Interview by Christopher Helms
At the beginning of the baseball season, I was given the opportunity to speak with Coach Bailin, Great Neck North’s varsity baseball coach about his expectations for his team this year.
1. What is your biggest focus this season?
Biggest focus this season? Probably getting these guys to work even harder this season; the end goal is to get into the play-offs.
2. How do you expect to do this season?
A lot better than we have the last two years. We’re getting a lot more talent, we’re stronger top to bottom, we have a good pitcher, we’re going to play a good defense and there’s a lot of experience… a lot of varsity experience. We have a lot of young guys who are now juniors who have two years of varsity experience. They don’t fear this level of play now.
3. What are your teams greatest weaknesses and their greatest strengths?
Our greatest weakness I think, is that we don’t know how to win yet. Because we haven’t done any of it– in two years. I think that in itself, when we figure out how to win games, will be really beneficial down the road. I think that’s our greatest weakness, right now. We’ve played in a lot of good games, a lot of close games, in the past two years. Especially last year. But, we didn’t win those games. Our biggest strength, I mentioned, is our experience. We have a lot of guys who have multiple years of varsity experience even though they’re juniors. We have a sophomore catcher who played every inning of every game last year. So, even that, he’s a tenth grader now and he’s young, he has a lot of experience at this level.
4. What makes baseball special?
Uhh, boy, I’ve never been asked that before. It’s a unique game, that there’s no time limit. I do like the game to move quick, but, it’s very much a game of strategy, a lot of cat and mouse; and I enjoy the coaching aspect of it from a strategy standpoint, which as a player, I didn’t appreciate as much. And, I know these guys don’t fully understand it because they’re not in the position I’m in now. But you know, I enjoy the strategy part of it.
5. What advice do you wish everyone would follow?
Never stop working hard. Because the only way you get anything in this game is to just try and work harder than everybody else.
Their hard work is paying off. Currently, The Blazers’ record is 2-2, an outstanding improvement from the last two years!
