Replacing Hope With Confidence

Last week, Washington Post reporter Chico Harlan wrote that the Washington Nationals have replaced hope with confidence. “They are talking like a group confident, not hopeful, of being on the right path,” he wrote. When the first week of baseball practice started at 6 a.m. in the varsity weight room on Monday, it was evident that the same can be said about the Vassar Baseball team. There is less talk about what we hope to do this year and more about what we know we will do. In fact, there is less talking as a whole. Perhaps, that’s because confidence sounds different than hope. When a player is hopeful, he talks about what he wants to do in the upcoming season. When a player is confident, he shows what he is going to do by his actions in practice. Throughout this season’s practices it seems that we are more focused than ever.

During this past week, the theme of practice was fundamentals. After 6 a.m. lift on Monday we reconvened that evening in the Walker Field House for practice and although we went on to practice every day except Sunday, we have yet to field a ground ball and only hit live batting practice once. We worked on our swings off the tee, perfected our footwork in the field and conditioned. Throughout practice it has been clear that hope has been replaced with confidence. And with seven returning starters in the field and eight freshmen, we finally have the tools to back up that newfound confidence.