Chasing Down a Dream

At approximately 5:30 this cold, bitter winter morning, my brother rolled out of bed, threw on some under armor and gym shorts, and went off to his daily 6AM workout for his college baseball team. Chris Roan is my younger brother who’s now a freshman in college and is chasing his dream to be a D1 baseball player at Gloucester County Community College. Despite being a small community college, Gloucester County is a regular at the Junior College World Series where they became national champs 2 years ago. Since the age of 3, both my brother and I have been exposed to the great game that is baseball and it didn’t take long for either of us to fall in love with it. His work ethic and drive however, was far greater than anyone else I knew. Day in and day out he would work on perfecting his game. By the time high school came around he was one of the top catchers in South Jersey, earning multiple invites to the Carpenters Cup (highly prestigious tournament for the best players in NJ, Pennsylvania, and NY) and receiving several offers to play at D3 schools. After many hours of tough decision making he finally came to the conclusion that he would stay home commute to community college and play at one of the best player developing colleges in the US. Today after his lovely morning workout I was able to talk to him on the phone and ask him a few questions.

Interview

What do you see yourself doing with your baseball career in 2 years after you get your associates degree? – My goal is to play at a big D1 school somewhere where its warm and preferably near the beach… obviously. I’ve always loved the idea of living the life of a big college baseball player’s lifestyle. The atmosphere of the stadium and fans really adds a whole new element to the game that makes it even more remarkable… especially under the lights.

What do you love most about the sport? – Everything. What isn’t there to love?? From the games style, to the subtle intensity of it, and even just the small of the grass and dirt on a dewy April morning. There’s nothing like it. Its beautiful.

What would you say the biggest difference is between playing on the high school level and the college level? – Definitely the talent level of the other players. Simple mistakes happen much less frequently and the ball tends to fly around the diamond a little faster. (laughs) Its definitely not the same amount of joking around at practice either like we all used too, my coach is really intense. The game also seems to move a lot faster too when I’m out there, its pretty awesome.

What do you look forward to most this upcoming season? -Well, on top of being able to go to Orlando for spring training and play in a tournament down there, I’m really excited to travel around to other schools and play. Really wanna take in the college experience and play all over. HOPEFULLY finishing out the series in Omaha Nebraska (location of World Series). Also I’m really just looking forward to taking my game to the next level where I can perfect my craft and really excel at what I’m doing.

Interview Recap:

Clearly, my brother is very passionate about and devoted to the game. Despite his many early mornings and late nights, he remains upbeat and appears to be loving what he’s doing. On top of that he’s finally surpassed me weight wise (which I still don’t like to admit to this day), but he’s very clearly made a great amount of progress in his just over one semester of college. He is currently battling it out with one other player for the starting spot at catcher and I wish nothing but the best of luck to him.