a lot of hard work, lots of sweat and tears, but I’d say I’m super proud of the group of guys we’ve got.”
With baseball, Beau has learned a lot of skills from previous teammates on what it means to be a team leader. An example that he always tries to set is to be a good teammate. “You could have a horrible day, you could swing and miss, you could miss a ground ball, but who are you as a teammate?” Beau continues, “I think guys that the team wants to be around are the ones who are great teammates, who help each other, support each other, and call each other out when they’re doing something wrong.”
Some advice he gives to anyone interested in playing baseball is “come ready to work. Baseball is not an easy game. It’s very challenging. You fail more than you succeed.” The team has a saying called 14-26 (14 minutes and 26 seconds), which is one percent of the day. Beau explains, “If you take 14 minutes and 24 seconds a day to work on a skill, you’ve gotten one percent better.”
Beau recalls one of his favorite memories from baseball. They were playing a very competitive game against Carl Newman, and his teammate George Gibbs hit a home run. “The dugout has never been happier. Everyone was so excited and filled with joy. It was just an awesome moment to capture.”
Beau shares that after high school, he will miss his teammates and working out with them every day. “What I’m going to miss the most is just being in the dugout with all my boys.”
Join the boys at Anton Stadium for their next game, Friday, March 27, at 7:00 PM. See you there!
Kora Hendrie
Kora Hendrie is currently a junior at Ukiah High School. She was born and raised in Ukiah. This is her first year taking journalism, and so far she really enjoys writing about her hometown. In her free time, she enjoys reading and hanging out with friends and family.