Brett Mote is happy summer’s here, but it’s hardly a summer break.

The Sequim youth is headed to Florida in August as part of the USSSA All-American Northwest Region 12U baseball team.

Brett plays third base, outfield and sometimes pitches as the youngest member of the local Crosscutters 13U traveling squad.

He prefers third base, the so-called “hot corner.”

“You get a lot of balls hit to you there. I like to get them and throw ‘em out,” Brett says.

He must be doing it right. After hearing word of an open invite for tryouts for the select USSSA squad, Brett traveled to Tacoma on May 5 and went through a battery of workouts as coaches graded players on warm-ups, 60-yard dash, distance on hits, the speed and accuracy throwing to first base, throws to home and throws from the outfield to certain bases.

In the end, Brett was named to the United States Specialty Sports Association’s (USSSA) All-American Northwest Region 12U National League team along with other players from Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and northern California.

The team will take on other USSSA All-American teams from across the nation at the 2017 All-American Games, set for Aug. 6-12 in Orlando, Fla. Games are hosted at the at ESPN Wide World of Sports and other nearby venues.

John Qualls, who coaches Brett on the Crosscutters squad, says the experience will be big for Brett.

“Anytime (our players) can get off the peninsula, I’m all for it,” Qualls says. “What they’re going to learn is that they are with like-minded athletes, both (with) a work ethic and a desire to get better. That alone is big for him, to establish connections.”

Qualls says what separates the youngster from others his age is “his will and desire to get better every day.”

“His baseball IQ is unbelievable — he’s a sponge,” Qualls says. “He’s really a well-balanced kid. We mix him in at third and outfield (but) he’s just so athletic, he can play everywhere.”

The tourney in Orlando is a homecoming of sorts for the Mote family, former residents of the Sunshine State. It’s going to be hot, says Brett’s dad Jerry. Fortunately some of the youngster’s recent play has been in hot weather.

“He played a tournament in Yakima that was a little hot, one in Olympia that was 90 degrees and he’s a got another tournament in Yakima before he goes,” Jerry says.

The youth played a couple of seasons for a travel team out of Silverdale (the Sluggers) but that meant at least one hour of travel two or three days a week plus tournaments in Tacoma and Spokane, mom Tiffani says. When the Crosscutters formed earlier this year, Brett and family jumped at the chance. On the Crosscutters, Brett plays with top players from Sequim, Port Angeles, Forks and Chimacum.

“We have the flexibility (to travel, but) a lot of other parents, that’s not an option,” Tiffani says. “He’d rather play locally.”

Keeping his focus

While baseball is his favorite sport, Brett isn’t a one-sport kid. He plays football and basketball, and in his spare time plays lots of music — piano, drums, guitar and more. Oh, and he’s gearing up to serve as class president when he enters seventh grade in the fall.

“He keeps us busy,” Tiffani says.

Not that Brett’s folks aren’t busy themselves. Along with looking after sons Lane and Brett and daughters Madeline and Ella, Jerry coaches at the high school and youth football programs while Tiffani coaches cheerleading at high school and youth levels as well.

Brett says he needs to work on the mental part of his approach to the game.

“I get mad sometimes,” he says, “like when I strike out.”

That’s not unheard of with younger players, Qualls says, so Crosscutters coaches work with them to learn how to handle that kind of adversity.

“We work through the nerves and motions in the game,” Qualls says. “When the adrenaline goes up, the heart rate goes up and they speed up the game,” so coaches train players to slow the game down.

“We want them to understand (how that works); we’ve got to get them exposed now so they’re not shocked when they leave here as a senior,” Qualls says. “Brett buys into it. He gets it.”

Read more about the United States Specialty Sports Association at www.usssa.com.