Baseball

This popped up as a memory from soon after your accident. It was written by Duane Collicott who was one of the coaches when you were on the Tigers. I wanted to record it.

I am finding myself absolutely astounded-but not surprised-at the immense number of people expressing their condolences across social media to the family of Hayden Smith. It's amazing how many lives Hayden touched, as well as the way he touched them. Expressions of grief and remembrance are coming from around the world. My facebook wall is filled with them, mostly from people I don't even know.

I knew Hayden only for two years, when he played on the Ann Arbor Tigers travel baseball team with my William during their 12U and 13U years. Hayden was a joy to coach. He listened to what the coaches suggested, he remembered it, he tried hard to do it, and he improved. (Note from Mom: nice way of saying you weren't very good-just kidding! Not at hitting anyway-sorry!) And all through that he was a team player, not an individual player. He was a natural athlete, and the kind every coach loves to work with.

He wasn't the kid who's always late...he wasn't the kid who forgot the thing you've been telling him twenty times...he wasn't that kid who would skip practices to go to a movie with his friends...he wasn't the kid who day-dreamed during practices or games...he wasn't the kid who busted-down his teammates...Instead, he was one of the kids who worked hard, played hard and loved it. He was one of those kids who you put in a position in the outfield and and then you don't worry about that position for the rest of the game, because you knew it was covered. Every time the ball was in his direction, I would say, "That's a catch!" and it  always was: no errors through 30 games in 13U. I looked it up.

AWESOME BOY!