Anyone who was an athlete at one point or another will always have a competitive nature.

Sometimes you just have to "scratch the itch" and "lace em' up" one more time and step back onto the field.Whether it's competing in bowling, baseball, or simply rooting for his beloved Philadelphia Phillies, Jack Schrader of Jim Thorpe has always been passionate about sports.In October of 2013, Jack's wife Lori surprised him with an early birthday present with a trip to the Phillies Phantasy camp in Clearwater, Florida.To his wife's surprise, Jack initially said "no" to the gift."I was hurting so badly after playing in one of my alumni games at Father Judge High School in Philadelphia," he said. "I knew I couldn't just go down there and compete without getting into shape."With his desire to compete, Schrader decided to train first and then try his luck in Clearwater. Jack lost over 30 pounds during the course of a year and felt pretty good heading into January."I trained for well over six months, from taking cuts at the cages at the Pyramid Sports and Performance Center in Lehighton, to running and walking at the high school track. Lori trained with me all of the time during preparation. She even long tossed, hit grounders to me, and filmed all of my batting sessions."The duo headed to Florida and on the first day of Phillies Phantasy Camp Jack had tryouts. The camp is constructed of 10 teams, composed of die-hard Phillies fans from across the country. Each team is coached by former Phillies legends. The top two teams in the tournament earn a chance to step on the field and play a game against former Phillies such as John Kruk, Kevin Stocker, and Jim Eisenreich Jack's favorite.Jack's tryout included a vigorous bullpen session, which was evaluated by former major leaguers. Included among those big leaguers was Tommy Greene, who tossed a no-hitter for the Phillies during the 1991 season. Schrader ended up being selected by a team coached by Von Hayes and Marty Bystrom.Jack and his new team didn't exactly get off to a hot start. Schrader went 0-for-3 at the plate during the first game and booted a ball in left field, contributing to a one-run loss (their only one of the tournament).Coach Hayes got on Jack's case a little bit, and Schrader's play turned around after that."Von and I definitely had our moments," said Schrader. "We were even arguing about things such as defensive alignment."After his team's initial loss, Jack's squad ran the table the rest of the week.Schrader also started hitting the ball with success. One of his hits, a triple, two-hopped the left-center field fence and had everyone (including Coach Hayes) popping out of the dugout to see where his bomb would land."After that second game we figured we actually had a chance to win this thing," said Schrader. "We knew we had to come out in the third game and sweep the doubleheader to get to the championship game."Unfortunately for Jack's team, they came up short in the championship game.With Queen's famous "We Are The Champions" blaring through the speakers of the beautiful Phillies' spring training complex, Jack couldn't bare to watch his competitors celebrate, get interviewed by the media, and spray the traditional campaign."A lot of us didn't expect to get that far. I was more upset that the camp was over than that we lost. I had such a great time and didn't want it to end."Because his team reached the championship game, it was one of the two squads which earned the privilege to play against the former Phillies. Jack ended up pitching to his idol Eisenreich, and walked him on four straight pitches. After that, the 56-yeard old Philadelphia native and Jim Thorpe resident might have set an unofficial MLB record."I was the first pitcher in major league history to make the call to the bullpen myself," he said. "I'm proud of that 0-1 record and infinite ERA though. I told the skipper he had a chance to yank me, but he didn't and I had to do it myself."It was a great experience. I had the opportunity to sit down at dinner with Bob Boone and hang out with guys like Darren Daulton and John Kruk. My favorite was Dickie Noles who jokingly picked on me for not legging-out an inside-the-park home run. Noles actually ended up behind us on the same plane to fly home."Schrader will forever be a competitor and big-time sports enthusiast. He's competed in multiple sports throughout his entire life and has attended numerous types of sporting events across the country. Both Jack and Lori continue to bowl around the area competitively.So will Jack ever lace up those cleats again and try and win the Phillies Phantasy Camp?"I'm not even thinking about that right now," he said. "There have been some guys who have been to the Phillies' Phantasy camp up to 10 times and never had the opportunity to play in the championship game. I did and there's not much to improve on, is there?"I'm very competitive, yes, but I couldn't really ask for more. For four days I threw my iPhone in my locker and didn't look at it. I didn't forget how to put a uniform on and didn't forget how I liked to wear my socks. For four days at the Phillies camp, I was a kid again."