When I was Mateus’s age, I played in the same little league he’s in now. I played at this exact same baseball field. Going back there brought back good memories, and bad nightmares. Good memories include seeing my Grandpa coming to watch me. Bad memories include remembering how my coach physically and mentally abused us. At 12 years old, he literally use to beat us up with the baseball bat, throw the baseball at our heads, and yell at us until we cried. If there were cameras back then, he would be in jail for the rest of his life. But that wasn’t the case so we had to live with that trauma for the rest of our lives. 46 years later, I still remember everything so clearly. I hope my other teammates are ok.
This was the age when I use to get abused. I was a little kid trying to have fun playing baseball. It turned into such a stressful time in my life. If I played bad or stuck out, I would get a bat or a ball to my head the next day at practice. I was terrified of my coach, I didn’t tell anybody, and I still clearly remember those days like it happened yesterday. I quit baseball shortly after because I was scared to get abused. One of my teammates is a local surfer at Bowls and we always talk about it. We both don’t understand how our coach didn’t go to jail. Pretty crazy times…
