Making the best of the last

POST FALLS – “Please enjoy the music while your party is being reached.”

The voice warns listeners as “Ch-Check it Out” by the Beastie Boys comes through the speaker. Like the popular song says, Randy Hamilton is “a man on a mission.”

Football season is over for Hamilton, but he already has baseball on the brain.

“I’m going to start going to open gyms and get ready for baseball season since it’s my last one,” said Hamilton, a senior at Post Falls High School.

Hamilton’s old routine was to finish up football season and move on to basketball tryouts, but he decided to take out the middle sport and just focus on football and baseball. It was an easy decision to make because basketball was last on his list and dropping that sport freed up his time to focus on school and spring ball.

Hamilton normally plays center field but is hoping to see some time on the mound this season. A lingering shoulder injury has prevented him from pitching the last two years, but hitting the gym early this year might change that, he said.

Although Hamilton has already moved on to baseball, he is still upset about how his football season ended, with the team losing to Lake City in the playoffs. An early win against Caldwell boosted the team’s morale, but it wasn’t enough to push them on to state.

“It’s kind of sad, I really wanted to make a state appearance,” said Hamilton, who played running back for Post Falls. “Two years ago when my brother was a senior they made it to the first round.”

Despite an abrupt end to the season, Hamilton managed to take home some positive points – that’s just the kind of guy he is, said Post Falls head football coach Jeff Hinz.

“In years past I messed around at practice but this year I took it more seriously,” Hamilton said. “I had to make the best of (my senior year).”

Hinz said it’s true – Hamilton wasn’t always the focused, in-tune athletic specimen he is today. Coach Hinz knew the senior in his less attentive years when Randy was just an eighth-grader.

“One of the good things about my job is I have the opportunity to watch kids like Randy, how they change, grow up and mature,” Hinz said.

Randy’s love for both football and baseball started long before eighth grade and originated from his dad, Mike, and older brother Dan.

“The biggest influence, when I was younger, was my dad,” Randy said. “He coached me and my brother all the way into high school – it’s just the way we’ve grown up. My dad was always into sports and we just kind of caught on.”

But as many young athletes have experienced, having dad as a coach isn’t always easy.

“You know he’s gonna yell at you the most and ride you the most ‘cause you’re his kid,” Randy said.

In the end, it was for the best, Randy said. Having an older brother around to train with was another perk that put Randy a few steps ahead in athletics.

“I think I got the advantage,” he said. “Sometimes I would play up on his level teams so my dad could coach us both. It was cool because I saw him go through everything I’m going through now.”

Even Coach Hinz sometimes slipped, calling Randy by his older brother’s name.

“It was almost like they were clones on the field, taking the ball and in their leadership styles,” he said.

Now that the time has come to think about college, Randy is looking to his brother once again for guidance and thinking about joining Dan at Boise State University. Randy is also looking at the possibility of playing football for a smaller Division II school.

Regardless, he wants to return to football someday, which is one of the main reasons he’s looking at becoming a teacher – so he can also become a coach.

“I think it’d be really cool to be able to teach and coach football,” Randy said. “It would put me back in the sport.”