April 10, 2020

By Lukas Weese

Canadian Baseball Network

Ethan Jodouin was not surprised when he heard that his former baseball coach, Jean-Gilles Larocque, was transforming his baseball academy into a daycare for nurses and doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jodouin, a first baseman at Cleary University Cougars, was an original 2009 member of Larocque’s The Baseball Academy in Sudbury, Ont.

Like any baseball career, Jodouin experienced ups and downs, but working with Larocque provided a bright spot for the young Sudbury native, eager to fulfill his passion for the sport.

“With the pandemic going on, no surprise to me JG has stepped up,” Jodouin said. “That’s how it’s been—you find a way, no matter how gritty or tough it is.”

With a kitchenette, stove, fridge and a big area for kids to play, Larocque sees his academy as a communal place for front line workers, who are risking their lives to protect the population from contracting COVID-19.

In a time where baseball is secondary, Larocque relies on his wisdom gained from the sport in these difficult times.

“Baseball prepares us for life,” Larocque said. “It’s fair or foul, a strike or a ball. It’s all about adapting. You listen to stuff on the news and I ask myself, 'What can I do?' We want to do our part because it is not fair to do things for ourselves.”

When Laroque founded The Baseball Academy, it presented a litany of difficulties.

His academy started out in an old schoolhouse that was going to be turned into apartments. No electricity existed in half the building and, at times, there was no running water. All Larocque had was a batting cage, some used equipment, and five kids eager to learn.

Larocque woke up in the morning to train these young ballplayers for an hour before school started. After a full day of teaching, Larocque used his space again for private lessons.

The days were long and arduous but Larocque didn’t care. His drive to ensure that kids in the Sudbury area were learning how to play baseball made the early wakeups worth it.

“There were days I was freezing my butt off and half asleep,” Larocque said. “Why am I doing this? Why am I waking up for just five kids? It’s called passion. You talk to every baseball person. The game has done so much for me. It’s such a great experience and that was the kind I wanted to share with them.”

Fast forward 11 years and Larocque’s academy is a hub for baseball in Northern Ontario. Young athletes in Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay and Timmins, who want to play baseball, now have an option to be trained in a high-level facility.

Larocque has fostered a program for kids to learn the game in an environment that allows them to achieve their goals. Many of Larocque’s former students, like Jodouin, have gone on to play college baseball, and professionally, like relief pitcher Dylan Rheault (Garson, Ont.) of the Cincinnati Reds.

Now, Larocque faces a different challenge. With Sudbury under a state of emergency due to COVID-19, The Baseball Academy has shut its doors indefinitely. But that hasn’t stopped Larocque from teaching baseball. He arranges ZOOM classes for his Bantam and Midget Elite teams.

It proves to be an effective distraction for the athletes and coaches, yearning for a return to normality.

“This is how we are going to be living for a while,” Larocque said. “When we set up goals using Zoom, the kids acted like they were in a candy store. They miss the social aspect. Once we finished our call, a couple of kids went out to play catch because they were inspired by our interactions.”