Tim Kessell grew up across the recreation of baseball and is now passing on his ardour for the game as a Little League coach and the president of Madison Journey Baseball.Picture courtesy of Tim Kessell
Tim Kessell’s journey by means of baseball has taken him to all components of the nation. Now a Madison resident, Tim has taken his ardour for the sport to the Madison Journey Baseball and Madison Little League applications, the place he’s instilling lifelong classes to the city’s younger ballplayers each on and off the sphere.
Along with his father Jim serving within the Coast Guard, Tim grew up a army brat. Tim’s hometown was Weatherly, Pennsylvania, however he performed baseball in quite a few cities whereas rising up, together with Jonesport, Maine; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Thibodaux, Louisiana. Though he was shifting from city to city, Tim says that baseball was a relentless for him and that taking part in the game all the time made him really feel at residence.
“Baseball has been an enormous a part of my life. I performed on each crew, yearly, and each probability I might,” says Tim. “I used to be a army brat, so I might transfer round fairly a bit. I might all the time search for the baseball program as a strategy to combine into friendships and be taught concerning the communities.”
Tim performed his freshman yr of highschool baseball in Thibodaux earlier than shifting again to Weatherly for the subsequent three years. He graduated in 1997 after which performed a yr of baseball at Lock Haven College in Pennsylvania. Tim liked taking part in baseball and, even in occasions of failure, he discovered there was all the time a lesson to be realized throughout his time on the diamond.
“The attitude of being a participant is essential. You perceive the expectations that coaches have of you. You search for the camaraderie and the friendships,” Tim says. “I really like the custom of baseball. I really like the failure facet. One of the best gamers to ever play failed 70, 80 % of the time. There’s so much that may be realized from that personally and from a crew perspective. I all the time appeared ahead to overcoming one thing that may have tripped you up the day earlier than.”
Following a yr at Lock Haven, Tim went on to serve in the USA Coast Guard like his father. Tim served for 22 years earlier than retiring from the army in 2020. Tim all the time wished to be a frontrunner when he was taking part in baseball and took that very same mentality with him into the Coast Guard. Tim quickly realized that teaching appeared to suit the beliefs he had primarily based his life round.
“I all the time wished to be a kind of leaders and motivators on the groups I performed on. I attempted to be reliable, I attempted to be there for my teammates,” Tim says. “These elementary values carried ahead to maturity. It was similar to the roles I performed within the U.S. Coast Guard.”
Tim’s first teaching job was as an assistant boys’ soccer coach in Elizabeth Metropolis, North Carolina. Tim loved his transition into teaching and felt that his experiences as a frontrunner and mentor guided him as he took on that function.
Tim and his household moved to Madison in 2010. In 2013, Tim’s son Nate began taking part in tee-ball, and he’s been teaching in Madison ever since. As he started teaching extra, Tim began to understand how a lot it meant to him. Tim knew that he wished to make an impression on his gamers, however he didn’t notice how a lot they might impression him.
“Plenty of occasions people take into consideration you influencing the gamers, however you don’t notice how a lot the gamers affect you as an individual. Having that facet and perspective is what continues to encourage me to be that influencer to younger people,” Tim says. “The sport of baseball is a automobile and methodology to show a few of these classes which can be essential in life.”
Tim is presently the president of Madison Journey Baseball, having served in that function for almost a yr after former president Ken Carone advised that he step into the place. In Madison Little League, Tim has been largely teaching the identical group of gamers since their 9-U season. He was the pinnacle coach of the 9-U and 10-U groups in consecutive years earlier than changing into an assistant coach on the 12-U stage.
Tim was reunited along with his crew on the 12-U circuit when he served as a head coach this summer season. Tim loves teaching Little League and seeing the various backgrounds of the children that he will get to work with.
“Little League is the whole lot everybody thinks it’s. It’s the most effective organizations on the planet. You could have totally different ballplayers with totally different talents, totally different ages, all coming along with the hopes of being part of one thing larger than themselves,” says Tim. “It’s an actual pleasure to be somebody entrusted to assist information and supply these kinds of experiences.”
This yr, Madison’s 12-U All-Stars baseball crew gained the District 9 title and made a run to the ultimate of the Part 3 Event. Tim says it was a summer season that he’ll all the time keep in mind because of how everybody on his crew linked and got here collectively by the top of the season.
“It’s one thing I’ll always remember. You place a lot love and power into the gamers,” Tim says. “I used to be lucky to have a fantastic employees with me. Coaches are by no means a one-man present. Groups are by no means a one-man present. The dynamic of the employees and the gamers wanting to attain one thing larger than themselves was simply superior.”
Together with baseball, Tim has additionally served as a coach in Madison Youth Soccer for the previous six years. It doesn’t matter what crew he’s teaching, Tim is all the time in search of his gamers to be respectful, accountable, and accountable to each themselves and the individuals round them. Tim needs them to grasp what it means to play for Madison and to all the time symbolize themselves and their crew with class.
“Some of the essential features from a crew of mine is private accountability of every participant to themselves and to the crew. Accountability is massive for me. Respect is paramount—for your self, the sport, and your opponents,” says Tim. “Having Madison in your jersey, they’re representatives of our group. The way you carry your self will keep it up a lot additional than the sport.”
Tim feels that teaching is a privilege and embraces the chance to share his ardour with the subsequent era of Madison ballplayers. When he coaches, Tim focuses on educating his athletes methods to overcome adversity. Whereas he needs to win, Tim’s foremost aim is fostering a love of baseball in his gamers and guaranteeing that all of them perceive the teachings you possibly can be taught from the sport.
“It’s a privilege. Getting the gamers, dad and mom, the group, and the group to belief you as an influencer and a frontrunner ought to by no means be taken frivolously by anybody who coaches,” Tim says. “All coaches are simply trying to give again and keep it up a few of the traditions and legacies that they’ve skilled. Your hope is that each participant you’ve been part of needs to proceed taking part in baseball.”