Brandon Nance saw 15-year-old boys in the Dominican Republic using 20-inch baseball bats, while he and his teammates at La Jolla Country Day School were using 33-inch bats, more proportional to their size and strength as young athletes.
On his school’s sophomore trip last October to the baseball-crazy nation, Nance and his classmates were able to give the young people there 110 bats, 50 gloves, and other sports equipment. It’s an extension of what Nance and his family already do locally through A Bridge for Kids, a non-profit that gifts young adults with sports equipment they wouldn’t otherwise be able to buy, dresses for their school prom, tutors in school subjects, and college application fees.
What does the 17-year-old junior get out of helping needy youth with his family? “l take a lot less for granted,” says the pitcher/first baseman for coach John Edman’s Torreys. “I’ve interviewed a lot of the kids (whom ABFK assists). If I can’t get a bat or other equipment, if I don’t attend a private school and can’t get that equipment that would help me play better, it’s difficult. That’s a lesson I’ve learned.”
Startling is the fact Brandon took a year off from school after eighth grade – on his father’s suggestion – while the Nance family organized and got A Bridge for Kids started. “I do a lot of the technical stuff,” says the likeable Nance, who Edman calls a hard worker who stays late for extra hitting practice. “I come up with some of the questions for the students we interview. I sit in the interviews.” He also places donation boxes with businesses in the La Jolla area to raise money beyond the big “Casino Night” event coming up Oct. 3. (Go to abridgeforkids.org for information.)
“A track athlete bought a GPS watch (with money Brandon personally raised). He was having trouble keeping his time,” says the earnest young man. “If keeping track of your time is important, and you’re training seriously, that helps you a lot.” The athlete has since gone on to a four-year university in the east, where he has continued to compete at the college level.
Nance, a 6-foot, 165-pounder, hit .317, with two home runs and 19 RBIs, batting in the fourth slot in a power-packed lineup for the Torreys that took them to the finals of the lower bracket in the CIF Division I playoffs. In Brandon’s first year playing on the varsity, as an older sophomore, he carried a .902 OPS, .451 OBP, and .451 slugging average. He stole 16 bases in 16 attempts, tying teammate Keaton Weisz. He gained first base seven times via being hit by a pitch, tied with teammate Ryan Kawano.
In addition, the righty was Edman’s number-two pitcher and had two saves, with a 1-3 record, in 12 appearances. For all of this, Nance was named Second Team All Coastal League.
Says his coach, “He is an intense competitor and great teammate, and will be an awesome leader for us. He works really hard in the off-season to prepare. He is just a great kid.”
Brandon, modest about his baseball accomplishments, describes himself as more the “quiet leader” type. He also played basketball as a freshman, but he says the time commitment of playing two sports in back-to-back seasons–winter and spring–made it prohibitive, so he dropped basketball. “If you have to work on your swing before the baseball season, it’s pretty tough while doing another sport,” he says.
The entire family is involved in ABFK, with Michael Nance as founder and CEO. Brandon’s mother is Tammy, and his sister Amanda, 14, will be a freshman at Country Day this fall.