Individual workouts are on the players at La Salle Institute Baseball
TROY, NY » With the coronavirus pandemic postponing the spring sports season for local high schools, coaches have taken it upon themselves to give their team workouts and drills to do while socially distancing.
At La Salle Institute, veteran coach Jesse Braverman trusts his team is putting the work in independently.
“I haven’t done anything of that nature because many of these boys are doing things on their own, they’ve always done things on their own,” said Braverman. “We can’t sanction them to go to fields or facilities now. I can’t sanction them doing things like that now because I could be making them sick. I learned a long time ago in sports, we are all competitive and we are all trying to do our best, but the safety of the athletes comes before anything else.”
“If they can hit off a batting tee into a net in their backyard, I don’t have to tell them to do that, they are going to do that,” said Braverman. “They know what to do because we have a pretty set routine in our practices and there are various drills in our practice. I try to tell them in a general sense what they should be doing on their own to get better. I give each one of them, depending on their position, if it’s a defensive thing, or if it’s an offensive thing, some type of skill they are individually working on.”
Braverman has been around the diamond is whole life. Braverman
picked up the mantle at La Salle in 2003 and spent 23 years at Bethlehem Central prior. A historic coach in La Salle and New York State history, Braverman jokes he has coached 125 seasons of sports between baseball and basketball. In all that time, Braverman can’t compare the current pandemic to anything.
“There’s an old expression in baseball. ‘Your’e always going to see something you’ve never seen before,” said Braverman. “This is unquestionable unprecedented. I’ve tried to keep busy. I am a teacher and I am fortunate to have a job, while it is much different than how I have ever done it before, I didn’t lose it like so many other people did.”
Braverman is allowing his team to have their space at the moment to handle the situation on their own terms and get back to work when they have decided it is time.
“I am not in close contact with them now, most coaches spend time with their kids throughout the year,” said Braverman. “I saw many of them at different times throughout the year. We were together as a La Salle program from March 9 to March 12, officially.”
La Salle’s season ended last season in the Section II, Class AA Quarterfinal at the hands of Shen, the eventual Section II Champion. La Salle was back on the field just a few weeks ago in hopes of putting the work in and getting back to sectional tournament glory before the coronavirus caused the school to close and practices to be cancelled.
“We were holding try outs for the JV and Varsity teams and were doing it together,” said Braverman. “We were together for those four days and their is tension anyway because it is a try out. We have to decide who makes the team and who is going to be on which team, so there was tension about that. There was an added anxiety about everything going on. I think the boys were depressed. They were very pessimistic that we would actually get to play.”
Braverman continued to say that the feeling of hopelessness at try outs was in the air. He told them that even if their was rain in the forecast for a big game, they’d still be practicing the day before.
“I told them that if we had practice on May 3, and on May 4 we had a big game, but their was torrential downpours in the forecast, wouldn’t we still practice on May 3.” said Braverman. “We are here today. We are going to make the most of today, and then tomorrow we will see what happens, we don’t know for sure what is going to happen, but we have to be prepared.”
Braverman continued his analogy to bench players. They don’t know what day they are going to play, but they need to be ready when they are called upon, and that is the mindset Braverman wants his team to have.
With so many dark clouds in the air, Braverman tried to keep things light with his team in those four days of try outs.
“La Salle Boys, and I found this out very quickly when I arrived in 2003, are very respectful group of boys. I found that out as soon as I arrived,” said Braverman. “It’s very common at La Salle at the end of a routine practice for about half of them to come up to me and say thank you and shake my hand. Because of what was going on with this coronavirus, when they were coming up to shake my hand and say thank you, I said to them, ‘Boys, I appreciate your appreciation, but I have to remind you your coach is on medicare.’”
Despite trying to keep things light, Braverman could sense there was no getting the pessimism out of the team’s mind at that point in try outs.
Braverman is a seasoned veteran when it comes to coaching. Now in his 17th season with La Salle, Braverman isn’t slowing up yet; he’s even still trying to play in local adult league baseball games locally. While the team worries about their season, Braverman keeps a positivie attitude, which is a calming voice for the high schoolers.
“I’m keeping busy. Because of my age I’m trying to keep in shape. If I am going to keep coaching, I have to keep myself able to do it,” said Braverman. “I jokingly tell the boys, when they ask me when I am going to retire, I tell them I will retire when I have to hit my outfield fungos from the outfield. I’m getting a little closer, I’m sorry to say. I’m not there yet.”