Polley gets a crack at baseball fairy tale

George Polley, 19, is heading off to America to play college baseball for the Pierce College Raiders in the NWAC. It’s a dream come true for the farm boy from Pettavel (pictured with coach Charles Thompson).

FROM his family’s farm in Pettavel to an American College baseball pitch, George Polley, 19, is about to make his dream a reality when he flies to America on September 1.

George will arrive in Washington State to play in the NWAC as a catcher for the Pierce College Raiders and said he’d made plenty of sacrifices to get there.

“I don’t have too much of a social life because it’s based around baseball, it’s good that I love it. I remember as a three-year-old driving past the Waurn Ponds fields and telling mum I wanted to play on those fields.

“I did, and it’s grown from there. I went to Japan for baseball as an 11-year-old, I’ve been to South Carolina three times at 14, 15 and 16 years old.”

George will arrive in America where he will stay in an apartment with two other American students and pick his college subjects.

“You can get all different experiences at different colleges, it’s going to be really amazing.

“The first training session is on the fourth, three days after I get there. I’m extremely nervous and insanely excited at the same time.”

Charles Thompson from Next Level has been coaching George and said he knew he wanted to work with him after seeing him in action.

“I’ve seen his talent from a mile away and said how is nobody helping this kid achieve his dreams? I had a chat with him and he said he wants to play baseball in the states,” Mr Thompson said.

“We had a training session together so I could check him out and I said there were a few things he needed to work on. We put together a three-month plan to help him prepare as an athlete and as a student and he took that plan on board.

“The key to success is focusing in and he did. The cool thing is I played a little bit of college baseball, the people I played with are now baseball coaches.

“Once his skills were really starting to turn over to college calibre I picked up the phone to a friend of mine Kevin Davis at Pierce College and said I’ve got a guy.”

Mr Thompson said he has no doubt in his mind that George will be a division one player.