{"id":8076,"date":"2018-07-25T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-25T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maderatribustg.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=8076"},"modified":"2026-05-13T18:30:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:30:46","slug":"former-player-returns-to-help-champs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/former-player-returns-to-help-champs\/","title":{"rendered":"Former player returns to help champs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The coaching staff of Madera American Little League\u2019s Lee\u2019s Concrete had such an effect on Zachary Wyatt that when manager Guni Grewal asked him to help coach, Wyatt jumped at the opportunity.<\/p>

\u201cHe asked me to come out in January,\u201d Wyatt said. \u201cI had some free time so I went out there. I went out there and stayed throughout the year. I was giving it a chance, but ended up liking it.\u201d<\/p>

To Grewal, to see a former player want to come back and then helping out is an honor.<\/p>

\u201cSomebody went through your program, believed in it and he\u2019s coming back to help you with the program,\u201d Grewal said. \u201cSomebody taught him and now he wants to give back to the community. It\u2019s very honorable. For a young man doing this and giving his time. He spent the whole year with us. He\u2019s given just as much time as we have. He\u2019s doing everything, giving up a lot of his time. He\u2019s a very smart kid.\u201d<\/p>

With Wyatt in tow, Grewal, along with longtime coaches Alfonso Contreras and Rick Castro, Lee\u2019s Concrete went undefeated through the M.A.L.L. and won the Madera City Championship. He also stayed along to help the 11-12-year-old All-Star team win the District 10 championship and then the Section 7 championship before playing in the NorCal State Championships in Redding over the weekend.<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome to come back,\u201d Wyatt said. \u201cNow I know a little bit more going through high school. It\u2019s great to be back.\u201d<\/p>

With Wyatt, Grewal has a role model he can point to. He can tell the kids about they way things are done and Wyatt is there to show them. Wyatt is also used as a model for Grewal\u2019s coaching style.<\/p>

\u201cIt feels kind of good to be the role model,\u201d Wyatt said. \u201cBut, it puts a lot of pressure on me to make sure they know what they\u2019re doing and what to expect. I hope I do a good job teaching them like Guni and them have taught me through the years.\u201d<\/p>

Grewal can also use Wyatt in other ways, like throwing to the kids at practice since the other Lee\u2019s coaches are getting older.<\/p>

\u201cI told him we were getting old and we need some young life,\u201d Grewal said. \u201cAt the beginning, he was watching how our system flows. Now, he\u2019s in charge of the pitchers. He hits infield\/outfield, pitches to them and just a little bit of everything. He does a little bit more everyday. He\u2019s also in charge of conditioning.\u201d<\/p>

In January, Grewal happened to see Wyatt at a movie theater and asked him if he would like to come out and help out.<\/p>

\u201cWe met at a movie and he came up and to say hello,\u201d Grewal said. \u201c I asked him what he was doing. I knew he played at San Joaquin Memorial-Fresno. He said he was going to school. I thought he was playing at Fresno City College. I asked him if he wanted to come out to coach. He came out the first practice and has been here ever since.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI had some free time so I went out there,\u201d Wyatt said.<\/p>

Grewal knew he was getting a good player. Not only from his playing time at Lee\u2019s, but he also knew Wyatt was successful at San Joaquin Memorial, where he was a lead-off batter and hit .400.<\/p>

\u201cHe was a good hitter in high school,\u201d Grewal said. \u201cHe knows how to hit the ball. He\u2019s always been one my top Lee\u2019s players. He\u2019s very disciplined. He\u2019s a role model for these kids.\u201d<\/p>

Wyatt is a 2016 graduate of San Joaquin Memorial-Fresno and also works on Grewal\u2019s ranch.<\/p>

\u201cI just enjoy coaching,\u201d Wyatt said. \u201cI don\u2019t know how to explain it. I love the sport of baseball, whether it\u2019s playing or coaching. The kids make it so much easier to come out and keep doing it.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The coaching staff of Madera American Little League\u2019s Lee\u2019s Concrete had such an effect on Zachary Wyatt that when manager Guni Grewal asked him to help coach, Wyatt jumped at the opportunity. \u201cHe asked me to come out in January,\u201d Wyatt said. \u201cI had some free time so I went out there. I went out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":26686,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_angie_page":false,"page_builder":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[46],"class_list":["post-8076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-organizations"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}