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Independence (from your parents) Day!

This blog might have the single most important piece of advice I've ever given out to parents...and it has nothing to do with playing ball. I have the best Summer Camp coaching staff in the world; they are passionate, energetic, fun, and truly care about the kids on the field. This is largely because 99% […]

We Got Smoked!

My 11U All Star team was feeling confident coming off a super-exciting win in Game 1 as we faced off against a strong team from PVLL on Saturday. We battled through 2 innings and entered the 3rd inning tied 0-0; it was shaping up to be a good game. And then everything that could go […]

“The Only Constant Is Change”

I've always loved that quote from the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus (yes I'm giant nerd, but I did have to look up who said that 😁) and I've been using a version of that concept in how I've worked to mentally prepare my 11U All Star team for their tournament. Before our first scrimmage a […]

Fans First? We’re FUN First!

You’ve probably heard of the Savana Banana’s motto by now: “FANS FIRST.” And I hope you know that Spring Training’s motto is “Play Hard, Have Fun.” It took me a long time to come up with a short phrase that captured everything Spring Training is about (and I love it), but if I was ever […]

If The Scoreboard Was Broken…

My favorite body language / attitude challenge to issue to the teams I coach is this: If someone arrived in the middle of the game and the scoreboard was turned off, they should not be able to tell if our team was winning or losing, or who was personally having a good game or bad […]

“Command Your Fastball”

I’m coaching Majors this season and of the 11 kids on our team, 6 have pitched in multiple games already! All 6 of those kids (5 of whom are 12 years old) throw a curveball/slider, in addition to their fastball, and a couple of them have a changeup as a 3rd pitch. Age 11 or […]

CAGE VS GAME HITTING!

CAGE VS GAME HITTING! Now that the season is rolling here in Southern California, you might be noticing that your hitter crushes the ball in the cage and practice but takes really tentative swings (or doesn’t swing at all!) in games. Frustrating, right?!? Sure, but totally normal in Little League. From Minors all the way […]

POST-GAME PARENTING

NEW BLOG: POST-GAME PARENTING Maddux is off to rough start at the plate. This happens every year because he doesn't play any baseball between the end of Summer Camp in August and Little League Evaluations in January, and it always takes him a handful of games to get into the groove getting comfortable with his swing […]

The Importance of Body Language

Slamming Bats. Throwing Helmets. Blaming The Ump. One unfortunate trend I’ve noticed in recent years is that youth athletes’ emotional outbursts and reactions to failure and adversity have increased in both frequency and intensity. The reasons behind this are likely numerous and include: But even in the healthiest of sports environments, maintaining a level-head in […]