By Jeff Odom
Colton Olasin’s love for the game of baseball blossomed at an early age.
At just 4-years-old, the Spring Hill resident would play games of catch with his friends and father, Michael, in the front yard for hours at a time.
Then, one day, Michael asked his son if he would like to play any competitive sports. Olasin’s choice came without hesitation.
“Can I try baseball?” Olasin asked.
Michael instantly said yes and it was a decision that changed Olasin’s life forever.
“I started getting into it and I just didn’t want to stop after that,” Olasin said. “It was constant baseball, baseball, baseball. Every week I was practicing and getting better and better by working hard. Even when it’s a lot of baseball, it can get tiring, but I still don’t want to stop playing.”
Olasin’s talent for the game was evident from Day 1 at the Spring Hill Dixie Baseball League.
He skipped past T-ball and joined the older group of players — some twice his age – at coach pitch. Then, just three years later, Olasin started playing travel ball at age 7 with one of the area’s top teams, the Tampa Titans, where he ventured all across the state of Florida and the country, playing in various tournaments.
“You get to go to places not just to play ball, but the experience meeting different people and different kids and different skills of the game is cool,” said Olasin, who is now 12. “It was cool meet other people and learn different things about the game and how they play.”
As he grew older, Olasin moved on to the nationally recognized Pro Talent Instructs (PTI) Maniacs baseball program in Tampa, an organization that was started in 2006 providing college and scouting camps, with guidance from both current and former major leaguers, where he competed against some of the best players in the nation in places like Cooperstown, N.Y. — home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
This season, Olasin led the Maniacs in batting average (.494), home runs (14) and was third in total RBIs (54). On the mound, he led all pitchers in strikeouts (63) and had the third-most wins with six in 18 appearances.
With those statistics, his stock skyrocketed and others around the country began to take notice in a big way. Soon, Olasin was given an offer he couldn’t refuse — an opportunity to tryout for the inaugural United States National 12-Under Baseball Team.
“Because I play travel ball and since I had been around a lot, somebody from California had asked me if I wanted to tryout for the team and I couldn’t pass it down. I had to say yes,” Olasin said.
After the tryout, Olasin impressed the scouts in attendance and was named as one of only 18 youth baseball players in the country to the team, which will compete for the 2013 International Baseball Federation 12-Under World Cup July 18 to 28 in Taipei City, Taiwan.
“I was just speechless for like 10 minutes,” Olasin said. “I just sat there thinking for 10, 20 minutes with all of these ideas going through my head like ‘I can’t believe I’m going to Taiwan’ and ‘Wow, this is awesome’. It was just shocking. Out of all those kids that tried out for the team, I made it. I made the team.”
His mother, Jess Hoffman, said she couldn’t believe he made it and added that she was proud of her son, because of all the hard work he puts into getting better on and off the field.
“I was very excited for him,” Hoffman said. “I’m very proud of him. He’s been playing ball for a long time and he works very hard for it, has a great passion for it. … His dad has a very strong knowledge for baseball and he played baseball in college, before tearing his ACL. So, he got most of those skills from him.”
When Olasin delivered the news to his friends and teammates, most of them thought he was joking until he showed them the roster.
“Some of my friends that I tell, they don’t even believe me,” Olasin said with a laugh. “Their mouths usually go all the way to the floor and they don’t believe me, sometimes, but once they see it, they think it’s awesome, though.”
Olasin said he knows without the sacrifices by his parents, none of this would be possible. Hoffman is still trying to raise money through donations and sponsors to see her son play in Taiwan through the website, GoFundMe.com.
“Not a lot of people have parents like that who take them where they need to go just to play baseball,” Olasin said. “I think my parents are great. I don’t know how they’re doing it, I don’t know how they can take me all of these places, but it’s awesome and I’m glad they’re able to do that for me and support me like that. I really respect that.”
One of the biggest things Olasin is looking forward to when he gets to Taiwan is meeting other people from around the world and sharing their experiences with the game, while representing the U.S. He said seeing how other countries play baseball might be more rewarding than winning it all.
“When you’re playing for the U.S.A., it’s not just about playing ball, but when you go to a different country, you’re representing your entire nation,” Olasin said. “It’s awesome, because you let other people know that U.S.A. baseball is a big thing and meeting different people from other countries like China and Venezuela and all of these other places. It’s going to be cool.”
— Follow Jeff Odom on Twitter @JOdomLaker
