The Hitting Zone

Andrew Vishnevsky looked younger than what I thought an athletic trainer would look like. He might have been right out of college or grad school or wherever trainers studied. He had dark hair, dark eyes behind glasses, and looked like he could just be a passerby off the street.

He held out a hand, "You can call me Drew."

I looked at his hand. Then at Noah.

Noah laughed. "Just shake his hand. You really don't have to be so hesitant. Just give him a nice, firm handshake and say hello." He gave me a shoulder pat. "I've got to go to the regular practice before they make me run some more." Then he ditched me. I ran ten laps with him!

Mr. Miller laughed at my heart-stricken expression. "You can't use Noah as a shield all the time. Vishnevsky will take care of you until he deems you fit." He turned to leave as well.

I sighed with dejection, then faced Drew. He still had his hand out, waiting patiently. I stretched out my arm and gave his hand a quick shake.

"Mary Atkins, your guardian has given me your medical records." He looked at me, expressionless. "Do you have any aches or pains on a normal basis?"

I shook my head no.

"When you were running, did anything hurt?"

I started to shake my head no again, but then nodded. I pointed at my side, where my rib cage was.

He pulled out a sheet of paper and looked it over. Then back at me. "You have fractured your rib cage on that side, correct?"

I nodded.

"It's been so long since the original injury. I'm guessing there might be muscle damage or worst case, nerve damage." I flinched. "I'll assign some exercises pertaining to the chest area so hopefully it'll help. Let's move to the grass area so I can see you try some exercises and drills." He pointed to some open space. "I'll meet you over there. Grab your bat, glove and a baseball. I'm going to grab some tools."

I ran around, gathering my gear. Drew was already setting up a speed ladder and mini hurdles six inches high, when I returned.

"We'll start with some speed tests just to get a feel for where you're at. I timed your mile with Noah and I wasn't impressed. Fifteen minutes? I know Noah can run almost two miles in the amount of time. I also took note of your hard breathing and how you needed to drink quite a bit of water. Let me ask, how much water do you drink during the day?" Drew spoke nonstop.

I held up one finger. I have a water with my lunch.

"You're kidding." He deadpanned. "What a joke. And you want to be an athlete? Not with that attitude. Athletes should drink half their weight in ounces of water. Since you weigh about 120lbs, you should drink at least 60 ounces of water. Got it?"

I nodded.

"Agility ladder first." He commanded. I stood before it...not sure what to do. "Is this your first time?" He asked after my awkward pause. I nodded.

He sighed and started to show me some footwork skills. He did simples ones at first and started to record how fast I could do them. Then more complex ones, where my feet started to get tangled.

I was already tired when we finished the ladder work, I couldn't imagine getting through the rest of this training session.

I stumbled through the rest of his drills and somehow made it to the end. Coach came over and asked Drew how I did.

Drew sighed and glanced where I was chugging water. "I can get him in somewhat decent shape by the tournament. His hand-eye coordination is excellent. Speed is good if it's short and not consecutive. He just gets too tired too easily. Easy fix though. Just needs time and effort."

"Noah! Zeke! Come on over!" The coach hollered.

The both jogged over from the dugout, where the team was taking a water break.

"Jake will be spending his practices with Drew. Warmup and tossing will still be the same, then you'll report to Drew over here." He told me. He faced the Atkins. "This weekend, I would like you guys to work on teaching him some routine plays between infielders. Then maybe tryout some relay throws from outfield to cutoff man to home plate. Next week we'll see where he's at before the tournament."

Noah looked excited. "Jake can play in the tournament?"

Coach glanced at me. "If he meets my standard. Better to get some experience in the tournament before league play starts."