So just before spring break we were assigned an assignment where we had to identify and talk about 5 role models of ours.

For me I definitely knew that I was going to include some baseball players so I thought about which players inspire me or who I play very similar to. So I thought of Josh Donaldson and Marcus Stroman. Even though baseball is a huge part of my life I also play sports like hockey, so I thought of a hockey player I’ve looked up to for a long time, Brendan Gallagher. The one other thing that I do a lot is watch and make YouTube videos. So I kind of wanted to pick a YouTuber that I want to make videos like due to quality and effort. I thought of this YouTuber named Blackjack, he does sports gaming videos but creates a bunch of stuff to make the game his own. I only needed one last person. So I started thinking about who I look up to however actually talk to. I thought of Tyson Gillies. He is a Minor Leaguer for baseball and has been around helping coach baseball clinics in North Van. Here are my paragraphs:

Josh Donaldson

Josh Donaldson is a Third Baseman for the Toronto Blue Jays. He is one of the players on the Toronto Blue Jays that turned them around a few seasons ago. I look up to him because he plays third base. This is big for me because I had to learn how to play that position quickly last year so I looked at how he played it. When he plays baseball he has almost a swagger about him as he is Josh Donaldson and no one else is. I play very similarly as I’m kinda chirpy and have a baseball persona. He is also a flashy fielder but he isn’t a hot dog, he is still very professional and doesn’t just dive for the fun of it. Again this is similar to me, I can make the flashy play but I don’t purposely wait for a ball so that I can dive for it. Josh Donaldson is probably tied for my favourite player in the MLB along with Marcus Stroman.

Marcus Stroman

Marcus Stroman is one of the Starting Pitchers in the very good Blue Jays Starting Rotation. He is only 5’8″ and 180 lbs. I have always looked up to him as he is one of the smallest pitchers in the MLB but it doesn’t effect how he plays. He is a very emotional player as he always reacts strongly to everything that happens. He’s very down to earth and is very thankful for everything he has. This matters to me because if you are a spoiled baseball player I struggle to have any respect for you. He is representing the US in the World Baseball Classic this year which shows his loyalty to his nation. He played for the Vancouver Canadians a few years ago and went all the way through the huge MLB farm system.

Blackjack

Blackjack is a sports gaming YouTuber that I watch very often. He is not a huge YouTuber as he only has about four-thousand subscribers but he really deserves more. His work is very high quality and goes very deep into a story. This is something I have almost try to replicate as the story telling aspect of his videos are incredible and I would really like to be able to do what he does. He is a very creative YouTuber that comes up with ideas and completely fledges them out. An example of this is his NBA 2K17 series, he is the GM of the Brooklyn Nets but created his own Draft Class and played there career through high school and college. Even though his work must take a long time to create he still manages to post often 3 videos a week. His time management is something I wish I had because especially during the spring I don’t have much time due to baseball but I want to stay in pace with the rest of the class with homework.

Brendan Gallagher

Brendan Gallagher is a hockey player for the Montreal Canadiens. He is only 5’9″ and about 175lbs. He has been doubted his whole career and been told that he is too small. Going into junior he was drafted in the 9th round, so there wasn’t much expected of him. However he scored his first goal pretty quickly in the season. The next year he scored 41 goals and had 81 points in 72 games. No one expected this of him. He played in the World Juniors of 2012 and wasn’t expected to do much. He finished the tournament with 6 points and had shocked the world at his skill. Although he had shown that he could play in the world juniors, the NHL’s scouts didn’t believe he could do much in the NHL because he was too small. He ended up getting drafted in the 5th round and still wasn’t expected to do much. So far he has had a very good career with the Montreal Canadiens and looks like he has more to come.

Tyson Gillies

Tyson Gillies is an outfielder in the San Diego Padres farm system. He is from Vancouver and has been running baseball clinics with MSLL this past winter. He was diagnosed of being deaf when he was 4 but got hearing aids and learned how to lip read very well. This past winter I have had the chance to help out at his clinics. He is a very cool guy and is very good at teaching baseball to the kids either 11 and 12, or 7 and 8. This is something I would kind of like to do when I get older, like help make young kids love the game and get better. Even though he is double my age he treats me like a peer when I helped out at his sessions. He made me feel like his friend which I definitely would say we are. In his baseball career he wasn’t drafted very high as he was picked in the 25th round. He wasn’t doubted but there wasn’t much expected out of him seeing as he was drafted so late. He has played to Team Canada in 5 different tournaments including the World Baseball Classic. He is definitely someone I look up to and aspire to be like.

The last thing we had to do for the assignment was create an image that has all our leaders and ourselves in it. Here’s my photo: