CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Saturday marked day one of practice for the Tuloso-Midway Warriors. They made it to the fourth round in playoffs last year, the furthest in program history. This season, the boys are back. For Head Coach, Todd Akers, it's a gift to welcome them.
"I've just got finished with my last round of chemotherapy for now. My treatments are working, I still have my cancer, but it's shrunk. I feel a little bit better," said Akers.
A little bit better now, but it was five months ago, when Akers was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
"There's nothing that could really get us ready for something like that. It's changed our lives," said TJ Akers, Todd's son and Assistant Coach of the Warriors.
Coach Akers still shows up to work every day for his team.
"It's a motivation for us, and it's a motivation for him too. He always wants to be here. It gives us something to play for," said Luis Rios, starting pitcher for the Warriors.
Eight players are returning to the varsity team, and coach Akers isn't wasting any time to get his team on track for another historic run.
"Consistency and routines and repetition." Akers added. "We try to get as many reps as we can in whatever we do. I would hope to say that we don't just have one kid that can do that, I want to have several kids that can do the right thing all the time".
It's a new year, which means, the standards have risen.
"We set our goals at the beginning of the year and those goal from last year are gone and we have new ones this year," said Akers.
The Warriors have their first scrimmage of the season on February 7th at 6 p.m..
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