Here's an announcement that isn't often blared over a high school's loudspeaker: "And for the baseball team yoga is canceled for today."

But at Grayslake Central, yoga for the baseball team was in fact canceled one February day as a late afternoon snowstorm wiped out most after-school activities.

"A bunch of our guys were in the cafeteria when that announcement came over the P.A. and I think they kind of just covered up their heads," Grayslake Central baseball coach Troy Whalen laughed. "They got some good-natured ribbing from their friends for that one."

These days, however, the Rams are serious Yogis and proud of it, thank you very much.

"Yeah, I got some weird looks that day (as the announcement was read), but now, I just embrace it," Grayslake Central first baseman Kyle Clark said matter-of-factly. "I just say, 'Yeah, I do yoga.'"

The baseball coaches at Grayslake Central introduced the idea of yoga as a training method during this past off-season to promote team togetherness in an atmosphere that would also engage their players in unique physical and mental challenges.

"When we were looking at different things to do with the kids, I half-jokingly said 'How about yoga?'" laughed Grayslake Central sophomore coach Josh Peterson, whose wife made him a yoga believer long ago. "We knew there was some convincing that would need to be done. So I did research and I found articles about Major League players who do yoga. I wanted to convince the kids that yoga was a good thing for them."

The Rams attended class as a team every week at The Yoga Effect in downtown Grayslake. They went all winter long. To their surprise, many of them wound up loving the experience so much, in fact, that they've continued taking classes there on their own time.

Now, whether or not yoga might be partially responsible for Grayslake Central's solid season thus far is debatable. But the fact is, the young and inexperienced Yogis, um, make that Rams, are in the thick of the race for the Fox Valley Fox Division title and are closing in on another 20-win season.

Coincidence?

Original post:
Grayslake Central takes yoga challenge, with very positive results