Thanks, Coach

The coolest thing happened to Brady at Friday's practice! His coach likes to give out incentives for the #1 defensive player for the week, the #1 pitcher, catcher, each base hit, etc. He's a stat keeper and gives out actual report cards to the kids showing them exactly what they did during the past week's games for hits, pitches, outs, assists for outs, RBI's, everything. So he gives out coupons for free cheeseburgers, Big Macs, fries, shakes, sundaes, batting cages, etc. as awards for the #1 spots in some of these categories. Brady has gotten the #1 defensive player 3 weeks in a row now and on Friday got to try his first Big Mac! Great job, Brady! Anyway, after the coach had handed out their report cards and prizes he said,

"Some of you may know I was in the army. Well, when a soldier is wounded in battle they are given an award called a purple heart. This award signifies being wounded while at war. Will Brady Myers please stand up?"

So Brady stood up and the coach continued, "Brady, I have an award here for you that closely resembles a purple heart. This award is equivalent to receiving a purple heart while at war. This is an award for your bravery. I've written something that I'd like to read to you..." and he pulls out this certificate that says this,

"Brady Myers has been hit by a fast thrown baseball on numerous occasions while being at bat. In several instances he has sustained painful injury. While most people, young and old alike, would have discontinued attending practices and games, Brady Myers has not. His remarkable bravery was demonstrated during the game played on May 7th, 2008. During this game, Brady Myers not only stood bravely at bat, but he also got a base hit, an RBI, and was ranked as the team's #1 defensive player. The bravery shown by this young man is on par with many of the acts of bravery that I have personally witnessed in my lifetime."

Signed by his coach, Blaise S. Mo

He pinned this medal on him that had this inscription on the back: BRADY Outstanding Bravery "under fire".




Brady was so eager to show me everything since I was just sitting in the car this whole time. I read the certificate and saw the medal so I of course had to go and thank the coach for this. I told him I was so pleased that he took this opportunity to recognize and validate Brady's fears of being hit by the ball while at bat. (He's been hit 5 times already!) Brady was absolutely starting to dread going to games and practices because of his fears but he would still go. Unwillingly and scared, but he'd still do it. So his coach went and got this medal engraved and typed out this certificate but he didn't have to! I thought that was going above and beyond his responsibility as Brady's coach and I couldn't thank him enough. I told him how impressed I was that he'd go out of his way for Brady and he kept saying things like, "Brady deserves all the credit here. He needed this recognition. He is a remarkable young man and I wanted him to know how proud I am of him and his bravery. That's all." Brady of course was beaming and couldn't wait to show his Dad and to call his Gram and tell them all about it. He'll always remember this and I know it has helped boost the confidence he needs to atleast finish out this season.



Thanks, again, coach. You made my son's day.