Process Server Steps in to Coach Son's Baseball Team

• February 27, 2014
• by Kimberly Faber

The parent of a varsity high school athlete is a rare breed. Dinner tables that were once the home of jovial family meals are now the site of intense reviews of the latest stats and projections. The refrigerator, once a gallery of crayon drawings and crafts from daycare, is now covered with cutouts from the local sports section. There’s no unwinding with a funny movie because the television plays SportsCenter and only Sportscenter, and the chance to curl up with a book has long passed as a film review kicks off in the den. These, however, are the small sacrifices.

Parents endure long weekends, bearing witness to the heartbreak felt by silent teenagers stewing over the week’s losses. They watch their children torture themselves, listen to them as they mutter if I’d only swung a little higher if I’d just dropped my shoulder a little lower, if I’d just jumped a little higher, we would have won it. They stand by and watch their children practice that same shot, throw, or swing over and over again until it’s executed with absolute perfection. They don’t question or protest it. They endure the anger and tears the girlfriends and prom queens never see. They know better than to say it’s just a game because it’s not just a game. The parents, like their children, rise to the occasion.

They’ve eliminated rival colors from their wardrobes, stocked up on sunscreen, Icy Hot, and athletic tape, and have given up hope that any odor eliminator will get rid of the smell coming from an equipment bag or a pair of cleats. Their trunks are overrun with blankets and lawn chairs, and they understand there is a right and wrong color of Gatorade and you do whatever it takes to get it. They subsist on peanuts and dollar cups of coffee from the snack stand and know the outcome of the game determines not only their child’s happiness but whether it will be an out for a warm, celebratory meal after or leftovers in the microwave.

And not if, but when the weather or the scoreboard takes a turn for the worse and the fans and even the mascots pack it in, the parents might zip up their jackets or grit their teeth, but on the sideline is where they’ll remain. Ten years of tough losses and huddling under umbrellas have prepared them for this.

Because parents don’t have the luxury of being fair weather fans.

This spring, when many parents will crack open their lawn chairs for another season of long nights spent at the baseball fields, few will be watching from the dugout. For the parents of the Pikesville High School Panthers, a community just outside of Baltimore, Maryland where the sidelines blur iconic white and purple, it will be David Kopel, a team parent, coaching this year.

When the former head coach announced his exit, the future of the school’s baseball team was uncertain. The program had a future, but one led by teachers. For David Kopel, a father and man with a strong passion for the game, it wasn’t enough to leave a team in the hands of “coaches who are teachers with little or no knowledge of the game of baseball.” For the future of the program, he decided to toss his hat in.

Kopel grew up playing baseball. A four-year varsity pitcher and third baseman, he also played in travel leagues with major leaguer Brian Jordan. Jordan, an outfielder from Baltimore, had a fourteen-year career in the major leagues that spanned four teams: the St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers, and Atlanta Braves. Of the 277 major league players born in Maryland, 140 have hailed from Baltimore, including Brian Jordan and notable great Babe Ruth.

Kopel brings a strong passion for baseball and the life lessons it teaches. He has stuck with the game for most of his life and still plays in an over 40 men’s competitive league.

“Baseball is my tranquillity, my safe zone,” he said. “On the field is where I feel most comfortable in my life.” Kopel’s philosophy regarding baseball marries the importance of teamwork and sportsmanship with individual growth. A man who has been on his own since 11th grade and worked multiple jobs while attending school, Kopel believes that the sport helped him maintain a positive attitude in his early years. In a recent interview with Brian Hradsky from Pressbox about his decision to coach, Kopel said, “The special part is teaching the young kids that come through the baseball program that it’s not just about wins and losses, but life situations and how you handle it.”

Kopel believes that there are three major personal benefits for children who play sports while growing up: independence, confidence, and self-esteem. “Life imitates baseball! It’s a lifelong learning process from face-to-face communication to knowledge, education, and the most important factors: confidence and self-esteem.”

With a focus on the individual development of players as well as growth as a team, Kopel has set his sights on restoring the Pikesville High School baseball team to their former glory. He hopes to lead the team to win a state championship, which hasn’t been done since 1986--just over ten years before Seth, his oldest son and a current player on the team, was born.

“I have a special relationship with my son in all of his sports, and have since he was little,” Kopel said. “Seth has proven himself to the school, coaches, and his friends on being an exceptional athlete. Our family relationship is a rare commodity not seen in the father-son coaching arena.”

David Kopel and son, Seth. Image via Press Box Online.

The duo has been garnering attention from local media as early as 2008, when the then fifth-grade Seth, already playing on a traveling team, told a local paper he felt his strengths were in hitting, running, and throwing. In the same interview, proud father David shared that Seth was working on a knuckleball and had been taking a full windup by the age of three.

There’s no doubting that Kopel’s passion for baseball was passed on to his son. Seth grew up with a batting cage, pitching machine, and portable pitchers mound in the backyard of their Pikesville home, with their father’s extensive collection of memorabilia inside. Today, the 17-year-old junior is an accomplished athlete, playing varsity soccer, basketball, and baseball. He will be joined by younger brother Carter on the baseball field next year.

“[They] are very special athletically gifted kids who don’t require constant monitoring through sports,” Kopel said, but assures that everyone agrees there should be no special treatment. “If you saw me coach him you wouldn’t even know I was his father,” he said.

The special part is teaching the young kids that come through the baseball program that it’s not just about wins and losses, but life situations and how you handle it.

David Kopel

This is the first time in the school’s 40 year existence that a parent has been named head coach at the varsity level. A teacher is still required to be involved in sports programs at the high school level, and the Social Studies Department head has filled the assistant coach position left available when Kopel stepped up to take the head coaching job.

“I started coaching three years before my oldest son came to the school and wanted the program to be up to my baseball standards of how the game should be taught and played.” A former assistant to coach Joe Krammer, who left the program last year, Kopel said he felt obligated to do something for the dying program. In an interview with a local paper, Kopel said that he “intends to continue on the path that Coach Krammer has set up for the team.”

“Last year we went to the third round of the playoffs,” he said. “This year we want to continue the tradition of having good chemistry, practicing perfect commitment, and living the dream of having fun while playing a sport you love during your high school experience.”

Tryouts for the team will be held on March 1st.

Kopel is the president of LegalPapers.net, a process serving firm headquartered in the suburbs of Baltimore. The company recently donated artificial turf to the baseball program, which will be installed in March. Kopel got started as a process server a few years out of high school, serving for a basketball friend who was in the business. Kopel had no family guidance through high school and found himself homeless for a few days, living with friends and their families until they graduated.  “I kind of fell into the business of process serving and took it to the next level,” he said. “My employees manage more than thirty process servers on a daily basis in twenty-four counties and three states.”

Kopel said that he has a great staff who manages the company and appreciates that his work allows him to coach baseball every spring. He encourages other process servers to find ways to donate their time and share their interests with the community.

“Find your passion. Give to others who are less fortunate. Love it and live it.”