‘Play like you’re 10’ results in a perfect 10 for Rockets

Even high school baseball, despite a much shorter season than in college or the pros, has its doldrums.

Cedar Grove-Belgium’s squad this year was not immune. Coaches and parents could tell toward the end of the season the players were lacking some punch.

Team photographer Jon Waters, father of the Rockets’ catcher Connor, found a way out of the emotional slump.

“Play like you’re 10,” he said, and he put his photos where his mouth was.

Waters found pictures of the players when they were 10 and 11 years old, and he gave them to the teens with instructions to remember why they loved playing the game and to recapture that boyish enthusiasm.

“This motto helped us just remember to have fun and play. Don’t overthink and try too hard. Just have fun and trust the process,” junior Austin Knapp said.

“It just reminds us why we play the game and how we love the game,” senior Carter Schmitz said. “In high school, there’s a ton of unneeded added pressure on you. So just remember that we’re still kids and we’re just having fun playing with our best friends.”

Coach Tom Race said there’s a difference when his team is more relaxed.

“We try to get them to where they’re loose. You can kind of tell with this group. When they are carefree and loose, that’s when we score, that’s when we hit,” Race said. “When we get a little too serious, we get a little flat. I guess that’s true of any team, but especially this group.”

Waters took the effort a step further, inviting the current Rockets’ youth baseball teams to play catch with the varsity squad after practice on Saturday.

“It was great. They all just wanted to have fun,” junior Griffin Knight said. “I remember when we were so young. It was great times.”

“It was fun. It brought me back to when I was a little kid looking up to the older kids,” Connor Waters said. “I know it was a good experience for them.”

Ira Hilbelink, one of the top-ranked junior baseball players in the state, also enjoyed spending time with players who someday want to be just like him.

“That was awesome. A lot of them are going to be at state, and a lot of them look up to us,” he said.

The Rockets, 21-5, took their rediscovered enthusiasm to the state tournament in Grand Chute on Tuesday.