Learn From the Cavalier Greats

Many remember David Coleman as the exceptional Cavalier outfielder who made a web gem catch against FSU in the 2008 ACC Tournament or the batter who started the miraculous 2 out rally against UC Irvine in the 2011 Super Regional. Unfortunately, only a few of us know him as the great guy, a better friend, an amazing older brother, and a one of a kind son. These days Dave's playing days are over, but none of his former teammates have forgotten about him.

Last year Dave and his family received some terrible news about his mother. She was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), more popularly known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease." The crippling disease is commonly characterized by muscle atrophy, difficulty speaking, difficulty swallowing, and difficulty breathing.

Not surprisingly, the treatments for the disease are ridiculously expensive and have put the Coleman family under immense pressure. The Cavalier baseball family has come together the only way we now how to support David and his family through this trying time.

The folks at Rise Baseball in Midlothian have offered to allow Dave and some of our closest friends to put on a baseball camp to raise money for a fund in Dave's Mother's name. Ever wanted to have your son learn from some of the best UVa baseball players ever and guys destined to wear the big league uniform one day? Now is your chance.

This Saturday Tyler Wilson, Phil Gosselin, Jarret Parker, Will Roberts, Steven Proscia, Kenny Swab, Scott Silverstein, Chris Taylor, Reed Gragnani, John Barr, and of course Dave Coleman are putting on four two hour training sessions. The camps start at noon and begin again every two hours. Players need to be between 8 and 18, but I am sure they are ok if Dads came along too. The cost is $100 per player per session and that includes the chance to get autographs from all of these ACC Champions, College World Series Participants, and soon to be major leaguers (and even one with time in the Bigs already!).  All you need to do to register is simply send an email to playwiththepros2014@gmail.com and let them know you want to come!

More information can be found here.

If you can't make it out to the camps this weekend, but would like to help out, they are accepting donations. If you can spare anything and would like to make a donation, send an email to playwiththepros2014@gmail.com

(Will's personal note: I know how great of a teammate and guy Dave is and it tears my heart out to see what his family is going through. I wish I could be there and I wish I could help out more than just simply writing an article. If any of you are available this Saturday or can just simply help out with a donation, I ask you to please please please do so. I got the chance to speak with David and his family is extremely honored and feel amazingly blessed just to have people in their lives willing to put this together for them, but that is not enough. Please consider helping out in any way you can. Thanks)