Opening Day Ceremonies

Hello Padre fans and welcome to our team blog. Matt and I hope to keep on top of posting game summaries and some pictures throughout the season. We think it will be fun and something for the kids to look forward to after the games.

Opening day was a lot of fun and the kids behaved wonderfully through a long and warm day. It started with individual and team pictures, followed by a great pancake breakfast... then many of the boys participated in the home run derby and Marty, Glen and myself helped on the field. We set the tone for the season when it was our turn to march in the Parade of Champions. As the boys crossed home plate, they huddled up and our front-man Will Hertel leading our team chant with a strong voice...

Will: "WHO ARE WE?!"
Team: "PADRES!!!"
Will: "AND WHAT DO WE DO?!"
Team: "PLAY HARD!!!"

The crowd loved it... total bedlam... it was awesome! Later while patiently listening to the announcements, Tyler turned to me with a huge smile and said "Coach Sean... we made the crowd yell when we did our chant." I returned a huge smile back and simply said, "Yes. We sure did." ;)

After that the team sat on the field to hear from the league president, the mayor of our town, and other dignitaries. It was all capped off with the singing of our national anthem and the confetti cannons. Some of the players helped hold the giant American flag during the anthem. All the day's activities got the boys geared-up for the upcoming season.

Here are a few pics and a video from the day... More to come soon.

Coach Sean


Here they are showing their guns...




Other miscellaneous photos...