|
Adam Hall has needed to make some sacrifices to reach a distant goal usually not asked for from a 13-year-old, but he’s stepping up to the plate.
“Every challenge that comes around he seems to take it head on,” said Ken Frohwerk, a former London Badgers coach of Hall who is currently housing the teen at his Medway home. “Hall’s a 13 year old with a 15 or 16 year old body in a 25 year old mind.”
Born in Bermuda, Hall left the Caribbean country he grew up in for good last year in hopes to get a more formative Baseball Training in the Forest City. Hall has dual citizenship in Canada and Bermuda.
Before entrenching himself in everything from snow to poutine, Hall spent two summers in London with his parents renting a house in the area and family close by in Woodstock.
Hall’s parents only have the summer months off as teachers in Bermuda. To be good at Baseball is a year-round event.
“It’s basically just house league in Bermuda,” Hall said. “There’s not much baseball there, it’s not one of the main sports.”
Although Bermuda’s heat can get higher than 30-Celsius, it isn’t exactly a hotbed for baseball talent.
“I think the highest someone made it for baseball was, and they moved to the States, was like single-A maybe,” Adam said. “I’d like to get a scholarship to a College or University. Maybe someday play some sort of level professionally.”
You can almost see it now with nicknames for Hall like the Bermuda Bomber or Adam “Longball” Hall.
With his graduation at Masonville Public School coming soon, Hall is about to enter A.B. Lucas Secondary School next semester and has about five years to get even better before transitioning to his next academic-athletic endeavor to college ball.
He’s well on his way towards his goals, though.
In his first year with the Badgers in 2011, Hall earned the team’s offensive batting title and defensive award. Last year, he was named the Badger organization’s MVP after a season where he batted .644 and crushed 32 home runs — the 13-batter PeeWee team totaled 46 altogether.
His most recent reward is a little closer to home, though. On April 18th, the Bermuda Ministry of Community and Cultural Development rewarded Hall with a $4,390.00 grant at the National Junior Sponsorship Awards to assist with off-season training expenses.
The latest accolade is one of personal pride for a family still in Bermuda with plans to come to Canada soon.
“It does for two reasons. Firstly, it recognizes several years of hard work as opposed to a single season,” said Hall’s father, Tyler, born in Woodstock and his wife from Bermuda. “Secondly, there is a sentimental value to this award as Bermuda is where Hall's love for baseball started.”
More rewards might be coming Hall’s way. He might watch less TV than the average teen, but he can probably hit the ball farther than most adults. He might not have his parents around to cut the crust off his sandwich, but he might make it further in baseball than anyone has ever before in an island country with a population of about 65,000.
“If I want to do anything in baseball I know I have to make that sacrifice to be able to,” Hall said.
|
