Two Bloordale volunteers were recognized at the Etobicoke Baseball Association (EBA) Annual General Meeting, held virtually on November 16.
Sam Flynn won the EBA Senior Umpire of the Year award. Sam is a former Bloordale baseball player, who began umpiring when he was 13. In 2018 Sam also won the EBA Junior Umpire of the Year award.
When presenting the award, EBA President Patrick McConnell noted that Sam is always working hard to improve his skills by analyzing his performance after the game. Added Patrick
‘Sam listens to tips from other experienced umpires on how to improve his game and is quick to adapt and apply the advice at his first his first opportunity.
He is knowledgeable about rules and a quick study when he has a question.
His calls are crisp and loud and he works hard to get in the best position to make them.
When paired with less experienced umpires, Sam assumes a leadership role. When paired with a more experienced umpire, Sam is always looking for ways on how to improve his own game.’
Steve Castrucci won the EBA Coach of the Year Award. Steve has had a lifelong love of coaching, coaching hockey while still in university and at the tender age of 18. Steve began coaching baseball when his oldest son was in T-Ball 28 years ago. Unlike many parents, Steve continued coaching even after his children had graduated from youth baseball.
Steve has been a successful coach since joining Bloordale in 2015, culminating with the recent 2021 EBA 18U Select Championship.
Several co-coaches shared their thoughts on Steve
Steve won the 18U Championship select loop with a team he started building at the 15U level. To have a core group together for that long is very impressive, and even more impressive to develop into a championship team in the final year of eligibility for the majority of his players.
I have been coaching with Steve a long time and he has many positive attributes. He has no kids currently in the game; most of us with no children in the game would not be doing this. So it goes to show how much he loves the kids and the game.
He treats all the players the same and no matter how a player played during the game. At the end of the game when he gave his speech he would always have a positive thing to say about all players.
Steve is truly a great a coach but an even better person.
Congratulations Sam and Steve!