This past spring break, South varsity baseball carried on an age-old Spring Training tradition with their trip to the Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Vero Beach, Florida. Every year, the trip is one of the highlights of the spring sports season for the roughly 20 athletes who get invited.
This was the 41st spring training trip for head coach Dan Griesbaum Sr., but only the 4th to Florida.
“Before we were able to go to Florida and play scrimmages down there, because of MHSAA rules, we would go to Cincinnati and Columbus just about every year,” Griesbaum said. “Now they let us go to Florida, and that’s been great.”
Coach Griesbaum has always valued the chance for important team bonding and high-quality reps while the weather in Michigan isn’t ready for baseball yet.
“It’s a great opportunity to play in great weather,” Griesbaum said. “We get to play some great competition down there and build our team culture, which is very important. Every team I’ve had that has accomplished anything was a group of people that really liked each other, wanted to play together and wanted to do what’s best for the team.”
Every year, the South players, including Brendan Stafford ’26, take it upon themselves to make sure the team gets to know each other as best as possible during the week-long trip.
“You’ve got to love the team karaoke night,” Stafford said. “That’s a great Florida tradition. You have the whole team in one hotel room singing and dancing with each other. That’s just a great way to build relationships that are going to last the whole season, and more.”
Baseball is the only South sport that takes a trip of this nature during the season, but the costs are completely covered by the program and players.
“The school pays nothing for this trip, not one dime,” Griesbaum said. “We do a lot of fundraising ourselves. Our main fundraisers are our indoor camps in the off-season. We make about three-quarters of the cost of the trip just from those four camps alone.”
Everyone on the team works the camps in the winter and participates in the other fundraisers, but they all feel that it was worth it when spring break comes around, even the seniors, like Dane Lezotte ’26, who miss out on the trip with the rest of their classmates.
“There’s no chance I miss the Florida trip,” Lezotte said. “Absolutely not. I always have a great time down there, and I wouldn’t trade the world for it. I don’t regret anything.”
