The turn of a new year often causes us to turn to reflection.

We look back on where we’ve been, take stock on where we are and where we’re headed.

There is one such person I know about — a person I pitched baseballs to when he was a kid, wrote about when he was in high school — who took stock of where he was and turned into a hero before his family’s eyes: Beau Bechtel.

My wife was Beau’s babysitter when he was growing up in Meridian. He was into all sports and, on occasion, I’d swing by his family’s house on a warm summer day and toss baseballs to him in the backyard while my wife looked on from the porch.

Beau’s sporting interest eventually centered on hockey. He played varsity hockey for Butler and became one of the program’s better players.

He also spent a lot of time in the penalty box, as he was a physical player who crossed the line on the ice at times.

But Beau learned about being a teammate through sports and often took penalties while defending a teammate.

What he’s doing these days is far from a game. He’s still part of a team, but a much larger one. And he’s defending much more than just his teammates.

He’s defending all of us.

Now 20, Beau Bechtel is in the Marine Corps, a member of the Third Battalion Third Marines, who recently returned home for the holidays after serving in Afghanistan for the past seven months.

That’s a long way from serving two minutes in a penalty box.

There’s little doubt that some of the things Beau learned through sports have served him well in the military.

Then again, this isn’t about sports at all.

This is about a guy who was unsure of what direction to take in life once he graduated from high school.

He eventually decided on the Marines.

Not everybody can make the team. We learn that as young athletes as we try to stay with a sport as we grow older. Whether in high school, college or the pro, making the team eventually moves out of our reach.

Making the Marines is making quite a team. The Few. The Proud. The Marines. The commercial doesn’t lie.

Beau did everything he had to do to become a marine. We put our best out there to represent our country.

Sitting here as we turn the calendar to 2011, it’s stunning to realize that this little kid who smiled from ear to ear as he swung a bat at a baseball in his backyard years ago has blossomed into a hero.

After all, that’s what every person in every branch of the military is.

When it comes to sports, we play a lot of games in this country.

Because people like Beau are out in the field, our athletes are able to take the field.

He’s among those sacrificing for our freedom — and he’s never scored a bigger goal.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle