By Blake Chadwick

Growing up as an athlete, you dream of having your parents coach you. For Buhler’s Jeffrey Neil, he has been able to have his dad coach him the past three years.

Neil made the most of it as he is the school record holder for most doubles in a season and one of the best pitchers on the team.

“He has always led by example and is a guy that we depend on to play a big role,” head coach John Neil said. “Jeffrey has hit in the middle of our order and has always been one of our top arms on the mound.”

Now as a senior, Neil had plans to continue his productive career and add to his respectable resume, but his plans stalled out after suffering a broken talus bone in his foot.

“I have had to take a new approach to leadership because I can’t be doing it on the field for a while, so I have been working on being a leader from the dugout,” Neil said.

Neil has been playing baseball since he was six, and he knows that this will be an adjustment but knows it will help him in the long run.

“As his dad, I am extremely proud of his mental toughness and his commitment to doing the right thing,” Coach Neil said. “I look forward to seeing him progress in the game of baseball, as that will be the only sport he concentrates on.”