Former Pack Baseball Player becomes assistant coach in WMBL June 23, 2009
Posted by lread in Baseball.trackback
Coaches had big decisions to make
former wolfpack baseball player Tanner Brotzel is now coaching in the WMBL in Regina
Tim Switzer, Leader-Post
Published: Friday, May 29, 2009
Former WolfPack baseball player Tanner Brotzel is getting a chance to coach in the Western Major Baseball League this Summer.
Even with managing two companies and serving as an assistant coach for the Regina Red Sox tiring him out during the day, Kip Simon had some sleepless nights this week.
The 26-year-old Regina product had to decide whether to be a player/coach with the Red Sox during the 2009 Western Major Baseball League season or just a coach.
In the end, he couldn’t justify filling both roles when the season opens today in Moose Jaw (7 p.m., Ross Wells Park) against the host Miller Express.
‘I see some young local guys who are extremely excited to be a part of this club and they’re just 18 years old and I have to think, ‘As much as I’d like to hit a walk-off grand slam in front of 1,000 fans, I’ve been there and I want to help the other kids to get to the next level,’ ” said Simon, who runs the experimental marketing department at Captive Audience and owns his own baseball apparel company, 22 Fresh. “I could hit .800 this summer and when it’s over I’m going to go back to my company and work. If one of the younger kids hits .800 and gets his confidence up, he might go play Division I baseball and then professional baseball.”
Regina’s other assistant coaches, 23-year-old Justin Eiswirth and 24-year-old Tanner Brotzel, had similar dilemmas. The trio played for the Red Sox from 2005 to 2007 before Brotzel hung up his cleats and the others hung on for one more season. Brotzel and Simon also spent the 2004 campaign with the Weyburn Beavers.
Each of the three knows he could still compete in the WMBL, but instead of being one of the boys in the locker-room, they are helping call the shots from the office next door with head coach Rob Cherepuschak.
“I think I can still be buddies with guys on the team and still be able to separate that coach-player relationship from friends,” said Eiswirth, who is working toward at education degree at the University of Regina.
Each has always envisioned himself getting into coaching sooner or later. None thought it would be this soon.
“It’s funny how it worked out that we’re all at the point in our lives where we’re wrapping up playing,” said Brotzel, a graduate of Thompson Rivers University who is to begin firefighting school in Melville after the baseball season. “Justin and I always used to talk about coaching a team even when we were in high school.”
All three work as instructors at the Inside Pitch Baseball Academy, but only Brotzel has previous experience coaching at a high level. He spent last summer as the head coach of the Okotoks Dawgs Bantam Performance team.
“That was my first real gig and it was my show as the head coach,” said Brotzel. “I went though a lot of learning and growing pains along the way, but it definitely helped.”
That experience that will likely come in handy this season with Regina. And, with three young assistants, it might be useful well into the future if the group sticks together.
“There was a core group of guys from when this thing first kicked off … that took pride in helping build the club to where it is today,” said Simon. “We always spoke about wanting to be involved somehow when our playing days were numbered. It’s not shocking to see us all here.”
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