Baseball runs through the blood of Sam Poindexter. Hailing from Collierville, TN, Poindexter started playing at the age of four, a passion he’s kept up for 18 years.
“This summer was the first summer I haven’t played baseball in 12 or 13 years,” Poindexter said. “When I was an athlete, the summers were always spent playing, working out, or just hanging out with the team. So it’s been kind of a weird year.”
Poindexter graduated from Union University in May, where he recently became the baseball team’s graduate assistant.
“I didn’t realize everything that actually goes into making this happen,” Poindexter said. “Working on the field, making schedules, trying to plan stuff out. Trying to figure out people’s classes. You’d think it’d be like solving the Da Vinci code to make do.”
In this position, Poindexter acts as a “bridge” between the team and Head Coach Casey McGehee.
“I think the players feel like I’m pretty approachable,” Poindexter said. “They can ask me things like what we’re doing today without having to go to the coaches and ask them. Obviously, they can take the bigger stuff to Coach McGehee, but the smaller things I can deal with. That way, our coaches can focus on baseball, and I can focus on the players.”
It’s a big change from being just another player on the team, something that Poindexter’s done for the entirety of his life.
“If we’re in a game, and we need somebody to do something, I can’t do that anymore,” Poindexter said. “I have to teach somebody else to do that. There’s much more of a teaching aspect now.”
But Poindexter reveals that the biggest struggle isn’t even related to the game.
“The biggest adjustment is the fact that I’ve played with 70% of the guys on the team,” Poindexter said. “Trying to transition to being a coach now, it can be hard to say, ‘Hey, I’m still your friend. I will always be your friend,’ while still having to make the distinction that I’m not a player with them anymore. And I don’t want to be two different people because I always want to be authentic, but I can’t tell everyone everything anymore like I could when I was a player.”
Poindexter lives off campus with two current members of the team, Ryan Aljancic and Carson Chavies.
“I love it,” Poindexter said. “They’re two of my best friends and some of the best guys I’ve met at Union, but it’s weird being at practice, seeing things from a coach’s perspective and hearing what the other coaches have to say, and then going home and being back to best friends and roommates again. It’s two completely different atmospheres where we have completely different roles, so I guess that’s a pretty big adjustment.”
Aljancic and Chavies love living with him, too.
“There’s a little bit of a different dynamic now with him being one of our coaches. It makes it a little weird, because I guess he has to be more careful with what he talks about with us now,” Chavies said.
“But other than that, it’s pretty normal,” Aljancic said. “Overall, we’re just friends. I don’t think much has changed at all. I think our relationship’s about the same still. And we don’t really ask him much, either… like anything he really talks to us about is stuff he offers up.”
According to Chavies and Aljancic, Sam has also played a significant role in team communication.
“Sometimes communication on the team can be hard, and Sam knows that. He knows what it’s like to be a player, so he’s trying to do better with that,” Chavies said.
“I think it’s good that he’s not just a player, but he’s a player from Union, so he knows some of the weak points we can work on,” Aljancic said. “And there’s been some improvements.”
“It’s hard to look at him in practice,” Aljancic said.
“He still seems like just a friend,” Chavies said.
“I think he still is trying to figure it out though,” Aljancic said. “The outfielders were making throws and missing them, and he was having some trouble getting on to them. I think he will get into it, but right now, I think he is trying to figure out how to approach them. But from an organizational standpoint, he’s on top of everything and way better than anything we’ve had in the past. I’m ready for him. I’m ready to see him in action.”
Poindexter studied psychology during his time at Union in hopes of helping people.
“I wanted to find ways to benefit people and help them achieve their goals,” Poindexter said. “Personally, physically. In this case, athletically. This job is a way to do that, and I already have a connection with the players here, which is what makes doing it here so special. And I’m even starting to make connections with the newer guys. I can help them navigate these new things that they’re experiencing cause I’ve been right where they are.”
But Poindexter admits that it’s also been hard figuring out who he is apart from baseball.
“I really struggled in May and June with my purpose,” Poindexter said. “When baseball ended, that’s all there was for so long and for all of my college career. It felt like a part of my identity was ripped away from me. So, I think trying to make the transition was tough, and it still is tough. There are still days I think about it and days where I’m trying to find my purpose, slowly but surely.”
“But in the end, it is just a kids’ game we play for 3-4 hours a day,” Poindexter said. “Once that last pitch was thrown on my last game, it was like, ‘Alright. Done being a kid now.’”