Coach Pickett is very different than my other baseball coaches, he did not yell, he always used intelligence over the plain obvious. Coach Pickett was my coach for freshman baseball. He would wear sweatpants and his red coat to every game no matter the weather. He always wore a team baseball cap. He had a good side and a bad side and you choose what side you wanted to be on. I was on the good side. He always motivates you so you play your best on the field.

The beginning of the season was average, we had to wake up around 4:30 and be at the school by 5:00 every Tuesday and Thursday morning. We had practices after school that went from 3:30 to 6:00 everyday. We did almost the same drills every practice, we did hitting drills for about an hour and fielding practice for another hour and then conditioning like running stairs for the last 30 or sometimes a team talk. The practices were ran by three coaches Coach Franzon, Coach Pickett, and Coach Cam. But their was something about Coach Pickett that really stood out to me. He always used his 70 something years of intelligence then the plain obvious. The first few games were good but we could of done better. We had about an even record when we faced up against Rolling Meadows in a double header. In the first game we put 27 runs on the board in a 27-0 win with our pitcher throwing a one hitter. In the second game we also won but it was much closer. After the game we sat in right field as Coach Pickett told us story after story. One I do remember was when he was a drivers ed teacher and a student in the class got A’s on everything but when she got into the car she was the worst driver he has ever seen. He just loves to tell stories.

By the middle of the season our team of 25 became one big family. Our team did not always play well but we always tried no matter the score. The practices were after school everyday at 3:30. We did the same drills at practice as we did in the beginning of the season but now we just go outside. By the middle of the year we were still winning games. Coach Pickett found who he liked at what position. It was this one game at Lake Zurich High School where he said his two famous pregame speeches that he always said to show appreciation to baseball. “Blue Skies….Green grass….Palm trees.” “There is so many people who cant play baseball for many reasons.” This showed our whole team how grateful we should be but we just chuckled everytime he said it. We didn’t play our best game in fact LZHS was one of those teams that were just tough to beat.

At the end of the season we started to win some games racking up three wins in a row coming into our last game of the season which was a doubleheader. It was a bright Saturday morning as everyone arrived at the field. We did our normal warm ups and drills like playing catch and fielding ground balls before the game but their was something we did different that day. It was Picketts last year of 50 something years of coaching baseball. We went over to the Varsity field and they gave Pickett a plaque and gave him a final speech. Everyone was congratulating him. But then it was game time. We won the first game by a fair margin. Coach Pickett always said “it is hard to win both games of a double header,” and that came true as I made the last out of coach Picketts career. Everyone gave him a handshake on the field including all the sophomores and varsity players. But one guy was still in the dugout. That was my brother Coach Cam. Him and a few teammates lifted the water bucket over their heads and when Pickett was looking they drenched him. That was my best and last memory of many with coach Pickett.

Coach Pickett is one of those persons who just enjoy what they do and grateful for everything they have in life. He would work on getting you better even if we had to do things we didn’t want like waking up at 5 in the morning. I would like to thank Coach Pickett on helping me improve my baseball skills. I would also like to thank him for never giving up on me and making me a better baseball player.