by By Dan Ninham (Oneida)
The Miles City Mavericks are an American Legion baseball team for 19 and under players in Montana. Once the pandemic subsides, Jullian Link will be making the round trip from Colstrip to Miles City is 80 miles.
Jullian Link is an enrolled Crow/Pawnee member, and a part of the Big Lodge Clan. His Indian name is “Badabachewa” meaning: Goes to get the Chief. “It was a great honor to be the one to go and get the chief to go to meetings and gatherings,” said Julian. “The time that you brought him to the gathering you protected him from enemies. It was a great honor to do this.”
Jullian’s parents are Jeremy and Laura Link and the family lives in Colstrip, MT.
“Due to problems in the past, Colstrip has not had a legion baseball team the last two years,” said Jullian. “I will be driving to Miles City to play for the Miles City Mavericks.”
Jullian earned recognition as an All-Star during all years of little league. Planet Baseball, a travel team from New York, invited him to play in Puerto Rico.
“Being an athlete means so much more than just going out and playing a game,” said Jullian. “I love sports with a passion, and every time I put on a uniform, I am putting my entire family and my tribe on my shoulders. I wouldn’t be where I am today in life and let alone sports if it wasn’t for the support of my family, friends, and my tribe. The reason I push myself so hard in my sports is because one day when I have people’s attention, I want to show people that there is so much more to see about my tribe than the alcohol and drugs.”
“There are a couple people who have positively influenced me as a competitive athlete but the two who have influenced me the most are my father and my HS football coach Stacey Yates,” said Jullian.
“My dad was a huge influence because he helped me realize that no matter what the scoreboard says or how bad of a game you played, your friends and family will always be there to pick you back up and keep pushing,” said Jullian.
“I have been fortunate enough to coach baseball through different levels of play,” said dad Jeremy Link. “We knew Jullian had a gift from a really young age. As soon as he could swing a bat everything became a baseball bat. One day we were at our family’s bowling alley and Jullian, who was 18 months old at the time, found a magnet we use for retrieving dropped bolts from under the machines. The magnet is a 1/4″ diameter metal rod that is 2 feet long. He was swinging it around asking his grandpa to pitch a ball to him. Well the first ball his grandpa found was a ping-pong ball, and his grandpa not thinking Jullian would hit it pitched it to him and to everyone’s surprise he hit it. That became the game for him, his grandpa would always pitch ping-pong balls to him and he would use that magnet as a bat. Jullian would hit for hours this way maybe only missing a couple times. That was the day we realized he had a very special gift and he had great things in store for him.”
“I wouldn’t want anybody else as a football coach than Stacey Yates,” said Jullian. “He’s helped me become a stronger person physically and mentally and taught me to never give up, there will be hard times but keep your head up and keep pushing, it will all be worth it in the end.”
The training that needs to happen to be the best athlete you can be is important. “The constant lifting, batting practice in offseason, and studying of the game to help keep my mind right in a game situation are important,” said Jullian. “The respect of my mind, body, and soul. The people around me, and the earth that we play on are also important. Keep a cool mind, and you can only control your own actions and not of others.
Jullian has advice for others to become an elite athlete: “Set a goal and don’t give up on those goals and work your butt off no matter what anybody says and what obstacles that may be put in your path, if you have a dream go for it and don’t let anybody tell you otherwise. You, me, or nobody is going to hit as hard as life. But it’s not about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, it’s about how much you can take and keep moving forward.”
“Now if you know what your worth go out and get what your worth,” said Jullian. “But you got to be willing to go out and take the hit, and not point fingers saying you’re not where you want to be because of her, him or anybody. Quitters do that and that isn’t you.”
“I’m going to do today what other people aren’t willing to so I can do tomorrow what other people can’t,” added Jullian.
Photo Credit: Sarah Zukowski@143photography
