CLL coach Brayden "Beamer" Tonogai has been hired as the Assistant Athletic Therapist for the Calgary Vipers of the North American Baseball League, getting paid to do what he loves - be on a baseball team. He will be responsible for athletic assessment and acute/chronic injury management as well as rehab/prevention/return to play programs.
Beamer is a CLL alumnus, recipient of the Touch Em All award in 2005 - awarded to CLL players that complete their Little League career by playing with Coquitlam Little League continuously from the Majors to the Big League A's. He most recently served the league as a coach for the Senior A's in their 2009 provincial championship season and in 2010.
Last fall, Beamer moved to Calgary to complete his Athletic Therapist certification at Mount Royal University. Over the past winter, his practicum posting was with the varsity Cougars mens hockey team, as the athletic therapist.
He received his nickname in 1997, when he was drafted by Bruce Michael to the major A's. When asked who his favourite baseball team was, Beamer replied, "the Regina Cyclones - I was their batboy last year!" Although he was a tiny bespectacled little boy trying to make the majors as an 11 year old, he had just played in the Saskatchewan Provincial Final for the Regina Angels, in the Mosquito division. After watching him smoothly field ground balls, Bruce declared that he reminded him of a shiny new beemer, in reference to the German car.
Brayden Tonogai completed his Bachelor of Kinesiology at Simon Fraser University in 2009.
When asked about whether his Coquitlam Little League experience had helped him along the way, Beamer replied,
"I wouldn't have been given a chance at either of the jobs without my time in CLL. CLL gave me a place to learn and understand the game from different levels, whether it be a player, teammate, or coach. It also gave me an opportunity to develop all the important skills that employers are looking for - teamwork, sportsmanship, and leadership. The fact that I had so much baseball experience was a blessing. One of the best things was the winter workouts and dryland progam - preparation is a huge part of kinesiology and athletic therapy. Having a baseball program that focused on the kind of stuff that I was doing allows me to step into the job with some stuff prepped and ready to go. I hope that this shows the kids that we know what we are talking about and that CLL gives people an opportunity to springboard from it into different programs"
His season on the road will take place in venues such as Zion, Illinois against the team owned by Kevin Costner, as well as Maui, Hawaii.
What an adventure!
Best Wishes Beamer - we will be following the Vipers at: http://www.calgaryvipers.com/
