82nd Annual ABCA Convention Recap

[00:00:04] Speaker A: Welcome to the abca's podcast. I'm your host, ryan brownlee. If you run a baseball facility, Swift is the only piece of software you need to manage and grow your business. From scheduling and payments to memberships and retail, Swift takes care of it all. Your coaches can use the app to manage their schedule on the go, and your customers have a sleek and fast way to book online lessons, rentals, camps, packages and more all in one spot. That's why hundreds of the best baseball facilities across the country rely on Swift. And now, with their upcoming AI front desk, you can literally put your business on autopilot. Get started in minutes at Run Swift app. That's runswiftapp.com ABCA spend less time behind the Screen and more time on the field this episode is sponsored by Netting Pros. Netting Professionals are improving programs one facility at a time. Netting Professionals specializes in the design, fabrication and installation of custom netting for backstops, batting cages, dugouts, BP screens and ball carts. They also design and install digital graphic wall padding, windscreen, turf, turf protectors, dugout benches, dugout cubbies and more. Netting Professionals is an official partner of the ABCA and continues to provide quality products and services to many high school, college and professional fields, facilities and stadiums throughout the country. Netting Professionals are improving programs one facility at a time. Contact them today at 627 OH7 or infoettingpros.com. visit them online at www.nettingpros.com or check out NettingPros on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn for all their latest products and projects. Make sure to let CEO Will Minor know that the ABCA sent you. Now onto the podcast. We wanted to check in for a post convention wrap up with some of our key ABCA member coaches here to put a bow on the 82nd Annual ABCA Convention. In this episode we'll hear from Division One Committee Chair Chris Pollard, Second Vice President Jim Cahill, who put the main stage speakers together, newly elected Youth Committee Chair Jordan Baltimore and NJCA Committee Chair Jeff Willis. Thanks to everyone who attended the ABCA Convention or participated. All the feedback we are getting from attendees, committee members, speakers, exhibitors and sponsors is that this was our best event to date. Look forward to seeing everyone January 7th through the 10th, 2027 in Chicago here with Chris Pollard, Division 1 committee chair. So Chris, thanks for taking time. I know it's really, really busy for you. [00:03:06] Speaker B: So no, I appreciate you having me on Ryan. And you know what was an awesome weekend in Columbus and so happy to kind of debrief with you. We Call this an after action report, like the Navy Seals. Right. And man, what a. What a. What a great convention to debrief on. [00:03:25] Speaker A: Yeah, and this is. We've never done a. We. We always do a preview, but we've never done a post one. And I think it's just good for everybody to hear, especially from the coach's perspective of, of how everything went, because it. It's different coming from you all than it is coming from the ABCA staff. [00:03:44] Speaker B: Here's how I would sum it up. It is. In my now 29 years of conventions, it was the very best convention I've ever been to in terms of collaboration and connectivity across all levels of baseball. To think that we would have meetings where travel baseball and Major League Baseball are in the same room partnering. To think that we would have meetings where college coaches and the Major League Baseball Players association are in the same room collaborating. And everyone from Little League of America to MLB and everywhere along the spectrum in between kind of working together for the betterment of our game. And it was just such a great feeling to see that connectivity. [00:04:35] Speaker A: Do you think that's the biggest difference now is, you know, you kind of always felt that, but I think it's like, palpable now where it's like, okay, everybody is in this together, trying to make baseball better, better at every level. [00:04:46] Speaker B: I think, like, we've. [00:04:47] Speaker C: We. [00:04:47] Speaker B: We've all had a shared care for the sport, a shared love and a shared care for the sport. But 25 years ago, it was like, I don't know how we all connect. You know, the convention was high school coaches and college coaches 25 years ago. And, and now, like, the convention has truly become this one point in time and location in the year where all the stakeholders of our game in one location to be face to face with each other, to say, okay, let's all put our heads together and see how we can advance this great sport. [00:05:26] Speaker A: I felt like the exhibit space was the best it's been too. [00:05:29] Speaker B: It's awesome. I mean, it's huge.410 vendors, most in the history of the convention. It was a really large space. It felt open. It felt airy. I felt like it was easy to find people, which for me is, like, it's not always the case. And so I thought it was a really good exhibit hall with, you know, and that's another thing, like, I think vendors now recognize, like, I got to be here because this is where my customers have an opportunity to interact with me face to face. As we think about, like, synergy and True Media and all these different companies that we work with that we don't get a lot of FaceTime with. Like the convention becomes that, you know, point in time. We say, okay, well let's sit down and talk about this in person. [00:06:21] Speaker A: Yeah. And I'm. And shout out to the members because I do try to tell them on Thursdays in those meetings to make sure they do get into the exhibit space and thank the exhibitors. The reason why it's 75 bucks for a membership and $90 for the convention because of our sponsors and our exhibitors. So I do appreciate our members because they are a big part. I think that's the difference between our convention and some other conventions is the attendees are a huge part of how it goes. Like they're, they're so active, they have great energy. The attendees are a huge reason why our convention is good too, because they are active participants. [00:06:57] Speaker B: I think knowledge is power and I think you guys have done an incredible job of building relationships with corporate sponsors. But you know, for me on Wednesday to sit in the room and hear that it's generating $3 million for support for our organization, for our association and that directly enables you guys to keep costs down to our members and then to turn around and be able to convey that message in our Division 1 business meeting, I think that's, that's powerful. So you guys have done a great job of building up the corporate sponsorships and the vendor relations, but I think you've also done a really good job of helping us as members understand like, hey, this is why this is really important. [00:07:47] Speaker A: And with the hotels now and people think we're crazy signing contracts out that far, but we have to, it's still going to be reasonable for somebody to come in 2040. Like it's, it's going to be reasonable for somebody to attend in 2040. [00:08:00] Speaker B: It's insane. I mean, I know because I know the challenges that we've had securing hotel rooms for the 2026 season and you know, to think that we're going to be able to, to purchase a hotel room and attend the convention for less than $200 a night in 2040. We're really struggling to find $200 hotel rooms when we go out on the road and travel as a team right now at a non convention site. So I think it's, I think it's awesome. I think it's great planning and I think it helps open up membership across our sport. [00:08:38] Speaker A: Any other shout out you want to give for, let you get back to winning an acc Championship here. [00:08:43] Speaker B: Well, the biggest shout out goes to. To you guys in the ABCA office. I mean I just, I. For all of our members, you know, the last four or five years has given an opportunity for me to peel back the curtain and see everything that goes into the convention. And it's an amazing operation with so many different moving parts and you guys do it really effectively and efficiently and with a lot of class and with a lot of energy. So shout out to you guys. But also man, I would definitely give a shout out to the city of Columbus. Like cool spot. My interaction with the city of Columbus was limited to the Columbus airport and connecting through Columbus. Columbus, first time, really downtown, great convention center with a really good flow. You could, you, you could navigate from a meeting to an exhibit to a clinic really easily and then you had all these great restaurants right there. Just steps outside the door of the convention center. So I thought it was a great spot and guys that I talked to and interacted with had an awesome experience. [00:10:00] Speaker A: Yeah, you could eat for cheap if you wanted to. Or you could, you could get some high end food too if you wanted to go that route too. On High Street. [00:10:06] Speaker B: Absolutely, man. You could get a slice of pizza or you could get a $50 steak or you could do everything in between. [00:10:12] Speaker A: Yep. Chris, thanks for your time. Have a great spring. Appreciate you, sir. [00:10:16] Speaker B: Come see us, Ryan. [00:10:16] Speaker A: I will. [00:10:20] Speaker D: So can you hear me? [00:10:22] Speaker A: Yeah. What's going on? [00:10:25] Speaker D: No, nothing. Just getting. Trying to get. Get myself organized. [00:10:28] Speaker A: I know I actually came in for a little bit yesterday, the office. I was proud of myself getting in here for a little bit. Yesterday. [00:10:36] Speaker D: Yeah, we. I was at work. We had an arm acclimation week which started. Yes, yesterday. [00:10:41] Speaker A: Nice. [00:10:42] Speaker D: Or whatever. Yeah. Little conditioning. [00:10:45] Speaker A: They need to let. They just need. The states just need to let stuff like that happen. [00:10:53] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:10:53] Speaker A: Because you can do that around basketball. Oh yeah, you can. You can allow them 15 minutes to get J bands in and some reverse throw stuff in. That's actually probably going to help their shoulders in. In basketball, honestly. [00:11:11] Speaker D: So yeah, there were a bunch of. When did you get back? Sunday night. [00:11:16] Speaker A: We left Sunday. Yeah. Yeah, around 6:30. So as soon as the last speaker was done. [00:11:23] Speaker D: I had a late flight. I'm kind of glad I did. There was a flight, Delta flight from direct to Atlanta that got canceled. Oh, there was something wrong with the plane. They had to fly apart in climbed. [00:11:34] Speaker A: Me a lot this fall. I had funky issues this fall flying like, couldn't locate crews. I got stuck in Detroit and then our flight, for whatever reason the computer Thought our flight had left. Even though we hadn't left. Was sitting there by the check in gate. The computer got screwed up and thought the flight had left so it wouldn't allow anybody to get checked in. So we got, we got to North Carolina. Fun, but it just, it was weird stuff. [00:12:06] Speaker D: What air do you guys fly? Delta. [00:12:08] Speaker A: I fly Atlanta Delta and United, depending on what part of the country I'm going to. All right, here. Jim Cahill, I think still second vice president. You rotate first, I think first. I think you're. Yeah. Your first vice president now. So. [00:12:27] Speaker D: That'S kind of. [00:12:28] Speaker A: By the way, you knocked it out of the park. For people that don't know, the third vice president gets two, I think two of the speakers and then second vice president gets the rest of the speakers. So if you, if you see any. Whoever is up there introing, that's who got the speaker, correct? [00:12:46] Speaker D: Yes. Yes. [00:12:48] Speaker A: So did you have many nerves coming into this thing? [00:12:52] Speaker D: I guess like 2 years ago I was super nervous. Like when I first I was like, oh, I gotta do that. And then it was like. But no, once I got like started, started rolling with the contacts and things like that and talking to guys, it was nervous. I was just like super excited. Especially back there, like right before, like the openings awards and all that and the president introducing everybody. And I was just. And I was like last. Felt like I was last behind all the award winners. And I was just like, I was super excited, ready to go. And I felt like I like, I felt like I'm just like a machine gun. The intro on Jay Johnson. But no, it was good. I was just super excited. I was, I was so glad. I knew I had a. We definitely had like an all star lineup on paper and they definitely like their, their presentations. They, they kick butt. [00:13:46] Speaker A: Do you have a, did you have a favorite or a couple favorites? I know they were all. [00:13:50] Speaker C: Were good. [00:13:52] Speaker A: It's hard for me with the U stage speakers because people are like, who was good? I'm like, I feel like they're all good. So I think if you missed them. [00:13:58] Speaker D: I felt so good. [00:13:59] Speaker A: You need to go back and watch them if you missed them. Because I feel like the U stage speakers have always been good and I know. Same thing with the main stage speakers. [00:14:07] Speaker C: It's. [00:14:07] Speaker A: I don't think you can pick, but it was cool to get Mattingly up there and Harold Reynolds. A lot of people really enjoyed that talk and shout out to those two. That's not always the case. And nothing against the pro coaches, but that's not always the case when pro coaches get up there because sometimes they're bound to their organization to not share as much information. And that's not on the speaker. That's, that's on the people who are their bosses of making sure that they're not giving out secrets. But I say this all the time. I think it's like a chef, a high end chef could give you the recipe for their meals. You're not going to make the same meal as a five star chef makes a Michelin star chef like. And the same thing with coaching. Like they could give you everything but you're, you're still not going to do it the same way they do it. [00:14:56] Speaker D: Right. [00:14:59] Speaker A: So what else you got? I mean you came in you and for people don't know how like the chairs work and that. So it's a three year commitment, but then you could do six years. So you had to come into the high school meeting and get Jason Maxwell reelected. And I'm glad you did that because you're good at it. But you did have a lot going on on Thursday. [00:15:20] Speaker D: Yeah, he's so good, man. He's good at what he does. He's great, great leader, great, great baseball coach and he's done a great job. He'll do great. You know, three more years. He'll do awesome too. [00:15:32] Speaker A: Was there a sense of urgency for you with the speakers? Because we haven't had a lot of high school coaches that have been, have worked through the vice president system. Was there some sense of urgency for you to do the high school guys do right by the high school guys? [00:15:45] Speaker D: Exactly, exactly. I didn't want to, you know, I didn't want to mess anything up really. I just wanted to be, make sure I was very thorough in what I did and you know, just make sure we had the right guys in place for, for everything. [00:15:57] Speaker A: What'd you think of everything else as far as the setup in Columbus? [00:16:00] Speaker D: That was amazing just how you, everything was right there. Walk down the stairs from the hotel, you know, all in that one hallway was. The hallway seemed to get longer and longer as the week went on. But it was, it was all right there. Like the meeting rooms right off the side, you know. And when I did get out and talk to people and stuff like that, I heard just everything was positive. Everything about the setup, the convention center set up, the restaurants and bars, how close to proximity and you know, just the variety, the options. It was a good spot. [00:16:36] Speaker A: And shout out to everybody that shows up for the hot stoves at night. I've said this multiple times. I think when I first got into it as a member, we just didn't have a lot going on at night, so it was more of a social thing. You know, once the speakers were done, you know, it was more, okay, you're gonna get with your friends, you're gonna go out, you're gonna go back to the rooms and talk. And I think we have stuff like you could be there all day if you wanted to. And I, I am really proud of our members that. Because those, those hot stove rooms are packed at night too. [00:17:08] Speaker D: Yeah, I stuck my head in a few of them just to see what was going on. It was good. [00:17:12] Speaker A: Yeah, man. How do you, you know, the evolution of the convention? I mean, from, from your perspective, how has everything evolved? [00:17:23] Speaker D: Oh, just as a coach, I mean, I remember my first one, it was in Nashville and I went with. I was assistant coach, South Florida. We went up to Nashville. Our head coach at the time, his brother worked with Eric Campbell at Air Force. So we stayed with Eric Campbell. I slept on Eric Campbell's floor, my very first one in Nashville. And I just remember leaving those, those conventions and feeling like, like maybe you knew something other people didn't know, like, because they were so, so small and kind of, you know, not, not as attended. And you felt like, kind of like you're, you know, you had a little bit of advantage going going back into the season, maybe picked up one or two things that we're going to help you win a game or two. But until until now, it's just like, it's just, just like a totally different animal. It's like. But I mean, with the social media and the, the, you know, the video library, all those things, if you're, if you miss something or, you know, if there's one thing you want to get in the main stage or on the use stage, you know, you don't have to make a decision. You don't have to choose ultimately one or the other. You can watch one later. [00:18:26] Speaker E: So. [00:18:27] Speaker D: And it's been good. I remember too, one of my first conventions, walking into the trade show, which is like, amazing, and now it's like doubles and tripled, I'm sure. From back then. [00:18:39] Speaker A: What have you enjoyed about being in the small meetings? [00:18:45] Speaker D: The, the board meetings? [00:18:46] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:18:47] Speaker D: Oh, just that, you know, just like the wealth, knowledge the guys have and the experience and just the different insights from different levels. Things that. I think that's pretty, Pretty interesting. Pretty. Sometimes I think if you look over at me, I'll be sitting there with my Mouth open, just like taking it all in. [00:19:06] Speaker A: Any other shout outs you want to give or anything else you want to address for people listening, I'd just like. [00:19:11] Speaker D: To thank, you know, the ABC board, all the, and everybody, the directors and everybody in your office and Craig and everybody and you guys. And just obviously the production crew too, did a great job and yeah, they're awesome. [00:19:26] Speaker A: We gave him a standing ovation in the you stage room. Dale. Shout out to Dale. Dale is, is who's in there? Dale and his crew, they do a great job. [00:19:36] Speaker D: Yeah, it was awesome. They were awesome. [00:19:38] Speaker A: So cool. Well, Jim, thank you very much. Congratulations. Awesome. You should be proud. [00:19:42] Speaker D: Thanks. Yes. [00:19:43] Speaker A: Thank you for everything. And if I don't see you before, I'll see you in Kennesaw this fall. [00:19:48] Speaker D: All right. Sounds good. All right, bud. Thank you. [00:19:53] Speaker E: Good morning. You look like you're human again. You look fully recovered. [00:19:59] Speaker A: I'm not. [00:20:00] Speaker B: No, I'm good. [00:20:01] Speaker A: I'm good. [00:20:03] Speaker E: Thank you. [00:20:04] Speaker A: I actually stayed good. I stayed on my schedule. I stayed on my routine. I still got up and meditated and worked out in the mornings. And I, I do enough nutrition throughout the day, too. I probably should write. I don't know, I should probably write a book on that. Just like how to survive, you know, you're working 18 hour days for, for three days, you know, but you also train for it, too. [00:20:31] Speaker E: Yep. [00:20:32] Speaker A: It's still less tech, less hectic than. [00:20:34] Speaker E: Coaching, though, in a strange way. It is. Right. You know, and, and I think a lot of people, as we hire and continue to hire a lot of people don't get like, if you haven't been in that world, yeah, you're going to be on a baseball field for 10 hours. There's no such thing as a break. That, that's not what we're here for. And I'm sorry if that's not what you're looking for. [00:20:55] Speaker A: Pack your snacks and make sure you got water. [00:20:58] Speaker E: That's it. And the bathroom's over there. And you need to run to it and run back, not walk to it. Yes. Otherwise, this is, this is actually not for you. Right. This is not a replacement for a desk job. [00:21:09] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:21:10] Speaker E: Now we, we've seen it. And there are some who are great with it and think it's a badge of honor to, to, to wear and they take pride in it. And then there are other people who are like, yeah, you know, when's my next break? And it's like, yeah, you can't do. And it's not. That's not changing. Right. [00:21:26] Speaker A: That's A lot of what we talk about Thursday night at the rookie mentorship meeting with those coaches. This is a lifestyle. This is what you sign up for. And, you know, it's built to be difficult. It's built to see who just like for the players, it's built to be difficult to see who actually wants to stay in it. [00:21:47] Speaker E: Yeah. If you're. [00:21:48] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:21:48] Speaker E: It's like anything else. If you don't love this and you're not passionate about it and you're not dedicated to it and you're not willing to make the sacrifice, you're not. You're not gonna be. Forget about one year later. You're certainly not going to be here 10 years later. [00:22:00] Speaker A: Because the good ones actually enjoy it. [00:22:02] Speaker E: Yep. [00:22:03] Speaker A: Like the ones that are built for. They actually enjoy being at the field that long. [00:22:07] Speaker E: Yep. They would. There's no place they'd rather be. That's it. Yeah, I agree with you. [00:22:11] Speaker A: I mean, that was Troy Tulowitzki at the Youth Summit. You know, they, you know, loves him because he's at the. He'll be at the field at 9 or 10 o' clock at night with those guys if they need to and. [00:22:23] Speaker E: Doesn'T need to be. [00:22:24] Speaker A: Doesn't need to be. [00:22:25] Speaker E: That's right. [00:22:26] Speaker A: So. All right here with Jordan Baltimore, newly elected youth chair of our Youth committee as Rob Hani moves on to fourth vice president. For people that don't really know how to. That kind of works and just see it from the outside, if someone is one of our chairs and then gets voted on to fourth vice president, they no longer. Because they have a lot of duties. You know, fourth vice president doesn't have a ton of duties, but third vice president actually gets two of the main stage speakers and then second vice president gets the rest of the main stage speakers. And so anybody that comes to convention, if you see the person up there introing them on stage, that's who actually got that speaker lined up. And then I do the you state speakers. So, Jordan, thanks for jumping on with me. [00:23:11] Speaker E: Thrilled to be here. 12 years. [00:23:12] Speaker A: How excited are you right now? [00:23:14] Speaker E: I can. It's still, still glowing over it and still, still excited about it. I mean, look, 12 years ago, you know, you know what I've said before? 12 years ago I was excited to get a discount on some wiffle balls and training tools and learn a new drill or two. And six years ago the, the committee formed and, you know, was thrilled to partner with you and certainly Rob and watch his leadership and overwhelmed at what has grown out and obviously my New responsibilities. I'm just honored, especially by the trust that everybody was placing in me for this. [00:23:48] Speaker A: And you've earned that. I mean, four years ago, you jumped on the Youth Summit with us. You know, there was like 12 of us in that room. You jumped in on that, and that's grown. And then you've done such a good job of adding value and bringing insight to things that we don't always see in the office. You know, we don't. That's why we lean a lot on our committee members and our members, because we don't. We can't be everywhere. And you have really pushed to try to make it a total event for maybe not an underserved community, but maybe with tournament providers and people that do run facilities. You've done a really good job of trying to make it more inclusive for everyone. [00:24:28] Speaker E: I mean, look, I think. And thank you, of course, but in my mind, it was an underserved community because I was able to seek out. And I was really lucky. Right? I had you and Bart and certainly Rob, who shepherded me for the last 12 years. And you believed in me and in many ways invested your time in me. And I thought about and listened to colleagues of mine who had similar needs as academy owners, facility owners, youth orgs, travel orgs. And they were different. They weren't just the Wiffle balls. They weren't just the speakers and the clinics. It was. And those things are phenomenal. Like, there are still people who walk away saying, that was the. Every year it's. That was the best ABCA ever. I got to listen to this and connect with this person, and it's more collaborative than it's ever been before. I think a lot of that has come from certainly Craig, but maybe even more so John. Right? You and John have collaborated so much on hearing what the needs of organizations, both coaches and leaders need and empowering someone like me and certainly Rob to bring that to the forefront. So, look, there are so many common needs of the academies, the youth orgs, the travel orgs, the facility owners, that it's incredible to be able to represent that and bring it to light and then bring resources to bear. So the leadership you all have provided and the listening have been incredible. [00:25:46] Speaker A: And we're here to serve. Like, you know, we know we don't have it all figured out. So we are here to serve. And whatever our members would want at the convention, if we feel like there's a need for it, we will. We'll try to get it into the schedule. [00:25:59] Speaker E: How was the lunch in I mean, we thought somewhere between 25 and 50 people would show up. 250 people later, the number of inbound emails, of people saying, heard what you said, the group that we said. Because when we realized what was coming and it was 11th hour, we actually changed the format of the luncheon and turned it into a group by group networking event based on what that person wanted to get out of it. With leaders from around the industry who were so generous of their time and their willingness to share what most people would say is the secret sauce. Everybody was collaborative and sharing because I think the saying is true. A rising tide lifts all boats. And that's the way everybody treated. And the amount of inbound that Rob and I have gotten after that lunch in which I think we had it scheduled 12 to 1, I had to leave at 1:45 to go to one of our meetings. I understand that after two o' clock they were still going. And if that doesn't speak volumes about the value, everybody out of that. And it wasn't about the free lunch. Right. And I thought that was going to be the big draw, like ah, people will come for lunch and maybe they get something out of it. Apparently the lunch was not the draw. The folks that were in that room who were so giving of their time and lessons and insights and the exchange and collaboration was extraordinary and then you. [00:27:19] Speaker A: Had to adjust on the fly. Mlb, you know, really came to us after the Youth Summit and said we'd like to, to be a part of something with the ARM Care initiative. So we kind of had to piece that together. And you know, that's something that will evolve over time where to actually fit that in the schedule. But then that kind of ran into, you know, the, the panels that you had put together. But I appreciate you just on the fly with that and that second year, you know, how is that going to continue to grow with the panel we have on Saturday afternoon? [00:27:45] Speaker E: So I don't even know if you, you heard the conversation, but it looks like we're going to be adding Thursday, Friday to the Saturday with more hours, more content, more collaborative panels. You know, that four to six time frame on Fridays is such a unique space because there are no other clinics going on. We have the happy hour 4:30 to 6, but there's that 4 to 4:30 where everybody stands outside. We're going to make the most of that time because that's a really special time where everyone's there, everyone's together and it's a time for everyone to come together to, to share and solve but yeah, that. The panels, same thing. We got pushed back a few minutes. Didn't faze anybody. The folks that were on those panels, I mean, it was an all star lineup of industry leaders who again, one of them got. I don't think you were there for it. One of them got really emotional. Ryan, like between. I mean you can imagine you got Duke Baxter and Devin and then Chris Estep and Cameron Ginger on the same stage. And I'm hosting that panel because I'm the least passionate and energetic of that group. Right. That's hard to believe. Those guys shared emotional moments and times in their journey and their growth. That it wasn't just storytelling, it was impactful. People came back and said they learn more actionable thoughts on how to grow and scale their organization from that 30 minutes than any time in their, in their time at the, at the conference. [00:29:15] Speaker A: What are some other thoughts for you coming out of the convention? [00:29:19] Speaker E: I mean, I'll tell you, it really was. And it's 12 years in number one biggest and best trade show we've ever had. The, the number of people who were there from the training, the player development, the technology, the leadership was. Was extraordinary. Right. That trade show floor, you know what was interesting about it, it was compact. You didn't have to look for what you needed. Some of the leaders in the industry step up, stepped up in such meaningful ways like Pocket Radar and hit tracks. They don't need to work as hard as they do. They're established. They're the leaders. What they're bringing in terms of innovation and thought leadership to make coaches better. And they're not the only ones. I mean, there are some folks on the, on the player development side who are just pushing the envelope every day. I mean, you've got guys like Tom House who he. You're done. So you don't need to do anything. He is there every day as dedicated as can be, not only to player development, but to developing coaches. Regardless of what you teach and how you teach it, he wants to know that the game is being moved forward. That was the sense that I got from the entire conference. I've Never felt like 8,000 or more people were all lifting the industry before. It's never felt. It's always when everybody's doing their thing. This one was different. I don't know what you and. And Juan and, and everybody did. [00:30:36] Speaker A: It has to do with you all. It's not us like it has to do with you all. You know what I liked about the exhibit space? This year's? Even though we Had a record number, you know, 410. It didn't feel like the back corners were that difficult to get to. Like they like sometimes at the convention. I think with like the Opera Land or whatever, it's just, it's a little tighter. It just felt like it was easier to get to those back corners so it didn't feel like they were kind of pushed out of the way. It felt like they were. They were up front too, for some reason. [00:31:05] Speaker E: Are you kidding? You had squares which if you look at their journey, they're in the back corner and that's. Normally you're in the bullpen. We'll get to you when we get there. They're innovating like nobody else. You had six tool who was kind of in the back. I don't remember exactly where those guys are pushing the envelope in terms of, of thought leadership for coaching and player development. They weren't on the fringe. You were there and you saw the crowd they drew where normally they wouldn't. Normally it's, you know, Wilson demarini, you know, those guys who are and certainly hit tracks. Who are the shiny objects in the room now. People were everywhere throughout that room. It was extraordinary to see. [00:31:48] Speaker A: Any other shout outs you want to give for? Let's go. [00:31:51] Speaker E: I mean, look, ultimately there's. There's no one bigger and better than, than. Than what you guys are doing. And I, I'm sorry to blow smoke, Ryan, but this was different. This was really, really different. The opportunity for so many people to be involved in so many ways. I mean, my journey at the ABCA and certainly New York, Empire's journey and into Rise Partners, we. I'm going to be honest and forgive me for getting emotional, Ryan, I wouldn't be sitting here as a part of certainly what Empire has grown into and relentlessly inspiring with Shore Capital. I wouldn't be sitting here if not for you and the abca. I can never say that and I can't thank you enough. [00:32:30] Speaker A: And I think rough estimate March 1, all the video we took at the youth summit, I think rough estimate March 1, we should have that ready to go on the website. For people that probably don't know this, we are going to have free resources for anyone. And so it's going to be upon our members. You know, our members know about our website, but it's gonna be upon our members once that is out to disseminate that to the entire world that, hey, here's this wonderful free resource for, for all coaches, but especially tailored towards the youth side with people that are first trying to do this. I really hope once that's up that all of our members can disseminate that to everybody. That, hey, you need to go to the ABCA website and, and look at all this information. [00:33:12] Speaker E: Well, listen, monthly, starting in February, we're launching a monthly webinar that's going to be very interactive just for academies facilities, youth orgs, not only to hear from some of the leaders in the industry on key topics that we've gone out already to the, to the community to find out what do you need to know more about? We want them to drive it, but it's also going to be very interactive for anybody who wants to share or ask a question to the group. It's going to be monthly where we are in front of people and we want to be responsive to the needs so that we can then tailor next year's ABCA as best we can to the needs of the community. [00:33:46] Speaker A: Thanks for your time, Jordan. Love you. [00:33:48] Speaker E: Thanks always, Ryan. Love you back. [00:33:52] Speaker A: All right, here we're Jeff Willis, NJCA committee chair does a tremendous job throughout the convention. Very active. I appreciate all of you committee members. You do such a great job and your reason why our convention is so good. So Jeff, thanks for jumping on with me. [00:34:08] Speaker C: Thanks, Ryan. I appreciate you having me appreciate everything you do for our game. Our association with the NJCAA as well. It's awesome when you got great people that are involved that see the big picture of the entire organization. So we appreciate you guys as well. [00:34:25] Speaker A: Yeah. And Chris talked about it a little bit. It really is a collaborative event with every level of baseball getting their voice heard. [00:34:34] Speaker C: Oh, without a doubt. I mean, it's key, you know, everybody sees, you know, from professional baseball down to Division 1 baseball, but there's so many layers that actually support one another. And you look at, you know, junior college has always had players that moved on to the other four year levels, whether it be NCAA Division 1, 2, 3 or NAIA. And you know, now you're actually seeing with transport portal stuff. Everybody has guys that are moving around and so everybody needs to be on board. Everybody needs to know what each and every level is actually doing and legislation that's actually coming down through the pipeline as well. [00:35:11] Speaker A: And you were able, you gave a great talk in that, I call it the state of Baseball meeting on that Wednesday. You did a really good job of getting some insight to some of the stuff you were able to get done at the convention last year. [00:35:22] Speaker C: Well, I think there's a lot of things. For one, there's a lot of people working for junior college baseball right now. And we've got a tremendous group of baseball chairs within the NJCAA with Mike Sadler, Ron Riggle and Dan Blair at the Division 1, Division 2 and Division 3 level. And they've done a tremendous job of representing those levels and working alongside of our coaching association to do what's best for our game. And so we've done a lot of things and worked hard together and those guys have kind of driven the boat and the ship and we've been there to support them and give them ideas about, you know, some things that are coming in the trenches of our coaches. And you know, with the revamping of our national tournaments at Division 1 and Division 2 levels of actually going to a 32 team tournament, that legwork that those groups have done to do that to benefit our game is tremendous. With us being able to get to 30 letters of intent, 30 scholarships at those levels as well, that's been tremendous for our game because we all Knew there's the 34 man roster at the Division 1 school. There's going to be a lot of players that would be moving out of Division 1 baseball and where do they go? And I think that group was able to come alongside of our coaches association and do what was right for our game and help help sustain our game, but also, also actually grow our game as well. [00:36:35] Speaker A: What are the specifics on the tournament format? What did it Switch from to 2? For people that don't know the NJCA format well, what was from to what are we doing now? [00:36:45] Speaker C: Yeah, so, so what? And this is still a work in progress right now. And the idea is to have this in place for 20, 28. But in the past you had region champions, you know, the NJC split up, split up into 24 different regions and you had a regional champion. But then they would move on to a district tournament. Usually most of the time those district tournaments are two regions, three regions that match up. They would get a winner out of that and then they would move on to a 10 team national tournament. Whether it be in Grand Junction or in Enid. We all know a 10 team bracket and with Enid actually went to 12 teams. And so with a 10 team, 12 team bracket, it's tough to play that out. That I don't want to say fair but, but just not. It's not the best way of playing a tournament. So the idea was if we can get to the national tournaments, of having eight teams at those national tournaments respectively, it would work out better. But also we've Been missing some really good teams that haven't been getting out of their region because their region has been just incredibly tough. And, and you know, I think of the state of Florida State, I think of the state of Texas and in the Midwest and some of those areas that, that have really, really, really good pocket of baseball and they have numerous teams that, that could be at the national tournament, but they get eliminated so early instead of, let's get them into a tournament, a 32 team tournament with some at large teams in there and then let's, let's have these eight per se super regionals that would go on across the country with four teams in them and the eight winners of that move on with the idea that the eight sites would be bid upon and that would be the start of the national tournament. We think it would create a lot of buzz for junior college baseball. And also, you know, if you're in one of those pockets that has really, really, really good baseball where you may have four or five teams that could win it all and they may have just had one, one slip up that weekend and got eliminated, well, they go into another, you know, 14 tournament somewhere else against other people across the country. They may come out of that now. And now that that area of the country may get multiple teams to the national tournament and we get a more representative national tournament of the better teams at that level. And so we're excited about it. You know, there's still a lot of details to go about. You know, for one, what does it look like to have a host site? What's the parameters that are associated with that? But also there still has to be some regionalization about it because it's not feasible to think you're going to take Miami Dade in Miami and send them all the way to Salt Lake City in a super regional format. That's not, that's not, you know, the finances and money and really the NJCAA Board of Regents would pass that legislation because of the cost that would be associated with it. So it's looking at it. What is a radius around one of those host sites? And if you go with, you know, roughly, and these aren't, these aren't set in stone, but if you go with a 700 mile radius and looking at that, you can get a lot of schools inside that to meet in a spot. And now you have multiple teams from all over the country playing that super region. [00:39:51] Speaker A: In the past, Enid and Grand Junction, if three teams were left, you'd get into a coin flip situation, correct? [00:39:58] Speaker C: Well, yes, there was There was some of that going on. You know, they, they fixed some of that to make sure that then, you know, who had played the most games would move on. But then it also, they went to who was a higher seed would move on. But again, you don't want to be flipping a coin at home plate with three teams that each have one loss and you might have had two teams that just played one another and the team that won the coin toss got another day to sit and the other two teams turn around and play right again, again. And so that's just not a, it's not a good way of doing it. It was the best way you could do it with 10 teams. But again, I think this is just going to grow our game. It's going to put a lot of excitement around those eight super regionals across the country. I think when they go on to possible campuses, it creates a lot of buzz within, within communities, whether it's a rural community or urban community. I think it just draws more interest to our game when all of a sudden you have these teams coming in and there's such a huge thing that's on the line from these teams across the country. [00:40:59] Speaker A: And for people that know NAI is switching their format too, they're going away from a 10 team format to an 8 team and lineup. I think they're going to do it how they do in Omaha. So you're out the two sided four teams. The winners of those play a best two out of three. I think that's the fairest format. And I think for you all it's a little easier to see that one through eight. And I think you get a little better representation as far as, okay, we do know this might be the one seed, this might be the eight seed. I think you get a better format that way too. [00:41:27] Speaker C: And I think the other part of it is you're still going to have your region champions and so those region champions still become the automatic qualifier. And then if there are larger regions, which, you know, there are some regions that have, you know, 18 to 20 teams in them, then you have some that have five in there. And so that's not a real fair comparison where you're taking one team from each one of those. So the larger regions would also get two automatic qualifiers, but then the other teams would be up for an at large. So if you're looking at 32 teams, there's anywhere from 19 to 21 automatic qualifiers and the rest, you know, 11 to 13 teams would actually be at large. Teams from across the whole Country. [00:42:05] Speaker A: Any other shout outs you want to give about the convention? [00:42:08] Speaker C: Well, I just think again, you know, with, with Ryan, with your whole group and the national, you know, you know, you guys staff up there from, from Craig to John on down, from, from Matt, from, from, you know, Zach, yourself, Juan, that whole group, man, you guys are tremendous, man. You know, I've been lucky to see the behind the scenes things that you guys do, and it's tremendous. I mean, we don't have. There's not better organization, better leadership than what you guys are riding right now. And our, our game is in just in a tremendous spot. And I know from my, my desk and my chair and other coaches that I know we appreciate everything you guys do. This thing continues to grow. It continues to get better. Our sport is growing baseball across our country, and that's all good things. And I think you guys are driving a lot of that bus right now, so I appreciate you guys. [00:42:58] Speaker A: Well, we're competitive like you all too, like we are. And we want it to be the best every year like we are. We plan for 12 months and longer than that, but because we want it to be the best every year and so that we, we are competitive just like you all, because we want it. We want people coming out of there being like, okay, that was the best one ever. But then you got to go top it again. So we're already planning for Chicago right now. So we did our postcon meeting. You know, I think that's why our office is so good. We went through all of our notes, really, the things that, that our issues, no one sees. You know, they're the behind the scenes things that when we do our, our pre con meeting next spring, we'll meet with Chicago and we'll go through everything that we want to get fixed from Columbus. And I think that's why it continues to evolve and, and improve. And so. But thank you. You guys are such a big part of this deal and we're great because you guys are great. So thank you, J. Yeah. [00:43:51] Speaker C: Appreciate you guys. [00:44:07] Speaker A: Sam.