The Boys Of Summer: Dual Purposes Guide Rooker During Off-Season

Some baseball players just play on summer college baseball teams to enhance their skills during the off-season, but sophomore outfielder Scott Rooker shared a personal account of both his intentions of playing baseball this past summer for the Athletes In Action squad in the New York Collegiate Baseball League.

I first got introduced to the Athletes In Action concept when I played for the Dallas Mustangs summer team during my junior and senior years in high school. We'd always play one of the Athletes In Action collegiate teams and after the games they would always share the gospel with us. That really interested me at the time because those are two things I love which was God and baseball and I thought it looked like a great opportunity to enjoy both.

Last fall, they sent me some information to get signed up for it. I was kind of hesitant at first, but I knew it would be a great opportunity. It turned out to be one of the greatest summers I've ever had.

Spiritually, I grew tremendously. I went to a Christian school for four years and I felt like I learned more over the past three months than I did at my high school. The group of guys on the team were really focused on their walk with God. Going to a Christian school is great, and I'd do it again, but sometimes people get tired of hearing the same thing over and over. This was just a different perspective because it was coming from baseball and a bunch of college kids. I really connected with a group of guys and we were able to learn a lot just from each other.

It was fun playing other teams because they knew who we were and what we were about. We could see that other teams had tensions against some of the other teams in the league, but we had good relationships with every one in the league. It was the first time A.I.A. was in New York, so it was a different experience for those teams because they had never seen what we do. It was real open and a lot of other coaches asked questions about what we do and the coaches really respected the way we played. They thought we were going to be this weak Christian team that would lay down, but we ended up finishing in third place in our division with a record above .500.

I think we made a real good connection with a lot of people. We were able to pass out brochures about our purpose. Ten or so people indicated that they wanted to receive Christ for the first time. A.I.A. does a really good job in following up with those guys and making sure that they find something they can get involved with at their own college. You could just tell by the way we played that things were different with us and that's what you want other people to see. My coaches Tim Hodges and J.D. Bickle did a tremendous job helping us grow on and off the field.

The local community we were a part of provided tremendous support to our cause. The host family I stayed with, the Bakers, were a true blessing and the Alfred Bible Church was very generous and outgoing to help A.I.A. reach its goal.

On the field, I played centerfield all summer. I actually did quite well and finished as one of the league leaders in several categories including RBI, triples, walks and stolen bases. I was selected to the All-Star game and got to start in centerfield in that game. It was pretty neat being in an All-Star game. I only had about three at bats in the game: I walked, stole a base and scored the first run. We won big, 9-2, over the Eastern All-Stars.

I've already applied to go play on the A.I.A. team in Alaska next summer. I'd like to go back to New York, but I'd also like to go see other parts of the country, too.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

The Boys Of Summer: Dual Purposes Guide Rooker During Off-Season

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