He was one of many guys in attendance. When his turn came, Brandon was the show-off of the entire group of participants. While batting, he hit his first five pitches out of the park and only missed one of the 20 that were pitched to him. While fielding, he demonstrated comparable skill to his batting. Brandon had always played shortstop during his school years and had gotten very good at it which is why his high school coach questioned why he didn’t return to play his sophomore year or thereafter, despite the coach making numerous pleas for him to return.

Later that evening, Brandon’s phone rang, it was the baseball coach. He had been extremely impressed at Brandon’s try-out and was asked to be on the team. Brandon of course replied that he would and was instructed to report to the athletic department at noon the next day for a meeting with the new team. Brandon was elated that he had made the team and that coach was so impressed with him. The next morning, Brandon went to his morning classes and made his way across campus within 15 minutes of the end of his last morning class and the noon team meeting. He did not want to be late, and in fact was there within 7 minutes when it usually takes him at least 10 minutes to make it that far across campus.

The meeting started out with the coach re-introducing himself and the remainder of the coaching staff. After that, it was each players turn to introduce themselves. Turns out, Brandon was the only player who had not played all through high school. Then it was the Athletic Director’s turn to introduce himself and pass out several forms. There was a waiver for the players to sign and return so that they could play, the practice schedule, workout schedule and gym hours, and lastly, a pre-participation medical release form. As the athletic director rambled on, he explained that this form would have to be completed by a doctor and returned to the athletic department prior to first practice. The players had the option of seeing their own doctor, going to the campus infirmary, or seeing one of the practices on the list attached to the back of the form that have agreements with the school.

After a few more minutes of the AD wishing the team well and asking if there were any other questions, the coach ended the meeting by telling the players that he would see them at first practice. Afterwards, Brandon met a few of his teammates and looked at his watch to see that he had just enough time to grab a sandwich before heading to the other side of the campus for his next class. He headed out, grabbed a sandwich from the university cafeteria and headed across campus to his next class. After class, Brandon strolled back to his dorm where he crashed on his bed for a few hours nap. By the time he woke up, it was 6 PM, too late to call his doctor’s office, he’ll do it tomorrow. He was hoping that his pediatrician would just sign the form, even though it had been a while since he had seen him.