Robichaux focuses on growth as a person with team

Tony Robichaux knows that, without his hometown of Crowley and God, he wouldn’t be where he is today.
“I always try to thank God when I’m out because I don’t think we can have any success without a successor,” he said.
“We have a designated hitter we put into the games at night and God did that for me. We have a pinch hitter we put in some nights late in our games and Christ pinch hits for me. We also have a sacrifice bunt in our business where we’ll ask one of our players to give himself up to advance a runner from first to second and God did that for me.”
It was a theme that carried through his program at Tuesday’s Rotary Club of Crowley meeting, but it’s also a part of Robichaux’s push to better the person that comes through the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns baseball program, not just the athlete.
In fact, one day per week, you won’t find the players on the diamond or in the batting cages, instead, you’ll find them deeply entrenched indoors for a seminar to work on the person, not the player.
“We have what’s called ‘Motivational Mondays’ or ‘Wisdom Wednesdays’ where all we do is — for an hour or hour-and-a-half conduct a seminar on how to be a man,” said Robichaux. “They’ve practiced enough baseball. By the time they get to me they’ve played over 1,000 games.
“So we teach them leadership and teach them how to compete.”
The work Robichaux is doing with the players each year away from field of play is rarely reported on as is the community service the players do – roughly 240 hours in total per semester – but that is by design. He explained that he doesn’t want the publicity for that. It isn’t about publicity, it’s about making the players better men.
Pointing out how if a player’s career ends in high school and he lives until, for example, age 82, there are about 60 years in between baseball and the end of life that a person is on this earth. For Robichaux, he believes it is his job to help the player be a better person and be able to live a good, productive and healthy life.
He added that if you pay attention to the news, it isn’t the sport getting athletes in trouble, its the athlete him or herself. Part of that, he feels, is the athlete glorifying the wrong things in life. He pointed to the recent incidents with Florida State and professional football player Ray Rice as examples of these cases.
Robichaux explained that he could walk into any high school and point out several athletes that are on a bad track for trouble in the future because they are already being glorified for their unique athletic gifts. Perhaps it’s a test grade being fixed or a booster helping an athlete out – either way, Robichaux said he has seen it too many times.
Instead, the Ragin’ Cajuns skipper believes more emphasis needs to be put on the universal gift that is given to everyone: the chance to make a difference in someone else’s life.
As to whether the ideals are working, the proof seems to be in the record as the baseball program continues to grow and be a strong part of Ragin’ Cajuns Athletics year in and year out.
Robichaux wrapped up his program touching on the baseball side of his job some, answering a few questions about his son and the other eight players drafted by Major League Baseball teams’ minor league teams as well as the current crop of players.