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| By Nate Luscombe Staff Writer CHICOPEE Doug Clark was an outstanding three-sport athlete in high school. After attending UMass on an athletic scholarship, it's not surprising that Clark is a professional athlete. The surprising part is the sport he plays professionally wasn't one of the sports he played in high school. As a student at Springfield Central High School, Clark played football, basketball and tennis. He went to UMass on a football scholarship, but met with the baseball coach shortly after arriving, and said he wanted to play baseball. The rest, as they say, is history. Clark told his story to about 50 students, many of them athletes, at Chicopee High School last week. His message was motivational, imploring students not to give up on their dreams. "You can be anything you want to be," he said. "It just takes focus and perseverance. My dream was to be the best athlete I could be." Clark made his Major League debut in September as a member of the San Francisco Giants. He had spent eight years in the minor leagues, after being drafted in the 7th round out of college. Facing Rudy Seanez of the San Diego Padres, Clark walked on four straight pitches in his first plate appearance. It had been a long road. "I went to the same plaza as you guys, the same mall as you guys. I had the same thoughts," Clark said. "But here I was walking into [the ballpark]." Clark said he learned about focus in an odd way. One afternoon, when playing with one of his brothers, a cat was slinking around in their field. Clark and his brother tried to shoo the cat away, but it wouldn't move. They threw rocks at it to get it to move, but the cat stayed. Finally, the cat pounced into a bush, and emerged with something in its mouth. "That cat knew what it wanted, and wasn't going to let anything get in its way," Clark said. "It was focused." Clark also urged students to set lofty goals, and try as hard as possible to reach them. "Even if you don't get where you want to, you'll at least get somewhere," he said. Dedication is another aspect necessary to achieve one's goals, Clark said. "You have to be willing to work when other people aren't," he said. Clark said perseverence could possibly be the most important of all the traits. He was left off the September call-up list toward the end of last season, which he said was somewhat disappointing. September is the end of the minor league baseball season. Major League teams generally bring a number of players up to the Majors to give players some experience at the next level. After not being called up, Clark returned home to Springfield and was substitute teaching at Central, when his father came in one afternoon and told him to call the Giants. He called, and was told he'd been called up. It was 3:30 p.m.; his plane to San Francisco left from Bradley International Airport at 5:30 p.m. "I didn't get what I wanted at first, but it happened," Clark said. Clark held a question-and-answer session with students following his talk, which included video of his first plate appearance, and a highlight of Clark scoring the winning run in a game against the Padres. When spring training gets underway in about two weeks, Clark will report to camp with the Oakland Athletics. Clark is the cousin of Chicopee High School Principal Roland Joyal. Joyal's children attended the lecture as well, each wearing Oakland A's baseball caps, with matching green and yellow shirts. |