ST. PAUL – For many Canadians, a trip to Ontario in the summer is a vacation, but for Caleb Poulin, the trip means business. It's a chance for him and his baseball team to prove themselves as the best 13U AAA baseball team in the country.
Caleb, from St. Paul, has trained at the Bulldog Baseball Academy and currently plays with the Sherwood Park Athletics 13U AAA team as an infielder and outfielder. He is also among the best hitters in the league.
The young athlete began to play the sport when he was nine years old. When he first held the bat after his parents introduced him to baseball, he thought, “This is my sport. This is where I’m meant to be.”
Caleb says he simply “had a passion for it since the beginning.”
He now dreams of becoming an “all-star” in the future. “But... I can’t get there if I’m just screwing around,” he says, honestly. “I have to eat properly... work out with a proper routine... and I can’t go anywhere far in baseball without having a good program and drive.”
Discipline
To pursue his dream, Caleb understands it will take a lot of discipline.
“Discipline to be able to get up in the morning, work out, and like, not eat chocolate or ice cream,” he says.
Miguel Poulin, Caleb’s father, agrees. “He picks his bats... picks his schedule... preps his meals,” and he does his own workouts, explains Miguel. “His mom and I are super happy that he has found a passion.”
Miguel is proud of how Caleb demonstrates this passion, discipline, and hard work to others, leading by example.
Of course, baseball is fun, says Miguel, “But you still have to work and fine-tune the craft.”
And fine-tuning the craft means a mastery of the sport’s mental aspect both on and off the field. Baseball, after all, is a mental game, says Miguel - a sentiment agreed to by his son.
“It’s all good to be physically able and to have lots of talent in baseball,” says Caleb. “But you can’t get far without having a good head space.”
Support
Miguel says there is also the support from the community and everyone that helped nurture his son’s passion. The Bulldogs Baseball Academy provides a very high quality of training and programing, and St. Paul Minor Ball also allows Caleb to use and train in its facilities when he is at home.
“We get a lot of good support from everybody,” says Miguel.
Caleb smiles.
“I played with St. Paul [Storm] and their coaches when I was little,” he recalls, and even if he now plays for the Sherwood Park Athletics, the St. Paul baseball community remains supportive.
“They always text and congratulate us,” says Caleb, including when the Sherwood Park Athletics won the 13U AAA Tier 1 provincial championship earlier this month.
Provincial champions
But winning the championship is not the end of the team’s journey - a bigger challenge awaits.
Winning provincials means the team now gets to represent Alberta at the 2024 13U National Championships.
The championship will be held at Woodstock, Ontario, roughly two hours east of Toronto from Aug. 22 to 25.
While the idea of competing against the best teams from other provinces may be daunting, Caleb, even beneath a gentle tone, expresses humble confidence.
“Those teams might have a better program than us, but I feel like if we play our hearts out, we can beat them,” he says.
Miguel concurs, noting that many provinces are already running provincial baseball teams as early as 13U, which may provide some disadvantages to Team Alberta.
“But Alberta is there to give them the punch. It’ll be good.”
Caleb nods and says, “It’s going to be an exciting experience. It’s going to be awesome to just go there with the team and play ball.”
