With all that goes into the Holiday Season, one can find him or her-self pretty busy this time of year. For the Elite Squad staff, this time of year has been just that and even more so by moving their Winter Camp to December 7-9 from the original January dates in the past. As most of you can imagine, hosting an event with 20 + college coaches and pro scouts and well over 200 players in attendance can be quite time consuming. So when we got a phone call this afternoon from one of our longtime Elite Squad parents saying “Congrats! Your number one in the nation again” (Elite Squad was ranked #1 in 2011 at 16u) we were thrilled to hear the news, immediately started texting friends and family. It also put in perspective the type of year that 2012 has been for the Squad! We quickly looked at the Perfect Game Website from our smart phones and saw the terrific news for ourselves. We also saw that it was posted on October 30th 2012. Now, we dont know if that’s when it was truly posted/Updated as we usually check the PG website quite often as many of our own parents do the same and this is the first we heard about it. However we realized that was the same weekend our boys had an amazing run in the WWBA World Championships in Jupiter, FL and then we jumped right into the preparation for our Winter Camp always trying to make sure we are prepared and doing things in a first class manner for both the players and coaches/scouts attending the event. So it is possible we might have overlooked it.
Anyhow, I got this call while I was having lunch with my family, and because Leila was bored watching mommy and daddy eat while she sits in the stroller she decided to let us know about it. My wife took Leila for a walk to try and calm her down while I waited for the bill. While waiting for the bill I couldn’t help but to sit there and just think about all the great things that happened this summer for our players, teams, coaches and families. I wont list all those things because its 2:15 am and the words are starting to all blend together (view accolades) but I still dont know how to put it into words, blessed could definitely be one of those words. Blessed for all of those families that have supported us and believed in what we were doing, to have the coaching staff that we do, to have some of the best players but even more impressive they are some of the best people I have ever been associated with. Blessed because of all of the relationships we have built with families and organizations that we now consider close friends!
When I first got into coaching, I coached for someone who I looked up to and still do to this day, tell myself and his players after a practice we had ” Baseball isn’t about how far you make it, it isn’t about how much money you make from it. Its about the relationships you build along the way” he was and is absolutely right.
So to get this news, on this day, it might just top any Christmas present the Elite Squad Staff could have asked for and to share it with the Elite Squad family makes it all the more special! CONGRATULATIONS ELITE SQUAD FAMILY!!!!!
Something else that I know really made the Elite Squad staff extremely happy – because it is their goal is to ensure that every team they field is competitive and regarded as one of the best teams in the country for that age division, was to hear that the 16u team had been ranked #12 in the country and the 15u had been ranked #23 in the country as well!!!
This is a perfect way to describe the Elite Squad Organization as a whole and a perfect way to close a book on 2012! Thank you to Perfect Game and all of the Elite Squad families that made 2012 a memorable one. We hope everyone has a great New Years, stay safe and we will be in touch soon….
We cant wait for 2013!
-Richie Palmer
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