In all levels of sports, as a diehard fanatic or even just as a casual fan, it’s fun and exciting to see young athletes start at the bottom and make their way up to be talented contributors and threats for opponents. For instance, it took a few seasons for Kobe Bryant to be viewed as a dominant player in the NBA. He was drafted in 1996 and only started a total of seven games in his first two seasons for the Lakers. After that, he missed only five starts of the games he played in over the course of the last 18 years of his career. Pella Christian baseball coach, Nathan Johnson, says it has been a blessing to see his freshmen develop into what they end up becoming their senior year. He adds that most of the seniors wind up either first or second team all-conference, which is a testament to their hard work, and uses senior Clay Stravers as a prime example of this. The 17 – 13 Eagles had just two seniors: Stravers and Ben Bouwkamp.