Emma Iles playing softball and golf for BACS
Photo by Bradley Collier
In Emma Iles' phone calendar for the Spring, consider her marked busy - all the time.
The Bay Area Christian School sophomore plays not one but two sports at the same time in the spring starring for the softball and golf teams.
“With both sports being in the spring, it has been a lot of work,” Iles said. “But very exciting and definitely worth it.”
Iles’ hard work paid off with a pair of trips to State as a freshman.
Being in her sophomore year, Iles enjoys both sports, from hitting her irons and sharpening her short game on the links to stepping into the box and hitting on the softball diamond.
As it stands now, Iles envisions herself carrying her golf bag down the course for a collegiate team in the future.
“I would love to play golf in college,” Iles said. “My dream schools for golf are Dallas Baptist University or Texas A&M.”
The BACS dual-sport star – whose walkup song this year is Iron Man – has enjoyed repping a school that means so much to her.
“BACS has definitely prepared me for college and offered me a Biblical-based education,” Iles said.
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JoJo Medellin of Bay Area Christian
Photo by Bradley Collier
When Jordan "JoJo" Medellin wakes up in the morning, no matter if he was unhittable or struggling off the bump, there is a sense of excitement that comes over him when he arrives at the ballpark.
“I truly love the grind of baseball,” Medellin said. “I come to the field excited and eager to better my game.”
The skills that the Bay Area Christian School senior has developed over years of practice hasn’t just caught the attention of area teams but also colleges.
Medellin signed with Baylor University.
“I’ve always dreamed of playing baseball for Baylor University,” Medellin said. “When I participated in a camp there, the coaches made a great first impression and helped me understand what it means to play with ‘Baylor’ across your chest. The campus was amazing and helped me feel right at home.”
The right-handed pitcher is lights out on the mound.
Medellin has a mix of a four-seam and two-seam fastball – his best pitch – that he can run up there between 86 and 89 miles per hour. Mix in a circle change and knuckle curve, you can see why he is hard to hit.
One of his highlight mound outings this season came against Logos Prep with a complete game, one-hit performance with 13 strikeouts and no walks.
But he can also bring the boom stick.
At the Father Wilson Tournament in March, Medellin lowered the bat head and went 8 of 14 (.571) with six RBIs, one home run and three doubles.
The success Medellin is having on the field in 2022 can be credited to his work on and off the field in the offseason.
“My main focus was to get stronger physically and to continue to master the fundamentals of the game,” Medellin said. “I take great pride in my mental strength as well. Even if I don’t have my best stuff that game, I try to do my best to go out there and compete every single pitch.”
Last season, Medellin was a part of the Broncos team that hoisted the TAPPS Division III State Championship trophy, which he calls “truly a blessing and a great experience.”
As Medellin puts the final touches on his high school career and gets ready to pull on the green and gold of Baylor, the senior hopes his peers remember him for more than baseball.
“I would like people to remember not just my ability on the baseball field but how good of a friend I was,” he said. “Also, the way I treated people with respect and kindness.”
With his skill and that mindset, Medellin is bound for great things at Baylor and maybe even one day we could see him run out of the bullpen for his hometown Houston Astros.
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DEDICATION TO CARE: BACS Head Athletic Trainer Tom Bradley with More than 25 Years of Experience
17 May, 2022
Tom Bradley, Bay Area Christian
Coming out of high school, Tom Bradley didn't think one day he would be a head athletic trainer. At the time he had heard of the profession.
It wasn’t until his college playing career at Central Methodist University, where he played football and ran track, Bradley suffered some injuries and found himself in the training room a few times, which ultimately changed his life’s path.
“After college my path was going to be a coach but I got interested in athletic training,” Bradley said.
Bradley went on to graduate school at Midwestern State University where he got his masters in kinesiology and got licensed to be an athletic trainer in Texas.
Since then, over a 25-year career, Bradley has worked at the college level, public school level, has done work with the Houston ballet, the rodeo and other events. Five years ago, he was hired on at Bay Area Christian School as its first full time head athletic trainer.
Bradley started the student athletic trainer program, which now boasts an average of 20 to 25 kids in it per year. In spring football, they get their CPR and first aid training and also get trained in wound care, icing athletes down and taping to prepare them for the upcoming year.
The students during the day also get other lessons sprinkled in.
“I have eight different class periods during the day,” Bradley said. “Student trainers have the option to plug in whatever works for their schedule. So, I have them spaced out during the day. It just gives us a minimal instruction every day from learning the anatomy of the hand or how to do ACL rehab. Some classes they have more hands on than others.”
Not only do the students get to work with and learn from an athletic trainer in Bradley who has more than two decades of experience in the business but also get to do it in a top-notch facility on campus.
“It’s a great facility,” Bradley said. “There is plenty of room to do all rehab in house from ACLs to shoulder rehab. We have the preventative maintenance area to the area with the whirlpools. We are well equipped to take care of our athletes here.
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