America’s famed MLB (Major League Baseball) has produced some of the richest and most well known athletes on the planet, but for every superstar of the game that gets to walk out onto Fenway Park or pull on the legendary New York Yankee jersey, countless others toil away trying to earn their shot at the big time.
Armando Vida’s journey to Major League Baseball
Top players in the sport play over 160 games in a year and every one of them is striving to earn a spot in the best of seven, end of season World Series. Viewers tune in from across the globe to see the season finale and it’s an event that seems a long way from Sydney. However for Armando Vida the World Series is a stage he one day hope to reach and reach through extreme dedication and commitment. Armando has been training at Precision Athletica for over a year, every session ticking the boxes and edging ever closer to his shot at playing professional Baseball in America. This week Armando flew to Los Angles to compete in the cut throat trials system that will earn the top up and coming talent their big shot. Before Armando left we caught up with him for one last chat.
Name: Armando Vida Age:20 Position: Short Stop How long will you be in America and how many trials will you have: I arrived in LA a week ago and will be here trialing for approximately 3 weeks. Pretty much the full 3 weeks is taken up with trials because it’s the club scouts that train us, meaning there’s someone constantly checking up and making notes about our performance. What’s the trial process like in Baseball: It’s pretty simple and similar to most other sports. Every team puts on a limited number or try outs and if you can get a spot to attend, you go out and play as well as you can. However if you have contacts you can skip most of the initial trials and just trial for the big scouts. I’m trying to do that at the moment and using all the contacts I can make.
Have you ever played out there before: Yes when I was 16 I came to Miami thanks to the scout that represented the Baltimore Orioles in Venezuela. He saw me play and invited me to a private try out with the international scout Fred Ferreira, I wasn’t even meant to try out but for some lucky reason they let me, it went well and I got started. Baseball players have a lot of games and travel expectations, what’s the lifestyle like: If it goes well there is a lot of travel and games to play, baseball is a tough sport to make it in professionally as there are so many players competing. There are lots of leagues under the main professional one and the life style is extremely tough. It’s not luxurious like most people think.
How have you been preparing for this trip: I’ve been working hard at Precision Athletica with Nils, Jason and Pete – you guys are the best and have helped me enormously. The biggest challenge has been getting enough baseball time because it is difficult to find someone to help you out with repetitions and tips. Still I’ve done as much practiced as possible with some coaches from the Sydney Blue Sox (a professional team from Sydney). What has your training at Athletica focused on: I’ve been in every week at Precision Athletica for a little over a year and my training was focused on explosiveness, speed, conditioning and strength. The baseball aspect is just a matter of reps.
Armando has been fully committed to his training with us at Precision Athletica and we’re excited to see his progress in America. We’ve no doubt that he will perform great in the US and we’ll be the first in line to get tickets to see him in the World Series one day. Good luck from all of the team! If you or someone you know is looking to step up their training and elevate themselves to the next level in their sport, get in touch with us and come in for a chat to see if we can help.