farragutpress

Bigger than baseball

FHS seniors give back at ETCH

March 4, 2026 by Jake Nichols

Coming into this season, the Farragut High School baseball team has a clear goal in mind: to win a fifth consecutive state title.

But before they take to the field this spring, the Admiral seniors paid a visit to East Tennessee Children’s Hospital on a recent Monday morning.

The event was organized by FHS baseball parents Dr. Safina Kureshi — a pediatric pulmonologist at the hospital — and her husband, Dr. Joey Smith, an emergency medicine physician.

Kureshi noted the impact such an event can have on patients and players alike.

She has seen it numerous times with Tennessee coaches, such as Rick Barnes and Tony Vitello.

Now, her own son, Farragut senior Zain Kureshi-Smith, and his friends had a chance to make a similar impression.

“A lot of these guys will be going off to play college baseball,” she said, “so this helps them get used to the public relations side and community outreach.”

Kureshi-Smith is no stranger to that, having organized an athletic equipment drive each of the past five years.

“I just wanted to put a smile on a kid’s face,” Kureshi-Smith said. “I really love to give back, and it warms my heart. To see what my parents do, I see how they treat people and it makes me want to give back as well.”

The Farragut players approached slowly at first during their visit, showing hesitance in their interactions with children across the hospital.

But by the end of the hour, they were playing video games with patients and tossing the foam baseballs they gave out as they passed.

“I love to see the players engage,” said Cheryl Allmon, director of Volunteer Services and Programs at ETCH. “They were pretty shy at first, but now they’re all over the place, playing and laughing with the kids.

“Then I look at it from the parents’ perspective, too,” Allmon added. “Kids don’t know how sick they are sometimes, so they don’t worry. Parents worry. So when they can see their children laughing and engaging, it’s a relief and a comfort for them, too.”

Later, as players grazed on candy in Kureshi’s office, they, too, noted the impact of an event this meaningful.

“If we’re able to bring some good into the world, it can help in our own lives, too,” senior catcher Jake Harris said. “It really brings us together as a team. We’ve done Wreaths Across America, too, so we’re using it to be good in the community and put ourselves out there.”

Harris emphasized that these events help bring the players closer, thus leading to better chemistry on the diamond.

“Half of the game of baseball is just knowing who you’re playing with and trusting the guys around you, so the trust we develop with things like this carries over to the locker room and the field,” he said. “I’ve played on teams where I don’t really know anybody, and we were not very successful. But this one, I feel like I have a bond with each and every one of these guys.”

Now, each of the Admirals’ seniors has a bond with the patients at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, too.

And that will last even longer than the shine on the next trophy the Ads are pursuing this season.

“Sometimes we get caught up in the championships when you’ve got kids in here fighting for their lives,” Allmon summarized. “Sometimes you have to look outside what’s going on in your world to see there’s a bigger picture — and that you can make it better.”