Keelan Willison gets ready for new challenges

Atascadero News photo courtesy of Jeff Zippi • North County Christian School graduated Keelan Willison, center, signs a letter of intent to play for San Diego Christian with his parents, Nick and Laura Willison, by his side. NCCS Athletic Director Larry Halderman stands in the background.

ATASCADERO — The dream of many young boys is to play their favorite sports at the professional level. That was no different for Keelan Willison who never quit dreaming from the first time he stepped out on a baseball diamond around age 7.

“I started dreaming about it from the first time I started playing baseball,” said Willison, the senior standout from North County Christian School.

Willison gets a chance to take the next step after recently signing a “letter of intent” offered to him by head San Diego Christian coach and former Major-Leaguer Chris Bando. Although there isn’t a scholarship included, Willison was told, after a recent try out, that he would fit in well with the current NAIA Hawks’ team.

Willison, who plans to major in physical education with an eye toward coaching, has always set high goals for himself, athletically. That has been particularly true of baseball. In his four years with the league-championship Crusaders he played mostly at shortstop, with stints both catching and pitching.

After hitting a modest .264 as a freshman, he improved dramatically to .492 as a sophomore, developing a reputation as a power/RBI hitter around the Coast Valley League. The last two seasons have seen Willison bat over .500 while seeing far fewer hitable pitches than earlier in his high school career.

“I’m just taking this step-by-step,” he said in response to the eventual objective. “I’m hoping to make the varsity squad. That’s really my next immediate goal.”

For his proud parents, Nick and Laura Willison, and all those at North County Christian, seeing Willison succeed would also be a dream come-true.