Has bat, will travel
different experience, but it definitely taught me a lot. From there I had two options, go to England or go to Australia to go to boarding school. I went to Australia for almost four years and had a really great time and picked up a silly accent.”
Playing for South Perth Baseball Club, Kerry attended Wesley College, studying health sciences, chemistry, physics and biology with an eye on pursuing a medical career.
“I played there for three years and finished my last two-and-a-half years of school.”
Last year, he was on the move again, this time state-side as Kerry attended Boise State University as a red shirt on the baseball team.
“We did the full practice schedule, but we didn’t play games,” he said. “It really taught me a lot about baseball. It taught me a lot about the game and the finer things you need to do at the next level. We got to do a lot of live at-bats against our guys and some of those guys are filthy. So it really gave me an eye-opener as to what baseball is like at the next level. I put on 20 pounds and my knowledge of the game got a lot better. I felt it really help me grow as a person, too.”
Kerry’s next move wasn’t quite as far as his coach at Boise pointed him north toward the Bulls program and head coach Jesse Sawyer.
“I got a call from my coach at Boise State and he said they had an opportunity for me to play summer ball because we didn’t get to play a full season, we just practised,” said Kerry. “He was really keen to get me out to a place to play summer ball. I said it sounds awesome.”
“Then Jesse called me and he really sold me on it. I really didn’t need selling anyway, I was stoked. But he did this big sales pitch and I was amazed by it all. I just wanted to get out here and play.”
On Thursday, Kerry added another country to his passport, arriving in southern Alberta.
“It’s really nice, different,” said Kerry. “It’s so hard driving an American car with miles an hour. So that was pretty difficult and I was still getting used to that. Which was funny, because if you asked me a year ago to drive a car that was kilometres an hour I would’ve said it was easy. It’s what I drove in Australia. That was the only different thing. But it’s a really nice place, really nice people and a really nice town so I’m looking forward to spending the summer here being a part of this great group of guys.”
His parents, Chris and Samantha, remain in Kuwait, but a trip to see their son with his latest team is a possibility.
“I think they’re going to try and make it out for the Canada Day weekend,” said Kerry. “The only difficult thing is my sister (Charlotte) graduates from University (in Manchester, England), so they’re going to try to be there and still make it out. So they’re going to try their best. They’re very excited about this opportunity. They’re going to watch the live stream, that’s for sure.”
Game time in Edmonton tonight is 7:05 p.m. and 2:05 p.m. Sunday.
The Bulls host their annual Tanner Craswell/Mitch MacLean Memorial Game Wednesday night before staging their homeopener Thursday against the Fort McMurray Giants at 7:05 p.m. at Spitz Stadium.
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