Wyatt Williamson and Rodney Bean
We recently interviewed two Oxford Hills baseball players and USM commits Wyatt Williamson and Rodney Bean. Read what they had to say below.
TS- How long have you been playing baseball?
WW/RB- We have been playing baseball basically all of our lives. I think we started t ball around 4 or 5 years old.
TS- How long have you been playing together?
WW- Rodney and I have been playing baseball together since we were 9 years old. We played on the 9 year old all star team and won a state championship that year.
TS- What’s the first memory of playing when you were younger?
WW- My first memory is probably that first year I played with Rodney. I feel like really started to love baseball that year.
RB- My first memory with baseball is probably always wanting to be in the back of the line hitting in t-ball because everyone would hit every inning and the last kid up would always be able to hit a home run
TS- What is the biggest game you have played in?
WW/RB- When we were 13 we played in the babe ruth world series and played for a world series championship against California.
TS- How long have you been training at TruStrength?
WW/RB- We have been training at TS since 8th grade.
TS- What types of workouts do you at TruStrength that are targeted specifically to help your play on the baseball field?
WW- We do a lot of hip rotation work to help with hitting. Hip counters with the medicine balls. We also work on our speed by running with bands around us to help run the bases explosively.
RB- We do a lot of leg workouts like squats and deadlifts, we also do a lot of rotational workouts that all help link that leg drive into hitting and throwing.
TS- How do you think training at TruStrength benefits the team as a whole?
WW- It forms a bond among the team. We suffer together at the workouts which brings us closer as a team. We also count on each other to show up to the workouts.
RB- It helps the team in a few different ways, one way it helps us is by making us stronger and faster but the biggest thing to me is probably the team bonding part being able to find out what we would do for each other just by suffering and pushing ourselves as hard as we can. I don’t want to stop because no one else is stopping so I just have to keep pushing, and we learn to do the same thing on the field for each other
TS- Outside of the physical aspect of your training, what did you gain personally that has led to high performance on the field?
WW- I have gained a lot of confidence. Being stronger gives me a lot more confidence stepping on the diamond. Coach wall also has us do meditation drills which helped me a lot as well.
RB- mental toughness is a big thing that I developed. It helps on the field because everyday I'm not going to go out and play perfectly but now I can get over those things and try to find some way to contribute everyday.
TS- Your team [2019 Oxford Hills Vikings] went undefeated in the regular season. How do you keep the momentum rolling into the playoffs?
WW- We need to keep playing the baseball that we know how to play. We also need to keep making the right choices ON and OFF the field and keeping our bodies healthy.
RB- We need to keep playing good baseball and keep hitting the way we have been and find something to work on and get better at everyday. We need everyone to stay healthy
TS- What do you contribute this year's success to?
WW- I feel like this year we have a very unselfish team and everyone wants to win and play for each other. Also having the whole team train at TruStrength is a big advantage we have. We can always look back on all the work we put in and know that we have worked hard enough to deserve what we are gonna get.
RB- I feel like everyone this year knows their role and everyone is very unselfish and we have players that can step up if we need them to. We are a lot stronger and faster as a team and push ourselves to be the best we can be. We know we only have one shot at what our goal is and we are doing our best to meet that goal.
