Imagine Prep’s middle school sports are almost at an end. They have worked with each other to get where they are at today. The middle school teams had a great season, not only with winning but working as a team. And what teams don’t have the greatest memories with each other?

Kale Garrison, pastor at CCV (Christ’s Church of the Valley) and the coach for middle school baseball talked about what he enjoyed most about his team.

“The boys seem to get along pretty well and laugh and have fun, which is important since it’s a game,” Garrison said.

Garrison also goes to explain the experiences the boys had and what was one of the highlights in the season.

“The boys are having fun and starting to understand the game better,” Garrison said. “We don’t have a ton of experience, so they are working hard at learning more about details and situations of the game.”

Garrison has had some takeaways from the season and he talks about the effort players need to put into the game.  

“A key takeaway from this year has been and will be the ability to take control of the controllable…,” Garrison said. “Focus, Concentration, Attitude, and Effort. So much of this game is out of your hands, so you have to manage those areas as well as you can. If they learn to do that it will not only help them on the field but in life.”

Garrison also talks about the improvements that the boys made during the season.

“Attention to detail and doing the little things right,” Garrison said. “Basic fundamental baseball. That takes time and focus.”

Rachel Kelley, a middle school English teacher at the Prep and middle school soccer coach, loves her team so much that they’re all like friends.

Kelley and her team have had some highlights of the season, but this one was a memorable one.

“So the highlights have been that we are six and two, so we’re doing really well,” Kelley said. “And that we’ve had the opportunity to play some of our littler kids like the sixth graders and they’ve scored goals and they’re like so excited.”   

Kelley talks about her relationship between her and the team.

“What I like best about my team is that they’re all like big goofballs,” Kelley said. “And like we can come practice and like have fun with each other and goof off but like still get work done, so I like hanging out with them and being silly.”

Kelley explained what the team could have done better during the season.

“The team can improve on their communication skills,” Kelley said. “Because their okay with talking in general but then when I’m like ‘hey talk on the field to tell each other what’s going on’ they act like they have no idea what I’m talking about.”

Lastly, Kelley shared some of the memories she had with her players.

“One of my biggest takeaways was just like how much these kids love soccer and love playing together,” Kelley said. “And a lot of them have played together since sixth grade. So it’s cool to see them like come up together and build.”