GoingToBat.org: News

Jordan High School

Mission Viejo High School Coach Steps Up
November 29, 2011

When the Mission Viejo High School Coach Chris Ashbach heard that one of his alumni Tyler Greer was going to be coaching the beleaguered Jordan High School baseball program in Watts, he stepped up to the plate. Jordan High School has one batting cage shared by both baseball and softball. There is a practice softball field shared by both baseball and softball. There is no baseball field. Home games are played at neighboring South Gate High School. Coach Ashbach appealed to members of his own program to donate whatever they could to help get this program off the ground.

Mission Viejo High School Equipment Collection

Jordan Head Coach Tyler Greer and GTB co-founder Kieran Lovegrove

Jordan Head Coach Tyler Greer with Kieran Lovegrove

It just so happens that two of the Going To Bat Foundation co-founders play for Coach Ashbach at Mission Viejo High School. Aside from being the battery on the varsity baseball team, Kieran Lovegrove and Kyle Candalla work tirelessly with Laguna Hills High School shortstop Adam Salcido to ensure that they are in a position "to improve the lives of our youth by providing any child who wishes to play baseball or softball with the means and the opportunity, providing a viable alternative to other destructive options". Helping Jordan High School in the infamous Watts area of Los Angeles resurrect its baseball program certainly satisfied the mission statement of the foundation.

Along with the baseballs, rakes and other equipment provided by Coach Ashbach, the Going To Bat Foundation was able to provide the program with new Nike cleats, practice shirts, baseball pants, helmets and socks and is working to see if it can procure new uniforms.

Let us not forget that it is thanks to your invaluable donations and financial support that The Going To Bat Foundation is able to provide this kind of assistance where it is desperately needed..

Going To bat Foundation would like to thank Coach Ashbach and wish Coach Greer every success at Jordan High School. Go Bulldogs!

Going To Bat Donation To Jordan High School

About Jordan High School

Jordan High School has undergone exciting new changes this year. The campus has been divided into two new small schools, one run by prominent charter operator Green Dot Public Schools and one operated by Mayor Villaraigosa’s Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, a non-profit that works within LAUSD managing non-charter public schools.

While the two schools’ academic programs are run separately on the campus, both schools’ leadership teams collaborate around best practices and the students share all sports and after-school activities. In this way, the students enjoy the best of both worlds: a smaller, more personalized school experience during the day, followed by a robust selection of extra-curricular activities typically found only at large schools.

These changes at Jordan represent a great opportunity for the students in Watts, who are undoubtedly motivated and bright enough to achieve outstanding graduation and college-acceptance rates. The new schools at Jordan are committed to providing the necessary academic rigor and support to enable their students to reach their fullest potential.

To learn more about the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, please visit the following website – partnershipla.org

To learn more about Green Dot Public Schools, please visit the following website – greendot.org

"You will find, as you look back on your life, that the moments that stand out
are the moments when you have done things for others." - Henry Drummond