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Local team goes national

Elite Baseball Training 14-U - a youth team with kids from around the Chicago area - set their sights high this year, competing locally and nationally in the largest and most competitive tournaments in the nation from Illinois to Iowa, Indianapolis and multiple trips to Atlanta, Georgia.

The team practices and trains out of at Top Pick Athletics in Sugar Grove.

Just announced, these boys earned the No. 8 ranking in the nation out of hundreds of teams, according to Perfect Game.

The team, with many of the boys playing together since they were 9 and 10 years old has become a group of friends, fierce competitors and great young men who train hard, play hard and earned respect all along the way.

"Northern Teams" aren't supposed to go to national tournaments and not just compete, but win vs super teams of "All-stars" from Texas, Georgia and Florida. Winning tournaments and placing high in nearly every tournament has become a matter of course for this squad. There is a team belief. There is a difference of "we" and not "me."

Results such as finishing sixth out of 140 teams in the World Wood Bat Championship and in the Sweet 16 in the Perfect Game National Championship has catapulted this team into the national spotlight.

It is not your typical high-level travel organization staff. Led by Manager Shane Wilson, a local business owner of a concrete and sewer company, assisted by Brad Essig, a local school principal, Aaron Lobliner who runs a marketing and sales organization, and the one-of-a-kind Benito Roman Cruz, a trainer to the pros from Puerto Rico whose business was destroyed and family uprooted by Hurricane Maria, brought together their various expertise and has helped mold these boys into the team they are today.

Starting last October, the team would practice together and individually at Top Pick Athletics in Sugar Grove 3-5 times a week as early as 6 a.m. and as late as 11 p.m. Hitting, fielding, throwing and becoming a team and not just a collection of good players.

There is a story behind every boy, injuries overcome, travel problems, family struggles and more but the real story is the team. There is much negativity of the next generation. There is something different here. Supporting one another. Cheering for each other. Showing up early and staying late. Yes, it is true that hard work and having a belief matters. Just ask any of these boys … or the boys they played against.

If you see one of them, give 'em a high-five. They deserve it!

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