Victoria is getting a new collegiate baseball team, and Camosun College students are welcome to play on it. The Victoria Golden Tide, set to start playing next fall at Royal Athletic Park, is open to Camosun students who are enrolled in at least nine credits. The team will be in the Canadian College Baseball Conference division, which features five teams from BC and three from Alberta.
Golden Tide head coach Curtis Pelletier—who is also the Victoria HarbourCats hitting and recruiting coach—says that making practices as game-like as possible is key in helping the players reach their full potential.
“There has to be some growing pains, and there will be failure,” he says. “One of the biggest things I preach is failure. When we’re training we make it chaotic, we make it game-like. It’s hard for the players. A lot of players don’t have the patience to stick with it because they’re not getting immediate results. For me, when I see the kids working hard and understanding that it’s a process, and over time… It’s kind of like watching yourself grow in the mirror. You don’t see it every day. You see tiny increments of it, but those tiny increments add up.”
Day by day, swing by swing, throw by throw: they all have to matter. That’s Pelletier’s mantra. Bullpen depth is key for pitching, and velocity training is front and centre for batting practice.
“I see a lot of kids training off tees and off soft underhand throws, and I think that is beneficial for a little bit, but we need to work mechanically on high velocity, because that’s what we’re going to be seeing in games,” he says. “And that’s where the failure comes in to begin with, and having the trust in the process.”
To get the best players possible, Pelletier—who is also an associate scout with the MLB’s Miami Marlins—relies on going to games and scouting, but beyond that, he says, baseball’s a relationship business.
“I’ve got a lot of good contacts throughout western Canada who… I’ll take their word. If they say they got a guy, I’m going to go with them,” he says. “I say, ‘Alright, I’ll take your guy. I trust you.’”
It’s a two-way street: if he gets sent someone who doesn’t pull through, then that’s not a trustworthy relationship, says Pelletier.
“We work hard together in western Canada to make sure that we’re all helping each other out with players and development,” he says.
Signing the players will begin this week; Pelletier isn’t sure on the number of players from Camosun yet, but the more the better, he says.
“I would love to see as many kids from Victoria, whether it be Camosun or UVic, playing on this team,” he says. “Kids go to Camosun and then go to UVic after, and, I mean, that’s why I think it’s such a good fit for this town.”
Pelletier says that, because of COVID-19, it’s hard to tell what will happen in the fall of 2021.
Interested Camosun students can email curtis@goldentidebaseball.com to be added to the club’s mailing list and receive information on training camps and signings, or go to goldentidebaseball.com for more information.