The final out of the 2008 KHS baseball season was recorded during District Tournament play back in April at Haines City but in many ways that signaled the preparations that will lead to the start of the 2009 season.

As many of us have witnessed baseball history in the making with the improbable 2008 season that the Tampa Bay Rays are experiencing with their American League East Championship, Divisional Series Championship, the American League Championship series win over the Red Sox, and World Series birth, we have been reminded of the importance of changing a team culture and the benefits of hard work and sacrifice that are made in the off-season that produces results during a regular and post-season. Who in their right minds would have ever dreamed that the cellar dwelling, doormats of the East, the Tampa Bay Rays, would have had a legitimate shot of breaking .500? After all, the best the Rays had ever accomplished was a 70 win season, twelve games under that break-even point of .500. Never the less, as improbable as it seems, the Tampa Bay Rays are four wins away from being crowned World Champions. How is this possible and what does it have to do with Kathleen Baseball?

The Tampa Bay Rays have discovered that a winning baseball team begins with a winning attitude. The development of a winning attitude is so much more than the adoption of catchy phrases on the back of t-shirts. It is the transformation of the culture of the individual players and the team as a whole. It is the refusal to settle for less than anyone individual’s best effort on the practice field, playing field, and in the clubhouse. It is the sacrifice of individual accomplishments for the shared achievement of the team. It is working together to more than anyone can do alone. These are the attitudes and mindsets that go into the transformation of a team culture from one that accepts less than the best into a team that refuses to be plagued by past performances, hindered by low expectations, and breaks the mold of mediocrity to achieve an unimagined level of success. The Rays have done this and the Kathleen Red Devils are in the process of change as well.

Since the last out of the 2008 season, players and coaches have been forming this change of culture while putting in the hard work and sacrifice of an off-season program that will yield success in 2009. Players are developing the bonds that unite a team. Coaches are mentoring the attitudes and work effort that shape the culture of winning. Together, players and coaches, are working, sacrificing, and molding the future of Kathleen baseball that will lead to levels not yet imagined in the minds of those who are dedicated to achieving the transformation of Red Devil Baseball into that culture of 9 equals 1. Though the 2009 season is not upon us yet, the foundation for success for our future has already been laid and success is being built up one step at a time.