Quinn Heiford is hitting his dream of becoming a pro-baseball player out of the park.
The 13-year-old Waimea College student recently returned home from the Australian Down Under Winter Classic baseball tournament on the Sunshine Coast where he was representing the Auckland Tuatara against state teams from around Australia.
The Tuatara select players from across the country and Nelson had four representatives there. Quinn was selected in the 13u team while James Matthews and Alex Taylor were selected in the 15u team. Marty Grant was the coach of the 13u team.
The Tuatara won all three grades it completed in 17u, 15u and Quinn’s 13u team.
Quinn, a short-stop who can also catch and pitch, says he was “pretty happy” with how he played and loved the experience. The highlight was a hit over the homerun line, even though umpires didn’t call it a home run.
“I still got to second base and I felt really happy with myself,” he says.
Three days after the tournament finished, Quinn got a call to say he’d been selected for tournament team and was on his way to Florida in the United States to represent the best young players in Australasia at the Perfect Game WWBA 14u World Classic.
“I didn’t believe it to start with, I thought ‘oh, that’s not true. But about five minutes later it kicked in and I got really happy.”
He will now travel to the states in October as one of just two New Zealanders in the Australian Wave 14u team.
The tournament will feature teams from around the United States and a few international teams, including the Wave. Quinn says he’s excited for the challenge.
“I’m pretty confident. I think our team will be pretty good, as long as we trust each other.”
Along with the two Australian coaches, the 14u Wave will pick up an American coach once they reach Florida, giving the players another opportunity to improve.
Quinn first got into baseball four years ago when he saw a flyer around town asking for kids who may be interested in playing baseball. As a keen cricketer and rugby player, Quinn asked his mum if he could give it a go.
Since then, he’s attended nationals with the local Nelson Heat team, often playing up a grade. He’s played at nationals in the 16u Nelson Heat team for three years but the first year he turned up organisers wouldn’t let him play because he was too young.
He says baseball is now his “main sport” and he’s inspired to follow in the footsteps of his local idol Cooper Grant and earn a scholarship to a US university.
“If I could get a scholarship to a US College and then work towards a professional career. That would be my ultimate goal.”
And if Quinn could have one more dream, it would be for that professional team to be the New York Mets, his favourite major league team.
Quinn’s mum, Carol, says they owe a lot to the efforts of the Nelson Heat Baseball club and its coach Marty Grant. The cost for Quinn to attend the tournament is around $6500.
