Valor Christian boys baseball continues to swing for the fences
HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. — Valor Christian High School baseball head coach Keith Wahl has continually shown grit and perseverance in his 12-year quest to lead his team to the 5A State Championship. Since 2007, Valor has won at all levels of competition, including multiple 4A championships. Now their leader, Coach Wahl, is once again preparing his team to compete at the highest level of Colorado high school baseball.
“Every game is a big game for us,” Wahl said. “Going through that constant ‘refiner’s fire’ helps our athletes experience and feel more ‘normal’ in high-stakes situations. I do believe that we’re the ones who apply meaning to different games. The game doesn’t know it’s bigger than any other game. We give every game and situation the attention it deserves and good things will happen as a result.”
Becoming the head coach for Valor Christian doesn’t just happen overnight. Wahl has been working towards this moment his entire life. He has gained experience and faith from two of his biggest mentors, his high school and college coaches.
“If I were to point to anything but the grace of Jesus in having this position, I’d be wrong,” he said. “God has entrusted me with this role and I’m blessed to have it. He did give me a couple of hall of fame coaches as influences in my high school coach, Bill Percy (ABFA HOF, Colorado Dugout Club HOF) and my college coach, Jim Boeve (NAIA HOF).”
Being part of such a strong team like Valor has allowed Coach Wahl to teach his team that every game matters. Before any games are played, other schools are circling the Valor game on their schedule. His team has to always stay prepared. They get the best effort from everyone.
“We know that almost every team will circle or highlight a game with Valor,” Wahl said. “Honestly, it makes every game fun. We want to face the best version of the other team every day and we’re grateful that wearing ‘Valor’ on our jerseys does that for people. If we can make others better, we’re all for it.”
Coach Wahl has done an incredible job coaching his team to this point, teaching and leading his boys to constant success. Along with winning, Coach Wahl has worked towards teaching his boys the correct way to play the game.
“We want to ‘play humbly’ as we are called to in Matthew 23:12 and to also play with passion,” Wahl said. “Playing humbly doesn’t mean we should play with a spirit that is muted. We want the love we have for one another and for the game in this brotherhood to shine through every day.”
Playing with this attitude has allowed Valor Christian to be constantly ranked throughout the state. Every year, it seems as if they have a new group of boys ready to compete and win at a high level. Player development starts right away with Valor baseball.
“This is an area of passion for me,” Wahl said. “It boils down to this simple philosophy: ‘What are you doing to make every kid in your program better every day?’ That drives me to create things that allow every athlete in the program to access information, mentorship and growth on and off the field. Every player has a personal development folder we house on Google Drive where we dump game and practice video, Rapsodo hitting and pitching reports and documents we use to guide their personal and spiritual development.”
As each player joins the Valor baseball family, they grow as a player and as a person. Becoming more talented on the field also leads to more success off of it. Coach Wahl understands his mission as a head coach and I wouldn’t be surprised if he leads his team to even more success this upcoming year.
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