By By Tim Cottrell
(Editor's note: This is the 13th in a series of 17 candid interviews with managers of Cal Ripken and Babe Ruth Baseball. The interviews will appear in each issue of the Advance through mid-August.)
Few men or women go through the trouble of coaching a youth sport - any sport - if there isn't a love, or at least an amount of respect for the sport they are coaching.
For most youth sports coaches, a child or grandchild is usually what involves them in the sport. While many would be there with or without a child, few actually get that opportunity.
Jody Dortch, however, is doubly motivated. He yearns to stay involved in a game he loved growing up, as well as be there for his stepson.
Dortch, who managed the Swift Supply Lions, works as the General Foreman for Lambert Electric of Destin, Fla. He works out of the Pensacola office, where he does work in the area.
Dortch said that he was initially attracted to coaching from a childhood love affair with the sport of baseball; but meeting his stepson, Brodie Amos, 8, made him even more eager to become involved.
Dortch, an avid golfer, does have a few hobbies he enjoys from time-to-time.
Dortch felt that the most important thing for the age group he coached (7-9) was to prepare them to be better players as they enter the older leagues.
Dortch said that when all was said and done, he simply hoped he could make someone a better baseball player.