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Super Spartans: Patrick McClellan

Which sports do you play in and out of MVHS?
“Outside of Mountain View, I play baseball, soccer, and basketball for fun, and with Mountain View I play baseball”

How long have you played each?
“I’ve played pretty much every sport for fun since I was about five, and I’ve kept going with organized baseball since then.”

Has it shaped your life? And from baseball, do you feel you have gained qualities attainable nowhere else?
“It’s hard to tell where I’d be without baseball, but it has definitely affected my life positively… Baseball has taught me about teamwork and leadership that I may or may or may not have learned without it.”

Has it provided you with friends, mentors, and positive presences?
“The friends I’ve made in baseball I’m still friends with today, and are some of my best friends. The coaches and mentors I’ve met through baseball have helped provide advice and guidance with things that parents or friends may not be able to help with.”

Patrick McClellan has been a staple and embodiment of success in the Mountain View High School baseball program ever since he took a step onto the field. Beginning as a freshman on frosh-soph, he returns to the program for his fourth and final year as a leader. He has taken the initiative to work hard both outside, and between the lines of that ninety degree slice of dirt and grass.

His participation in baseball is not defined by a young athlete showing up to practice every day and putting his heart into the game each time. No. While he may indeed invest his spirit and energy into each and every day of baseball, what sets him in a much smaller pool of athletes is his work ethic. The way he stands up when every other head is hung and calls out words of encouragement in the face of adversity. In the way he earned a spot in the starting pitching rotation for the varsity baseball team as a junior. The way he carries his training beyond the field, goes the extra mile to work year-in and year-out, to stay at the peak level of competition.

His coach of last year, Mountain View’s new Varsity head coach Adam Petke, has taken a shine to McClellan. An avid baseball man and former Olympic baseball athlete, Petke has developed a strong athletic relationship with his player. Though unable to be quoted directly, through direction observation it has been repeatedly noted that Petke treats McClellan not as a player to be told what to do, but as a valuable asset requiring a certain level of respect both on the field and in less engaging contexts. This connection could be embodied best in a recent occurrence, in which McClellan chose to create a ten-minute documentary film about his coach, after knowing him for under a year.

Soon after its completion, McClellan received a text message to which he was not sure how to react. It read, “Come to the field please. I want to talk to you.” When he arrived, somewhat apprehensive as to the nature of the meeting, he was pleasantly surprised. Petke had summoned him to the field to congratulate him on the superb quality of his film. This small scene well portrays the high level of respect Patrick Mclellan receives, a product of his tremendous successes as an athlete at Mountain View. He helps to comprise a small delegation of students at Mountain View, who contribute to themselves, their sport, their teammates, and their school through their actions on the field.

 

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