{"id":21221,"date":"2013-06-16T09:26:43","date_gmt":"2013-06-16T16:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=21221"},"modified":"2013-06-16T14:01:21","modified_gmt":"2013-06-16T21:01:21","slug":"remembering-ender-chaparro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=21221","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Ender Chaparro"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ender<\/a>
Ender Chaparro and his son Erick, of Maracaibo, Venezuela, both pitchers. Ender passed away earlier this year. (click to enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>We were saddened to learn, earlier this year, of the passing of Ender Chaparro, of Maracaibo, Venezuela, who died from complications after medical treatment, at the age of 52. As is the case with so many of the players with whom we are lucky to get to know, Maddy and I met Ender and his son Erick, both pitchers, at the AAU International tournament.<\/p>\n

Last summer, at the NAFA World Series in Topeka, Kansas, we ran into them again, and, as fate would have it, in a loser’s bracket elimination game. Erick and I got the ball for our respective teams, and squared off, with the youngster and his teammates, including my friend Matt Christiansen (gracious host to many Latin American players) among them, getting the best of us that day. His father Ender watched proudly that day, as his son displayed the results of many hours of his tutelage. His love for Erick shown brightly, as he put his arm around Erick’s shoulder as we chatted after the game.<\/p>\n

In January 2013, Maddy and I were back at the AAU, and Ender and his son Erick stopped by to say hello. It is always encouraging to see fathers passing the game along to their sons, as so many do. Their bond was readily apparent, as was Erick’s respect and admiration for his father. Watching the two pitch, was a study in symmetry. (see photo below) The youngster, Erick was clearly a chip off the (not so) old block — and proud to be. The other thing readily apparent, was Ender’s pride in his son, and his work ethic to become the best pitcher — and man — he can be. <\/p>\n

On Father’s Day, today, we thought it fitting to say to one father, Ender Chapparo, well done. And to share a son’s thoughts of his father, below.<\/p>\n

\"Ender<\/a>
Like Father, Like Son: Ender Chaparro and his son Erick Chapareo. (Click to enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nFather’s Day Thoughts from Erick Chaparro about his father<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n

He always played softball since he was a Kid. He used to play second base when he was by my age, then he started pitching and getting pitching instructions from pitchers from USA, Canada, Panama and others that came to play at Venezuela high level softball tournaments. Since that he started loving fastpitch softball more than anyome else. He knows everything about hall of fame pitchers, world championships, tournaments worldwide and a lot of fastpitch. <\/p>\n

He was always looking how to be better, how to improve every pitch, Rise, Drop and his favorite CHANGE UP. One of the most important thing he traveled a lot to tournaments at the US was get a little more intructions from the best pitchers in the world and the put it in practice till get the perfectly, HE LOVED IT. <\/p>\n

If he wasn’t a softball pitcher, I’m sure he would be at the ballpark with a professional camera, and radar run watching every pitcher in every tournament, and teaching everyone who would want to be a softball pitcher as he did it all his life. He was my pitching coach and he knew a great deal about the game. I am not sure what he liked more, Pitching, or teaach, but he did both well. And when he wasn’t on the diamond playing or teaching, he was often at the computer looking for information about fastpitch. <\/p>\n

Pitching was his passion and he liked a lot to be at the ballpark watching a lot of faspitch. <\/p>\n

I saw him pitch many games, a lot of championship games, but I had the happiness to come after 4,5 , or 6 innings and help him to finish the game. <\/p>\n

He Loved this game, And I’m sure he is still loving it, and playing it in heaven. In time, we will be back together again, playing this game, for the same team, and start winning games together again. -Erick Chaparro <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Click here for a great feature story about Ender and Erick Chaparro, written by Bob Otto.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We were saddened to learn, earlier this year, of the passing of Ender Chaparro, of Maracaibo, Venezuela, who died from complications after medical treatment, at the age of 52. As is the case with so many of the players with whom we are lucky to get to know, Maddy and I met Ender and his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21221","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21221"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21241,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21221\/revisions\/21241"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}