HUDSON FALLS, N.Y. (NEWS10) – If there’s one universal truth among school sports teams, it may be that a coach never forgets their players. One Hudson Falls coach worked with his own players this week to lend support to the next players to enjoy the games he’ll never forget.

Hudson Falls varsity baseball coach Greg Smith organized some of his current players over the weekend to tend to the field where some of them may have played in their younger days; the Hudson Falls Little League fields near the high school’s main entrance. Smith passed by those fields every day, during two years where COVID-19 kept any games from being played there.

“Seeing the fields looking like that was frustrating,” Smith said. ”I enjoyed all the years coaching little league and watching my own boys play baseball on those diamonds.”

The field is tended to by Hudson Falls buildings and grounds crew, but two whole years of disuse showed their wear on the fields all the same. On Saturday, Smith mobilized nine students who had played varsity or junior varsity baseball under his coaching last year. The players and buildings and grounds staff workers for two and a half hours, weeding and edging the dirt on the infields.

Just like a coach never forgets his players, Smith said his former players didn’t forget, either.

“While we were working, the boys told about a hundred stories about their games on the little league fields,” said Coach Smith. “Who hit home runs, who stole bases, and how many batters they hit. It was a fun morning, and it was good to see them do a little manual labor!”

There was also a family connection within the morning workforce. Coach Smith’s father, Randy Smith, works in the school maintenance department, and added a third generation of muscle to the morning workload.

The nine kids were repaid with pizza after the work was done.