Colton Willmore is a first-year student here at Sunlake High School. This is Colton’s first year here at Sunlake and he has joined the baseball team. Every baseball player has a story to tell about what gave them that passion to start the sport. Everyone’s story is different, especially Colton’s. 

Colton’s journey began in the 4th grade when he and a friend had the idea to start playing little league baseball. From that day on was when Colton’s true love for the game started. Colton describes how he had felt when he first started playing the game and says, “As soon as stepped onto the field I truly felt at home. Whether it was the smells of the old brick concession stands and greasy food, or the sound of parents cheering on their kids’ teams, it all felt surreal.” But the little league was only the beginning of Colton’s journey, which led to travel baseball. 

Colton was about 11 years old when he joined his first travel ball team. This led to where winning was important to him. Colton’s life became all about baseball, which led to memorable moments for Colton such as “for many nights I [sic] would practice in and out of school and travel ball, and around this time I met older players and knew that being the best I could be going to be a hard task. I also think of this team as my family, and all of my teammates from that team were friends for life. I was forced to move from that team after only a year and returned to the little league where I dominated all my competition. It was in the 8th grade when I wanted a step up again. I started seeing a pro-level coach at Wesley Chapel and that team was cut-throat. The coach was harsh, the players were hard-headed and determined and I met a lot of high-level players with that team.” That was only a year ago but fast forward to today, Colton now works with three different pro-level coaches, works out twice a day, and sometimes has multiple practices a day. Colton states “Every day I am blessed to do what I love most, and I cannot stand to think about the day when I cannot.