Photo By Lorne Neff | Spc. Victor Sifuentes, a military policeman with the 491st MP Company, has a passion...... read more read more
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NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba - Spc. Victor Sifuentes stood at the plate and surveyed the field on a recent, warm October night during a softball game at Cooper Field; waiting for the pitch like he’s done thousands of times in his life.
Sifuentes works with the 491st Military Police Company, headquartered in Riverside California, now deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Working for the military police is part of his bigger plan to be a police officer back home. But for a large chunk of his still young life, playing ball and doing things like standing at the plate was all he wanted to do.
“It was my passion, and I just wanted to continue playing,” said Sifuentes. “I would come home from school and just go out and hit or throw the ball.”
Sifuentes started playing T-ball, like many do, at the ripe old age of 4, and never stopped.
“I did it year round once I hit the 12-year-old mark,” said Sifuentes. “They had fall leagues, they had summer leagues; you name it and I was on it.”
Sifuentes grew up in San Jose, Calif., and was eventually chosen, at age 15, to play on the junior national team as shortstop and second base. He continued to progress and was selected all-league his junior and senior season.
“If I had to rate myself, I have really quick eyes and I have really good hand-eye coordination,” said Sifuentes.
Sifuentes bats left and throws right; and, even though he is not a big guy, he had a great glove and had an even better bat.
“I was more of a power hitter, I was really good at distributing my weight for a little guy,” said Sifuentes. “It took a lot of time to develop it.”
At 17 he was offered a professional contract from a scout.
“I didn’t believe I was ready, because I was 17 and I wanted to get a college degree before I advanced to go into any major league organization.”
So Sifuentes started playing ball at the University of Arizona with a partial scholarship.
And it was here that he got injured diving for a ball on a grounder up the middle.
“I felt a pop. I threw at the runner at third and felt a tingle along my arm and every time I threw the ball.”
But Sifuentes says he was hard-headed and kept trying to play, even with an injured arm. Eventually, he couldn’t afford to stay at Arizona and transferred to San Jose Community College.
It was there that he found out that he had a torn rotator cuff, bone spurs and bone chips.
“It was really hard,” said Sifuentes. “It was more than 21 years of my life, I bled baseball. Once I found out, I didn’t want to believe that I was done.”
But every dark cloud has a silver lining and he didn’t let the injury keep him from turning to a new chapter in his life. He soon met his future wife and together they had a daughter.
“It was perfect timing and I think God’s answer to go on with life and other responsibilities,” said Sifuentes.
Sifuentes began working for local police departments, volunteering his time. He does search and rescue for the San Mateo Police Department and works full time as an armored car guard while he waits on his application to the academy with the San Jose Police Department.
But baseball is still his passion and he helps others by coaching.
“If I can’t succeed personally in baseball, I can help other kids stay out of trouble and get into baseball,” said Sifuentes. “I didn’t want to let baseball go out of my life, so I switched up. If I can’t do it, then I will help out someone else do it.”
Standing in at the plate, in a game he’s loved so much, he swings and pops the ball up in the infield. Not exactly what he wanted, but like the rest of his life, he has much more to look forward to in the future.
| Date Taken: | 10.15.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 11.27.2013 14:50 |
| Story ID: | 117501 |
| Location: | NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, CU |
| Web Views: | 135 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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