He's about 30 days away from finally getting Tommy John surgery. Dealing with managed health care has been an adventure, to say the least. Thanks for asking.
With the rehab time, he's going to gray shirt this year and will be ready for summer ball next year before starting college in fall of '07 as true freshman...with about 20 units completed.
Best of luck to your son and all the other Clippers players. I know how proud you are of what they've acheived and where they're headed off to now. Summer Series will be the final big tournament for my group. Some of these kids have played 6 summers with me, and I'm sure gonna miss them when they've moved on to bigger and better opportunities.
Posts: 1203 | Location: California | Registered: January 10, 2004
Top Tier 17U team from Illinois will be travelling out to Carlsbad for the tournament. We're staying at the Hilton Carlsbad Beach Hotel. Been looking at the teams and it is most impressive. We'll see how some boys from Illinois fare against the big, bad west. What team are you associated with?
My son had TJ surgery last June 28. He played 3rd base this spring for his HS and had no problems. Just cleared to pitch and started a game last weekend for the first time in 13 months. We were fortunate to have had Dr.Andrews in Birmingham perform the surgery, but it is really all about the rehab. Don't settle for just any physical therapist, think about someone like a kniesiologist or someone who has experience in rehabbing TJ. A TJ rehab is a whole body makeover, very little actual work done on the elbow. Best of luck to your son.
The team we're with is the EDH Vipers, which is basically from the Sacramento area. You'll love the tournament, as there are quite a few good teams participating, but not all the teams are dominating type teams. You'll find a nice mix, but there are some very, very good 18u teams and the wood bat aspect does tend to level the playing field quite a bit also.
I'm sure we'll cross paths while down there, please be sure to come over and introduce yourself. Just look for the coach with a mostly white goatee, and you've found me. You can also ask any of our players who Dan is, and they'll point you in my direction. I hope you guys find this to be a wonderful tournament, it is our favorite each summer. Best of luck to your team!
Thanks for the thoughts about TJ, we're actually looking forward to getting it done so that he can get back on the path to rehabbing and on the diamond again next summer. We're at 28 days and counting until his surgery.
Posts: 1203 | Location: California | Registered: January 10, 2004
Just got home and saw your message. It was great getting to meet you and then our teams meet in the Championship game. Who would have thunk it? As you know, we went 1-5 in pool play and lost the first game in the playoff round, must have been jet lag or something. Followed that up with 7 straight wins in two days to get to the finale. Playing that 4th game in one day was just a little too much to overcome, especially with your pitcher doing a great job. Our guy had been in the sick bed for the entire tournament and only showed up to pitch against you. Nick is an Area Code guy and a 2nd team Aflac player. He did well, we gave up a couple of unearned runs and your guy did the rest.
Phil Singer did a tremendous job of running this event and all of our players and parents had a great end of season experience. I've just got one complaint, what happened to that great San Diego weather we always hear about? Rain, rain and more rain. No rainouts of games and that was great. Landed back in Chicago and it was 82 and sunny.
Again, it was a great trip for us and I give you kudos for coaching a quality team, easily the best team we faced in the tournament and I was moved by your comments regarding your pitcher's last game for the Vipers. See you down the road, friend. Good luck to your son with his TJ surgery. Let us know how it goes.
