Month: May 2017

As every organization grows, opportunities arise for people to step up and contribute their skills to the greater good. We want to congratulate Logan Lyman who was installed today as the Youth Advisory Executive Board Vice President of Messaging!

Logan bleeds K Cancer Baseball gold and has been contributing to the cause for some time now. We look forward to seeing what he will add to the group in the future.

Lucas Domberg steps up and assumes the role of Chairman, Adrian Rapier takes over as President, Brock Ashens is the Vice President of Finance, Sean Hesano is the Vice President of Community Engagement, and Logan Lyman is now the Vice President of Messaging.

Congratulations guys and we look forward to seeing where you take the organization over the next year!

Good luck to K Cancer Baseball Travel Team players Andrew Johnson and Nolan Wegener as they represent Somonauk High School in their High School Sectionals today!

I received a text message last night that brought up a well of emotion and tears to my eyes.

It’s High School baseball tournament time. This is the pinnacle for most baseball players in America. While one team goes on to the excitement of the next round of playoffs, one teams season ends, and with it, the baseball careers of many of the seniors on the team.

This is it…

A player that I coached for a couple of years when he was younger sent me a text after his last game. He thanked me for making those years fun and for teaching him things about life. Things like how to treat others, how to handle adversity, how to stay positive when everything is going wrong.

I thought it was interesting what he didn’t thank me for.

He didn’t thank me for helping him win tournaments, and we did that. He didn’t thank me for helping him vanquish the crosstown rivals, and we did that. He didn’t thank me for preparing him for the next level of baseball that he would play, and we did that.

He understood that SPORT WAS JUST THE VEHICLE WE USED TO LEARN ABOUT LIFE. The principles that we learned that made us better individual contributors and teammates will also make us better Men, better Husbands, Fathers, Citizens.

If you are lucky enough to be allowed to Coach/Teach a young person this Summer, make sure you have the right goals in mind. It is an incredibly rewarding experience.

I have trophies in my garage gathering dust. The text message I received will be printed off, framed, and hung in my office at work….

You see it on baseball diamonds every Summer. A player makes an error or a pitcher walks a batter, then the player who thinks the game is all about him rolls his eyes and slumps his shoulders as he makes a disparaging comment.

That’s not the way “teams” work.

To find an example of true teamwork you need look no further than the United States Army Airborne Rangers. Their unit is specifically designed for small unit missions which they constantly train for.

All of their training is governed by the “Ranger Creed” which every Ranger could repeat in their sleep. One line in the creed is extremely important and allows every Ranger to give it their all, knowing that if they fail there will be a teammate there to literally pick them up. The line goes like this, “I will never leave a fallen comrade (teammate).

While Rangers spend time working on tactics and combat skills, they also work on perfecting the “Buddy carry”. If a Ranger can’t keep up, a teammate picks him up and throws him over his shoulder and carries him.

It’s amazing how you can perform when you know that if you make a mistake your teammate will throw you on their back and carry you as opposed to berating and leaving you to your own devices.

This Summer, when you are on your field of play whatever it may be, make sure you practice the “Buddy Carry”.

No parent of a child with cancer should have to decide between medicine or groceries. 

We are so thankful for the people and businesses who decided to give to K Cancer Baseball so that we can drop off surprises like Walmart cards 🙂

Time to get our #teammates together again.  We are excited to announce that Wired Cafe in Rockford will be hosting a “Little Bakers Day” for local childhood cancer patients and their siblings!

On June 3rd at 3:00 pm we will be heading to Wired Cafe at 414 E State St, Rockford, IL. The staff there will be teaching our kids how to make and decorate cookies as big as your head! If you know of a child battling cancer (and/or their siblings) who would like to take part, please direct them to our event on facebook at

https://www.facebook.com/events/102987953608841/?acontext=%7B%22ref%22%3A%22108%22%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D