By STEFAN MODRICH, Staff Writer
The relationship between a coach and its best player can help set the tone for a team, especially when they are on the same page.
In the case of Adam Vera, who just completed his first season — albeit a truncated one — as the baseball coach at Brownsville Veterans Memorial, his knowledge of the Chargers’ roster and history with star shortstop Cristian Holloway was one of several factors that helped him emerge as the top candidate for the job late in 2019.
The Chargers ended their season at 7-5-1, and Holloway said he felt that this year’s team was more focused.
“I think we came together as a unit in a way that we hadn’t really done before,” Holloway said. “We felt the losses a lot harder than we had before, in my opinion.”
Holloway noted he appreciated Vera’s modern approach and, in turn, changed his leadership style to be more accommodating, a move that helped him gain the trust of his new teammates.
“In the previous year I was tough on the guys, and I would get frustrated extremely easily,” Holloway said. “So would our coach, because there was a little bit too much lollygagging around. But I realized that’s part of the game, and you need to have fun. So this year came along, and I kind of took a step back. I let the guys just be themselves. And that’s what created the team chemistry that we needed.”
Brownsville Veterans’ first district game against Brownsville Pace was, Holloway said, an example of that improved connection in action.
The Chargers battled against Vikings starter Jose Banda, who tossed three scoreless innings before Brownsville Veterans pounced, scoring two runs in the fourth and eight in the fifth to wrap up the first and only District 32-5A game for either team in 2020.
“I don’t think we had a hit through those first three innings,” Holloway said. “But once we get rolling, it’s hard to stop us. That characterizes us for the years I’ve been on the team.”
Holloway missed part of the preseason due to a sinus operation and rolled his ankle just as he was recovering to return for the regular season. As he was gathering steam in his recovery and getting ready to play again, the season was suspended and ultimately canceled.
“It’s frustrating that that was the last game of my high school career,” Holloway said. “I know it was only going to go uphill from there.”
The 2019 Brownsville Herald All-Metro MVP finished his career in the top 10 of his graduating class, posting a .445 batting average, 89 hits and 55 RBIS in 69 games.
Vera was one of a select few to see Holloway’s potential in the earliest stages of his baseball career through to his maturation as a high school player. Vera worked as an umpire at Holloway’s Little League games, where he observed that his skill level made him stand out among his peers.
“I got to see (Holloway) grow up a little bit behind the scenes,” Vera said. “But being able to coach him … He’s a super respectful kid. (If) you tell him to do something or mention a little something that might make him a little better or he might be able to use on the field, he’s all for it, he’s all ears.”
As an alumnus of Brownsville Rivera, Vera knew Holloway’s parents — both counselors at the school — from his days as a student-athlete and an assistant of Raiders coach Travis Parker.
The Chargers coach also completed his student-teaching sessions at Vela Middle School.
“When I was in college (at the University of Texas at Brownsville), I remember him specifically,” Vera said. “Our (then) assistant coach Wade Pope was giving private lessons. And (Holloway) was the kid (Pope) was giving private lessons to. I think Cristian at the time was 10 or 11. And I was already impressed with his mechanics and the way he handled the bat. It was pretty impressive.”
Upon graduation, Holloway is headed to Trinity University, a small private school just north of downtown San Antonio, where the aspiring doctor/physician’s assistant will begin to study on a pre-med track.
The Tigers are an NCAA Division III program and compete in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.
Holloway met Trinity coach Tim Scannell through his travel team, the South Texas Sliders, where he was teammates with Scannell’s son Matthew, a Princeton University-bound baseball commit.
The Chargers’ shortstop was nearly set on committing to St. Mary’s University in San Antonio before his mother convinced him to wait to visit Trinity the following weekend. What followed was a tour and lunch at a restaurant on campus overlooking the San Antonio skyline.
“I loved it as soon as I stepped on campus,” Holloway said. “The athletic training facility is gorgeous. … The thing that blew me away was the academics. Everything they did was amazing.”
Holloway said a presentation from an emergency medical technician inspired him to pursue an EMT program and a career in medicine, switching course from his previous plan to become an immigration attorney.
“That’s when I knew, I guess, when I stepped into that class,” Holloway said. “It kind of changed my whole view of things, in terms of my future.”
The premature end of the University Interscholastic League baseball season due to the COVID-19 coronavirus has given Holloway a chance to reflect. He is grateful for the healthcare and emergency workers on the front lines, knowing he hopes to join them someday.
“I got to do my clinical rotations at (Valley Baptist Medical Center in Brownsville),” Holloway said. “And it was not a busy night at all in the emergency room. But I was still overwhelmed. It was my first time being in the hospital, and I had to check (a patient’s) vitals, their weight and do an assessment of them. It’s scary, that aspect of it, having another person’s life in your hands. Adding on a virus, a deadly virus at that, I can imagine how much anxiety and stress they are going through right now, and I have the utmost respect for them.”
Another one of Holloway’s rotations helped solidify his choice to enter the medical field.
“I was working with a patient who had what we thought was a traumatic brain injury,” Holloway said. “It was an (automobile-pedestrian) accident. He came in, and his pupils were dilated. It turned out that he was my friend’s grandpa.”
When he returned to school the next day, the patient’s grandson spotted Holloway in the hallway.
“He shook my hand and told me thank you,” Holloway said. “I think that respect I got from him, that’s something I want (to earn) from a lot more people.”
The Chargers know it will be difficult to replace Holloway’s talent and character.
“It’s rare to be that successful in school, ranked as one of the top 10 students, and be such a great all-around athlete,” Vera said. “I hope there are more like him coming.”
Holloway wants to be back out on the diamond soon, perhaps in the annual intersquad fall league organized by Trinity players. But he remains optimistic about what he can control, fielding ground balls and playing wiffle ball in the street outside his home with his father, and lifting weights in his garage to stay in shape.
“Of course, I’m frustrated and sad that I can’t finish my senior season with my fellow teammates,” Holloway said. “I’m sad that I can’t have a signing at school. But I get to have … other types of publicity, so that makes up for the fact that I won’t get to have a signing (in person).
“It’s been different. I have lots of time to just sit down and think, and become a better person in general.”