Entry #10 - 11/14/03

It has been a very exciting week for Buccaneer Baseball. Our players have really been excelling in the classroom and in their winter workouts and we are in the middle of the early signing period for high school seniors to sign a National Letter of Intent. We have had three young men sign so far and we are hoping to sign one more. I could not be more pleased about the three young men who have decided to become a member of our baseball family at ETSU. They are outstanding young men, who come from wonderful families and they all have a bright future ahead of them. Their names are Chuck Hargis from Powell, TN (SS), Robbie Campbell from Lothian, MD (RHP) and Bubba Herbold from Knoxville, TN (C). In my next entry I will go into detail about each young man and what I believe they are going to bring to the table for our program at ETSU.

My hat goes off to my assistant coach Nathan Goulet for the wonderful job he has done recruiting this fall. Nate is a rising star in our profession and simply a good solid person who is very loyal. He has had to make an extreme commitment to stay at ETSU and his hard work is beginning to pay off. When I first hired Nate I told him, "Hey don't run off and get married right away. We have got alot of work to do." It has been five years now and we finally have our own kids in the program, we have great young men, and our talent level is higher than it has ever been. So I guess it is okay for Nate to start dating now. Actually Nate's long time girlfriend (Louise) has been at his side for many years. So hang in there Louise, he is a good catch.

Speaking of significant others, I must mention my wife. First of all, the women I respect most in this world are coach's wives. They simply do everything. My wife is no exception, she is an awesome mother, who never seems to ever run out of energy. I would be completely lost without her. She is the kindest and most caring person I have ever met. This morning I found out just how tough she was. There is no doubt that women are tougher creatures than men. Watching the birth of my two boys and watching Jody carry those kids for nine long months just amazed me. If men had to get pregnant and carry children then I know our race would be extinct.

About six weeks ago I made a commitment that I was going to run the Atlanta Marathon on Thanksgiving Day. Don't ask me why. But somehow I got it into my head that if I run a marathon before next season then we will have a successful year. My strategy was to do as little training as possible and then go for it on Thanksgiving morning. Since my playing days have been over I have enjoyed running. As an athlete I hated it, because we always had to run for punishment, but since then I have grown to love my early morning runs. As the big day nears I decided that I better get some mileage in or I could be in trouble. About two weeks ago my wife volunteered to run the marathon with me. This really surprised me because although she was a very accomplished runner in high school and college, she had not put in any serious mileage in the last six months.

This morning we went for a "16 miler". After about 8 miles every negative thought you can think of was popping into my head. About mile ten my body said, "Quit you idiot. What are you doing to me?" As much as I was struggling, Jody was cruising. This made me want to keep going even more. Then at about mile 13 it happened. Cramps? My hamstrings began to suck the life out of me. I was done! Jody looked back and asked if I was okay. I said I'm going to need a few minutes to get loose again. She was in cruise control and I was in pain. How could this be? She hadn't been training. After she slowed down to check on me, I told her to go ahead and keep going. She said she would go ahead and finish, get the car and come back and pick me up. After a long 2 or 3 miles I eventually got to the finish, but it was definitely a struggle. After I finished I realized that on Thanksgiving Day I will have another 10 miles to go. Maybe I've bitten off more than I can chew. Only time will tell. It is going to be a great battle of mental toughness for me, but at least I'll have the luxury of my wife encouraging me the last few miles because she will already have finished well ahead of me. Until next time...

Coach Skole