Warren's Heelan uses goals to target impressive accomplishments

It started out as some ideas scribbled on paper.

Over time, more scribbles were added while others were checked off or scratched out altogether.

Now that he's older, Warren catcher Scott Heelan simply types out his ever-evolving goal list. It's much easier to read that way.

And you better believe Heelan is reading that list every day. For him, it's like his bible for baseball.

"I've been writing down my goals for baseball ever since I was in like sixth grade," said Heelan, now a senior. "My Mom (Renee) and Dad (Bob) suggested I do that because I had a lot of things I wanted to do in baseball.

"They told me that it would be easier for me to keep track of my goals if I wrote them all down. They also said that I couldn't just write down a bunch of things unless I also wrote down how to go about getting there."

So for every big goal Heelan has, he lists a bunch of little goals he needs to meet in order to reach it. Since middle school, he's posted the most up-to-date version of his goal sheet on either his refrigerator or bulletin board.

"It's pretty neat to be able to check something off the sheet," Heelan said.

Heelan's marker has been getting a workout lately.

In fact, the biggest goal he's had since junior high got a big black mark through it earlier this school year when he signed his national letter of intent to play Division I baseball at Virginia Tech.

Along the way, Heelan has also hit all kinds of smaller goals - such as hitting better than .400 (he's at .515 and has had multiple homers in the past week), keeping pass balls to a bare minimum and thwarting a vast majority of attempted steals - in becoming one of the best catchers in Lake County, a feat that seemed unlikely even two years ago.

"I decided in early August (of 2009) on Virginia Tech but I still don't know if it's hit me yet," Heelan said. "Every year since I've been making my goal lists, earning a college scholarship was on there. I've always wanted to play in college.

"But until you walk on that (college) field, you're never really sure if you're going to make it."

Heelan wasn't the only one who didn't always see a college scholarship as a slam dunk.

In fact, Warren coach Clint Smothers wasn't even sure Heelan would make it in high school, at the varsity level. He thought Heelan's size might hold him back.

At 5-feet-10 and 170 pounds, Heelan is still on the small side for a catcher. But he used to be much smaller.

As a sophomore, he seemed better suited for the infield, standing barely 5-feet-7 and checking in at 120 pounds.

"He was a tiny kid, one of the smallest kids on the team," Smother said. "Scott didn't fit the typical mold of a catcher and I just remember wondering if the kid was ever going to be able to play for us up on varsity.

"I used to talk to my assistants about that. We knew that Scott really wanted to be a catcher because he just loves the position. He had been playing it since middle school. He was determined to stick with it. But we just didn't know if he'd be big enough."

A bit of a growth spurt helped Heelan fill out (and up) between his sophomore and junior year.

But Smothers now believes that Heelan probably would have earned the job anyway, no matter his size.

"Well, he showed us," Smothers said with a laugh. "Basically, Scott just worked and worked himself into a really great catcher. I mean, he worked his butt off. Scott is just the biggest gym rat you'll ever meet. Every night during the off-season, he was doing something for baseball. He was hitting, he was catching, anything he could because it was that important to him to be the best he could be.

"Even now, he's in the gym 40 minutes after everyone else goes home, working on core stuff, lifting weights, plyometrics. We've pretty much got to kick Scott out of the gym. Looking back now, it's pretty funny that we ever worried about his future."

Heelan wound up impressing the coaches at Virginia Tech so much at a showcase that they put an offer on the table after just a 20-minute conversation with Smothers. Northwestern, Villanova and Miami of Ohio also showed serious interest.

"I still have people ask me, 'So do you know where you're going to go to college and I'll say 'I'm going to play at Virginia Tech,'" Heelan said. "And they'll be like, 'Oh, second base?' And I'll say, 'No, catcher.' They'll give me this funny look.

"People will probably always doubt that I can be a catcher because I'm smaller. But I'm also scrappy and I've been proving people wrong for a long time. I know that if I put hard work in, I can do anything. I take pride in that."

Meanwhile, Smothers takes great pride in his catcher. So much so that he begins every new semester in his health classes with a Scott Heelan story.

"I teach freshmen health and I'm always talking to the kids about goals," Smothers said. "I tell them about Scott's story and about his goals and I tell them that if you believe in yourself and you work hard enough, just like Scott has, you can do anything and reach any goal."

pbabcock@dailyherald.com