EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — There is a well-known TV coach that tells his players to be a goldfish. Why? Because that animal has the shortest memory. That advice is quite true for the game of baseball. If a player lets their past mistakes cloud their mind, they are not focused on the current play. “The best piece of advice I’ve received from a coach is to leave mistakes in the past and focus on the play at hand,” says Josh Hirsch, a senior at Vistamar Academy.

Josh has been playing baseball for 12 years and his athletic goal is to play college-level baseball. He knows that leaving a mistake behind is vital. He describes recovering from allowing a ground ball to get past him during a game. “I put that behind me and the next ball was hit to me and I made the play to end the inning. “

The 17-year-old athlete plays for Beach Cities Baseball and Vistamar Academy. He is dedicated to the sport and uses his workouts to improve his strength, speed, and velocity. He says not being tall can be a challenge at times, but that’s why he works out the way he does. He also tries to the creative with his pitching. “The best advice I have ever been given was to treat every practice as an opportunity to improve yourself.”

The practice and focus paid off. He threw a no-hitter for Vistamar let season. This, according to him, is a career highlight. He was also the 2022 Team MVP for Vistamar. He made the CIF-SS Baseball Coastal All League First Team and was nominated for All League MVP.

To be recognized for MVP it takes character beyond skills on the field. Teams sports forge bonds between players. In baseball, the camaraderie somehow feels different. Maybe it’s the number of games, maybe it’s the number of practices that go into making a great team. Josh shares, “I love making new friends with all my teammates and having a good time with them outside of the sport. Being a member of a team has taught me to never bring others down, and to pick teammates up after making an error or striking out.”

Their before-game rituals are fun too, he says. “Typically, a team member will have a speaker and we will all listen to music on the ride to the games. It’s a great way for us to get prepared and in the mindset of getting ready to play. I’m really happy that my school was able to put a team together this past year. It was rough last year not being able to play because of COVID.”

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