[00:00:04] Speaker A: Welcome to the abca's podcast. I'm your host, ryan brownlee.
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This episode is sponsored by Netting Pros.
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Today's ABCA Podcast guest is a leader, builder and one of the driving forces behind player development and culture in Midwest baseball and fast pitch.
Jake Banward is the co owner and President of Bamfam where he wears multiple hats from Director of Operations to infield and mindset coordinator, all while leading teams like the BAM 2029 Signature Squad and FAM11U Prime.
Banward is also the co owner of the Lab Sports Performance, continuing his work in developing athletes both physically and serves as President of Midwest Ghost national where he coaches at the 2029 level.
Vanwart built a reputation as a winning high school coach. Perry Meridian led the program to multiple county championship appearances and the winningest three year stretch in school history.
He also made history at Liberty Christian with the program's only conference championship and single season wins record and was part of a state championship staff at Daleville. Known for his focus on culture, mindset and infield development, Vanwert brings a unique holistic approach to building athletes Athletes and teams. Let's welcome Jake Banwart to the podcast.
All right here with Jake Banwart, co owner of Banffam and president Lab Sports Performance co owner, Midwest Ghost National President but former Param Meridian High School last year was last spring coach in high school. So Jake, thanks for jumping on with me.
[00:03:38] Speaker B: Absolutely. Thanks for having me.
[00:03:40] Speaker A: Hey, when you were doing high school, how were you balancing high school coaching then on a facility?
[00:03:48] Speaker B: It's a great question. I'm not sure balance exists at times it's really time of year, right? Like, and that's, that's the nice thing with doing both is facility wise, like being in the Midwest. It's winter, right? Like once we get outside, everybody wants to be outside as much as possible.
So for those months through the winter, it was heavy at the facility with lessons, instruction, team stuff, all of that.
But the nice thing is once high school season starts, everyone's getting outside, so a lot of the lessons and instruction adjusts anyway.
So for, for me, like, it was nice in season because I got to focus on just coaching. Like in season almost feels like the off season at times because there's less to focus on, less players. You get to hone in on, you know, just that one team which was, which was pretty nice.
[00:04:31] Speaker A: And this was a family decision for you getting out of high school coaching?
[00:04:35] Speaker B: Man, it was it. My family would have supported me continuing forever. They never would have told me to step away. But I have an 11 year old daughter and a 9 year old son that they, I mean they've grown up at the facility so they don't know anything different. They love it, it's awesome.
And my daughter won a fielding competition last year and got to be on the Savannah Bananas podcast. I was sitting there just as a spectator listening and the host asked her, he said, hey, where do you want to go with softball? And she's 10 at the time, right? So I'm like, what is this answer going to be? Who knows? And her response, straight face, was, oh, I'm going to go and be the starting shortstop at Tennessee and then be the starting shortstop for Team USA in Olympics. And in that moment as dad, I was like, man, I'm out here helping everybody else's kids get better while my kids are at home without me. Like, it's probably time to take a step back and be dad for a few years and focus at home. So yeah, that was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back. It was like, it's time, it's time for me to step away For a little bit.
[00:05:32] Speaker A: There's a limbs professional baseball league now. She's got a chance.
[00:05:37] Speaker B: She does. I mean we. It wasn't there in the beginning, so she's been doing the softball side and loves it. The infield sides, I mean it's the same, it's just faster. Right. So there's no need for a four step in most cases. And seeing what she's, what she's able to do defensively at 11 is fun, but there's a long road and to me, like the fact that they love training and love the game, like that's the biggest thing at this age, like they've, they've fallen in love with the process. And if you can teach players to do that, they're going to end up in a really good spot. Whether that's, you know, something on the field or off the field down the road.
[00:06:11] Speaker A: Do you feel like that hybrid approach of facility and also coaching high school, do you feel like that's the future of high school coaching?
[00:06:20] Speaker B: It really depends on the state. Like Indiana, there's so many rules and restrictions around like what you're able to do with your team or your high school players. So it was really weird because like in season I could coach mine out of season from like the lesson side, I wasn't allowed to have my own players, which I, I think originally when the rule was made probably made a lot of sense. But with the development of where the game has gone, unfortunately, like a lot of your high school coaches that are really good are also training and developing on the travel side and doing other things too. So I think the rule right now is set up to where it almost hurts the player more than anybody else. And I think they're seeing it and hopefully we'll see some changes. But it makes too much sense not to. Right. Like a lot of these school, you get some that have great facilities, but the vast majority of high schools, like you're working out in a gym in the off season. So if you have access to something that you can get real turf and real cages and real facility time, that's going to be better than what, what most high school programs can provide in house and with their own facilities.
[00:07:20] Speaker A: Well, and also the limited amount of time that they have to get their arms ready too, like another facility to be able to get their arms ready.
[00:07:27] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean most high school coaches are really counting on pitching instructors or facilities like ours to get their guys ready. Like the reality is they don't have enough time. Like they just, they don't get Enough time with their guys to fully put them through a program and get ready and be present to actually oversee and make sure that they're not doing things that are dangerous or would cause injury or anything like that.
[00:07:47] Speaker A: With your youngsters, how are you getting them ready? I mean, what are you doing? Obviously go through the different age development pieces and what you're doing training wise with the different age groups.
[00:07:55] Speaker B: Yeah, so it's. We have an interesting setup because the facility is open to the public, so we'll train all people from the area. But out of the facility we run baseball and fast pitch academics. Midwest we have 50 teams between the baseball and softball side going 8U to 18U.
And really like the development shell is the same for all of them. The depth in which we're going into is going to be age appropriate within that. Right. But for us it's really extensive. So when we started the big goal was to bridge the gap between player development and player exposure. And what you get a lot of is you have development teams which for better or worse, people hear that and they think your team isn't very good. Right. Like you're just there to get better.
And then you have showcase teams which are really talented players that might learn each other's name that day at the event. And I've coached both like they're, they both have their benefits. But for us it was how do we bridge the gap? Because even at 17 as a D1 commit, there's a lot of mental and physical development that still needs to happen.
And a lot of times these guys commit and then we're like, all right, they, they're done. Like they figured it out and we leave them there when it's really the most important time to continue to develop those guys. So we run a 16 week off season training program that involves, it starts with a mental training day. There's one in the middle and one at the end. So we have three days that are eight hour mindset training days that split about 50, 50 between baseball IQ training, going through situations, hitting approach, all of that and then culture and peak performance development of actual mindset training that is huge for us. Like we refuse to change that for anything. I think the development, if players are the same physically and you have the one that's mentally stronger, that's the one that's going to get recruited or show up better on the field. Right. So like we want to win that 50, 50 game between those similar players. So we, we go three mental training days around that.
We have eight weeks of position specific Training.
So they come in on the weekend, they get by their age group, they get an hour of infield, hour of outfield, hour of pitching, hour of catching, hour of hitting. So they could be in there for up to five hours of training on those days. That's all included for them.
And then we run four weeks that are just basic team practice stuff, especially for the youth side, making sure that they're ready to go when they get outside in March. The high school side, we'll run those team practices, but those are more of like going through continued skill development. We don't need to put in signs like we're going to lose them for three months anyway. So we continue to develop skill there during those team practice weeks. We have four weeks of Friday night lives as well. So we'll go live at bats. Each week is different. We'll go two zero counts, fastballs only.
We'll go two counts. We'll go one. One of really focusing on winning that, that race to two strikes. And then we use Matt Deg's alpha at bats. I think they're phenomenal. So we'll have a week where we focus in on winning alphas or situational hitting against live pitching as well. So it's, it's very inclusive as far as like everything that we're trying to do. All the players have to pass a test before they can play in the spring. And we actually provide that test score to college coaches that want it. And it just shows their mental aptitude, like their general understanding of the game and situations from the defensive side, hitting side and pitching side. So all of that like then they get outside. It's typical. They have their two practices a week, they play games, all of that.
The cool thing is all the players get a discount with their membership to the facility. So all of that's included from the program. And then we have some that will be in two to three times a week doing additional infield speed and strength stuff. All of that.
We're lucky to have really good trainers. So it's a spot that players can come in and be there for three hours and move from, you know, my infield to Donovan Clark at speed and straight like all over the place. But the goal is to be a one stop shop for training and development. And the last couple of years we've brought in people in different areas that
[00:11:50] Speaker A: are really making it that your baseball Q test. How many questions are on that test?
[00:11:56] Speaker B: So there are I believe 40 questions and it breaks down to about 15 hitting questions. You got about 15 that are position specific, but generalize. There's an infield and outfield, and then there's base running questions. Or for the pitchers or catchers, there's specific questions for them as well.
And we put them essentially on the clock when they do it. So big believer in 15 seconds or less between pitches. They have 15 seconds to answer each question.
If they fail it based on their age group, they have to retake it before they're cleared to play. But we tell all the high school guys that the score they get the first time they take it is what we're showing college coaches. So, like, don't come in and need to take it four times. We're not showing them your 100% on round four dog. Like, you're getting your round 165. If that's what you're bringing to the table, that's what they're going to see.
[00:12:45] Speaker A: Your mental skills training, where do you start with them?
[00:12:48] Speaker B: So the, the number one place for me is like, a lot of them need to understand why they're doing it right. I think so many people look at mental skills as like a therapy rather than skill development.
And so, so I always start with a simple question of like, hey, how good is your swing? And, you know, everybody thinks they're a great hitter. So the answers I get are pretty common. Like, oh, it's really good. And I go, when does it get good enough that you stop practicing swinging, you stop hitting? And they look at me like I'm crazy. And they're like, well, I wouldn't. Like, I need to keep getting better. Like, great. So that's the mindset I need you to have with mental skills, right? Like, your starting point is fine, but we have to continue to make growth from where you are. And I think starting there and really getting a baseline from them of where they're at is the number one place to be. I think there's great information that we can give everybody, but if they're not in a place to receive it yet, then we got to start in a different spot. So for most of them, it's. It's confidence building and routines from the very beginning. They don't understand the idea that how you do everything is or how you do anything, how you do everything. And the idea that like, making their bed matters and having a morning routine matters. They think I can just show up on the field and suddenly be great. But they're trying to be a winner with loser habits. So, like, fixing all the off field stuff first really allows you to have the Clarity of how to fix, like, the on field mental struggles. But if they don't have the habits first, then we're fighting an uphill and losing battle by trying to fix the field before we fix what happens off of it.
[00:14:14] Speaker A: Yeah. So you start with the life skills piece first.
[00:14:16] Speaker B: Yep. Absolutely. Yep.
[00:14:18] Speaker A: How. How apt to change are they?
[00:14:22] Speaker B: You know, sometimes it takes them really struggling before they're willing to make a change. Right. Because in their mind, they don't want to fix something that, that they don't think is broken, but you see, like, how much better it could be. So as hard as it is, sometimes our job as coach, especially on the youth side, is like, they're struggling and you let them and you just got to sit back and know, like, they're going to take their lumps for a minute here, but they got to go through it and they, they have to feel the way that it makes you feel when you fail in order to decide that it's time to make a change. And that's the hardest part as the adults because, like, we've made those mistakes and we don't want to see the people that we coach make the same ones. But sometimes that's the best way to learn, is experience, and those are the best lessons you're going to get. So finding ways to shape the experience, to teach the lesson rather than just tell them the lesson, I think is a challenge. But it's one of the greatest and most fun challenges in coaching. Like, how do I get that across in a way that they really get it and feel it and know what happened rather than me just telling them, hey, we need you to do better on this.
[00:15:26] Speaker A: How are you handling that with your own kids? With your 9 11, man, it's.
[00:15:29] Speaker B: You know what? It's so strange for me because I went backwards compared to like, most coach their kids and then they find out they love coaching and they coach everybody else's.
I coach everybody else's kids first. So this is the first season that I've ever coached one of my own kids. I've trained them, but that's different. In an hour training session, like, just. That's very different.
I am learning what, like, how I need to not coach my own kid because coaching her the same way that I've coached everybody else doesn't have the same effect. She takes it too personal because it's dad. Right. So I'm learning with her. Like, if she makes a bad play, the best thing that I can do in the moment is we're big on physical touch and power hugs. Like, I think the most connected team wins. So we're going to lead the country in high five. Like listening to Sheets talk about that, like we took that personally and we brought it back and like we've, we've got our own system with it. So for her it's, I just gotta give her a hug and say like, what's the most important play? Have her remind me it's the next one and then we'll talk about it when we get home. Because she's very good at like getting the information and reflecting on it. But in the moment, she's not ready for that. Like, she just needs to know that I love her either way. And sometimes it's difficult as the coach to turn off the analytical side of what's happening and just recognize like, hey, this player needs, needs support more than anything else right now. And honestly, going from high school to 11 year olds, I'm finding that with all of them, like it's, it's a really big challenge for me. Oddly enough, dropping down because it is so different and just how to build relations, like it's the same goals, you want the same culture, but how you get there looks so different that I'm having to adjust my process along the way. And it's a fun challenge. I mean I, I haven't had something new like that in a long time. So it's, it's a fun one so far.
[00:17:14] Speaker A: And I do love how you're handling social media right now. Like, I think you're appreciate it. I think you're positive influence, I think you're. We have a lot of many good examples out there, but I think you're handling social media the right way right now.
[00:17:25] Speaker B: I appreciate it. It was when I quit teaching and decided to make the jump to go full time with baseball and softball. That's when I really started kind of picking up the social media stuff out of necessity to just build clientele and what it looked like. And there are some weeks that I love it and there are some that I hate it and don't want to post anything.
But like what I have seen with it is there can be such good that can come from it if you handle it the right way. And there's a lot of not handling it the right way. But I've also made some really good friends and connections in the baseball world through social media.
I think Covid kind of changed the way that we looked at social media a little bit. And I love like the positive energy and connections and the influence that it can have.
I've heard randomly from people that are like, hey, I did one of your drills the other day. Like that's always fun.
But it will never not be weird when, when social media and real life collide and you meet somebody for the first time that knows you from social media, you know, like that. As a 35 year old guy, that feels kind of weird to me. I think it always will, but I'm grateful for it. It's neat, just not something I ever expected.
[00:18:29] Speaker A: And you mentioned softball and baseball. Is that really the only difference is the speed of the game's different for softball, it's a lot faster.
[00:18:35] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean there's some, some minor intricacies with like the lefty slappers that some of the baseball doesn't really have.
And speed drastically changes the game.
Outside of that, it's, it's almost like you're playing on a small diamond in every game. That's the other difference. Like ball gets to the fence quickly.
A home run can change the game at any point in time. Like even at 11 and 12 years old, which youth baseball, you don't see that as often until you get to the college side. So I like that side of it.
But like defensive alignments and depth, like all of that stuff is different and I've gotten burned on it by a couple good coaches early to where we're in the perfect spot for a baseball situation and then something happens. It's like, oh, that's different. Like I gotta, I gotta learn from that. So being on the field with it like the ability, as weird as it is, I feel like softball doesn't do, nearly doesn't focus nearly as much on throwing on the run and playing one handed. But I feel like it needs to be even more than baseball of focusing on those things because the game is faster. So like that's the biggest difference that I see is just the overall athleticism on the youth side that the girls are playing with isn't as high as the boys. I think it's not a knock on their athleticism. It's just the general training of the game has not. It's three years behind where baseball is. It just hasn't adapted to getting downhill and trusting athleticism and being as one handed and athletic at this point.
[00:20:00] Speaker A: Who handles your pitchers for your softball in the facility?
[00:20:04] Speaker B: So softball right now we have a few in house that do and they work more on like the facility side than the program side. We have one that works on the program side for all of our pitching stuff. His name's Chuck Holtum. He's a high school coach in the area.
Softball pitching is an area that like we, we had a great softball pitching coach who pitched at Oklahoma State. Her name was Morgan Day. She got a full time job with the Indians. And what we struggle, I'm sure all facilities do, is there's not a lot of people that are giving instruction and that's their full time thing. Right. So like we lost her just because her real job got in the way of her ability to have nights to give lessons. So we struggle with a little bit of that. But we're working on, on softball pitching instruction right now. Baseball wise, we, we have a few that work out of it. Mike Farrell is probably the biggest known guy as a scout forever.
He's the pitching coach at Saint Louis University right now. So he works full time with us as one of our pitching guys. And then Dylan Decker Clark does as well. So he didn't, he didn't play. He kind of learned. I love stories like this. Like he wasn't a great baseball player. His brother went to pitch at IU and he kind of took on the role of dad with, with family situation for a while. So he was the one taking him to and from all the pitching stuff, fell in love with it, learned a lot to help his brother and turned into an incredible coach. So he's the other one that we have and they do a really good job of their pitchers.
[00:21:26] Speaker A: What have you learned from Mike? I think Mike's one of the best baseball guys we have out there.
[00:21:30] Speaker B: I think Mike's awesome. This is year one of him full time with us.
He came from a different program in the area and when he was working with them, his task that they brought him in for was to find a way to make their program sustainable. Like, what does development look like? They're about 20 minutes down the road from us. And his process of trying to figure out what that looked like, he came to the decision that we're already doing it and it made sense for him to just work with us. So the biggest thing I've learned from him is like the ability to just handle things with pace, yet also being slow. Like, he does a great job of taking in information and keeping his pace and not moving slow, but also being really strategic and intelligent about the decisions that he makes, the way that he speaks on things.
He's taught me a lot on just how to handle people and what that looks like for sure from the baseball side, it's been cool because like we've dealt with college coaches A ton. Right. So you hear the. The scouting side and the recruiting side from that, but having somebody in house that can also give the layer of the pro scout, like Talking to the 20 to 80 scale and talking what they're really looking for. And you start to find out that some of these huge college guys aren't really huge pro prospects for. For different reasons. And it just changes the lens that you're looking at. What does real development look like? The. Like, what's the difference between skills and tools? How do we develop one versus the other? What's more important?
There's just a whole nother layer out there on the pro side that most people aren't aware of at all and haven't been introduced to. So getting that scale from him and really just talking through what they look for in all aspects has really changed my lens of looking at players and
[00:23:12] Speaker A: development, projectability and probably helping players understand that. Scouts are looking for reasons not to draft you.
[00:23:17] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly.
[00:23:19] Speaker A: They're showing up to check off things, to not draft you. There's only so many spots, so they're just trying to find ways to knock off why not to draft you.
[00:23:28] Speaker B: Yeah, no, that's. That's a hundred percent it. Like, there are. If you're good enough to play. That's one of the first things you said, man. If you're good enough, they'll see you and they'll know if they come back. It's not because they're wondering if you're good enough. They're going to keep showing up until you're over, and they want to see how you respond.
Right. So, like, I think those things are huge. And even as little as it is of like, we have a strict policy that I don't care if you line out to the pitcher, you are sprinting through first base every at bat. Well, Mike's a reason for that. Right. Like, we now know. Well, that might be the only time that they're getting.
[00:23:59] Speaker A: Only clock they may get on you.
[00:24:00] Speaker B: Yeah. So use it.
[00:24:02] Speaker A: It's not hustle. If you want somebody to get a good clock on you, you better sprint first base.
[00:24:07] Speaker B: Yeah. I remember we were playing at down at Perfect Game. We were at Georgia Gwinnett, and we were watching the game before us, and between innings, the team's third baseman was just kind of lazily bending over, lobbing it to first. Well, you see a guy in a Division 1 hat getting video of it. He had tracked two games. I talked to him. He had gone to two games. Hadn't seen that kid get a Single ground ball. That was the only time he got to see him field. And he was walking away because they were out based on how he was attacking. Ground balls rolled to him by his first baseman. Right. Like, players don't recognize. It's those things that are making the big impact. Like, all of those little details matter. And if that's all they get to see, we want to make sure that we're presenting ourselves in the right way.
[00:24:49] Speaker A: Plus, it sells for another rap, too. Like, that's the thing that you always had to remind guys.
[00:24:53] Speaker B: Huge.
[00:24:54] Speaker A: It's another rep here, another training piece in between innings.
By the way, you're not making that many throws, so it's. It's fine.
[00:25:02] Speaker B: Right?
[00:25:03] Speaker A: You can do it. Gain speed in between innings.
[00:25:05] Speaker B: Yes, even. And even if you take one fewer, because it is game six on the weekend, Take one and make it right. Do less rather than more wrong. And I don't think most players realize, like, not only is it the recruiting piece, but the idea that, like, a bad rep actually makes you worse. Like, I think they struggle with that concept. They just think, I'm going to get better by taking this. No, you get better based on how you take it. Like, what your intent is through that and what you're doing. And I think it's a great opportunity to work the plays that could show up in a game that you don't get. Like, why not take one on the run between innings? You know, like, let's do the things that we need to actually practice in a setting that is controlled for a brief time before we're live again.
Where are you starting?
[00:25:47] Speaker A: With young infielders.
[00:25:49] Speaker B: So we have a really unique setup, and it would be very different if, like, I was more in the camp or clinic side of things. Right. So I have 30 weeks with my infielders, which is awesome.
So when we start, we run six blocks of training through the off season. Each one is five weeks.
And the reason we did that, truthfully, was I got sick of, you know, week five in the off season. I got new players starting, and we got to go back to prep step and start over. And all these guys already know it. So each block has an individual focus. So the way we start our first block is all hands. And if I was doing it in the clinic structure, I would tell you I would really start with feet first if I had less time. But with the amount of time that I have, we can take a whole five weeks and pretty much be stationary. And on these, I'm a big believer that glove pattern to Hop type is really important that you match those things. And coaches have different theories on it. But to me, any ball that is doing the work for you. So snake ball flat on the ground or long hop coming down, there's no reason that we're extending glove farther away from our body. That ball is already going to be. Be in the glove easily. We just got to get to center and get it out. So step one for a lot of them is just understanding, like, one, being able to see hop and. And actually recognize what it is. But two, understanding what my glove is supposed to do based on the hop type in the lane that I'm in. So we spend a lot of time on direct snake long and short of learning both receiver, funnel and pressing through.
And then we'll work forehand, backhand, same thing.
We spend a ton of time on the idea of getting to center and sinking chin with thumbs up like so many.
They get to center, but elbows stay tight, and you see shoulders raise and like, they're not in a position to be loose and whippy into throwing. So as much as they get sick of it, I mean, it's. It's a thousand or more reps of them just getting to center and then breaking thumbs down to get to transfer position and throwing position.
So once they have that, then we'll go into feet. But I call it the final four. Like, it is just the last four steps of fielding of once we get to a position that we're now in a spot that we can feel the ball or we're at the intersection. How do I manipulate those last four steps to be on time and clean so that everything falls in the right order in the domino effect. And my throw is out clean on time with spin, and I'm moving towards my target. So we'll really break it down there first. And then in block three, we go into full footwork and gaining range. So that's where we really get into prep step. We'll go into a lot of change of direction drills. So shuffle the burst stuff or hip flip to burst stuff.
That's where the drills get more. More dynamic. And really, as it progresses, we move from what I would call a 2 to 1 ratio of process to result, where it's more of skill training and development. But we always want to challenge them. And as we get closer to preseason from off season, that flips. So as we move from, you know, getting, getting range, adding those things, and we start to put full plays together, bag tasks of tags, all that. Now we're going full infield now we're on the stopwatch. Now we're going to races of grumble, the short turn and two, with the second fungo going to third, and they're racing to two different first basemen. But whatever we can do to add pressure of a clock or pressure of a runner as they're moving outside into season, I think is, is vital, probably the most important thing.
And when we go into that, we'll actually break down not just overall play time, but we'll segment it into like how long in a routine ball is it taking you to get there, what's your actual transfer time and how long does it take the ball to get to first base? Because we can't make up time in your arm strength. Hopefully you can in the off season. But whatever you got, you got. And we got to make that up with either how we attack or how quickly we get it out. So getting them comfortable, like they always just want to go fast, right? They're like, how fast can I make this transfer? When you challenge them with something like, hey, transfer this and get it out in 0.8 seconds, now they start to figure out what, what real pace looks like, what controlling pace and not just being out of control and fast looks like. And the idea of slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Starts to actually make sense to them when they figure out how to, how to manipulate, you know, what they're doing in the play at hand. So we get through all that and then the last block to me is always, hey, here's your tools. You figure out how to use your toolbox, right? Because there are players like Dansby Swanson who's going to be one handed and downhill a lot and throw it 75 miles an hour across the infield because he can and it'll be on time. And then you get a Carlos Correa who's going to sit back field everything two handed, throw from the most over the top slot of any infielder and hose it and beat you by a half step every time. So for them it's like, hey, we can teach you all the tools, but you have to know who you are, what plays are comfortable. And there's multiple ways to make or create an out on the exact same ground ball, figure out what works for you and then go and be that infielder in the season. So I think it's one of those, like, my least favorite thing to hear is I hate when coaches say, well, I just want our infielders to have freedom. Like, I don't teach one thing or another. Because I want them to have freedom. And I totally agree with it in theory, but I firmly believe that freedom comes on the opposite side of understanding. And until you understand your tools and you understand the options, there's no choice for you to make. That's not freedom, that's ignorance. Right. So in order to get to playing free, we first have to teach them the skill set. And then once they have that, we can set them free within the tool set that they have.
[00:31:11] Speaker A: What's the on ramp look like for arms over those 30 weeks, if anything?
[00:31:15] Speaker B: So we're in a position, this is great. Where most of our guys, they come to me for infield and they go to somebody for overhand arm care and, and throwing velocity. So for me we spend more of our throwing time working on slot training, understanding the, the difference of throwing off a one foot and two, understanding our post throw actions on that and honestly diving into motor preference stuff has changed a little bit of one footed throwing of, of really what the left side does of if it's knee up or foot going out. Some of that's just athletic preference to the athlete and they don't know it. But knowing the difference in athlete types can be helpful. When you see something that looks awkward, it's like, hey man, try the. Maybe the other one is more comfortable for you. So we spend a lot of time on that and we spend a lot of time on just becoming whippy throwers. What it looks like to stay tight in our transfer and not get super long. But I don't have to take too much time of really on ramping throwers, which is great.
When we had to do it for high school, we, we really followed more of like a J band. We didn't do a ton of weighted ball for position players or anything like that. It was a lot of long toss, a lot of band work and really just monitoring the amount of throws that they're making and what intensity they're making them at. So I'm glad I don't have to. I would but it's nice to get them and know like that first block they don't have to throw. And the cool thing is we have some that come in and they're full go. And others that are like coach, I'm not throwing this week.
I like that as a coach because like there's always an adaptation to make. It's just our job to make it like we, we can get to throwing position without actually throwing. Most players don't like, they kind of roll through that rep. So focusing in on them. Getting to a stationary like this is your end point of the rep is important, but I think you can work with, with any of those adaptations as long as you can think through what is the plan and what is the productivity of what they can do if they have to adapt or adjust.
[00:33:09] Speaker A: Do you feel like that amount of time you spend with getting to center and focus on transfer cleans up their arm actions 100% without. 100% without throwing.
[00:33:17] Speaker B: It cleans without, without throwing. Because I mean the reality is if they're not at center and they're transferring there, it's going to create shoulder turn like so many different things, right? So yeah, even getting to the right spot, that's what we tell them. Like it's like playing dominoes. If you miss the first domino, you can knock the rest of them down. But you didn't get the whole line. Something's going to be off, right? So to me, like getting to center is the start. People don't consider it throwing. That's the start of your throw. And if you can get there consistently, you can be a consistent thrower.
[00:33:45] Speaker A: With the motor preferences stuff, what have
[00:33:47] Speaker B: you liked about has been really interesting to to see different athletes after learning motor preference stuff and one try to figure out what they are before they even know, right? Like just watch a move and play and see it.
But I think the biggest thing is the quickness in which a player can get the information and apply it. When you understand their motor preferences and how their body works, you save a lot of time of trying different things that may or may not work and you get right to the actual solution to it. So it just cuts out a lot of that experiment time when you start to figure out, okay, where should their weight be? What does this player look like? Are they long or short as a thrower?
Because for a while it was I want to make everybody a short thrower, right? Like that's great. I want to get it out quicker. Some people can't. It's just not natural for them.
So working within their constraints, I think it's challenging as a coach but like you can make so much progress quickly. If you can work with the athlete in a way that not only their mind but their body understands, you're going to make a lot of progress a lot quicker. If you can actually get that information and know what you're really looking at.
[00:34:54] Speaker A: What's the challenges in a group setting with that then because you may, you're going to have different movers and different motor preferences and within a group Setting.
[00:35:01] Speaker B: Yeah, I. I love practice planning. Like, I am a freak who actually loves to sit down and go through all the differences.
So I'm a big believer in drill structures over drills and the idea that, like, we can have the same structure where we have a live fielder and two shadows angled behind them. And we could have an aerial athlete who we're working from a box dropping into their prep stat because they want to feel getting, you know, coming from down to up and right into their. Their rocker and field there. And the very next rep, somebody comes up who's a terrestrial, and they're starting on knees instead of the box right behind them. Right. Same structure, same drill, same output of what we're trying to get. Like, how do we successfully get to our fielding position?
But the way that we get there is going to look different based on the athlete. Right. So for me, like, that's the challenge. It's not I have to have different sessions for different athlete types. It's how do I take a drill and adjust it based on the athlete type within the same structure. So nobody is slowed up and they're all getting the same work, but it's work that fits what they actually need individually.
[00:36:05] Speaker A: How long does it take to use to get them ingrained with prep steps?
[00:36:10] Speaker B: You know what? In theory, it shouldn't take long. Right. Like, it's a simple concept.
It is a focus thing.
[00:36:17] Speaker A: I still think minor leaguers, I can't do it.
[00:36:20] Speaker B: Yeah. And it's wild to me.
I think some of them on the front end, they think it has to be cookie cutter of, like, everybody's got to do the same thing, and it doesn't. We've actually experimented with aerials taking a backward step into their prep step because most aerials struggle upon landing taking a false step before they attack in. They're better laterally attacking in. There's always a false step. Right. So we're just messing with it at practice. It's like, you know what?
Work backwards into your prep step, and let's see what that does. And for every athlete we've done it with, it's immediately eliminated. That false step on their first step coming in now, some struggle with the comfort of the backward move, and that's fine, but we know we can eliminate it with that. So to me, like, I love the idea of throwing a ball. When the ball hits the ground, you're landing your prep step. I think that's great. But I've moved to doing that with cones versus a ball because they float and you don't Know exactly when it's going to land. So there's more variability in the landing.
And I've moved away from simple prep step drills and more of the prep to burst because they get better feedback if they just land and they don't move off of it. They don't feel how fluid or unfluid that move was. But when you're throwing cone and there's two different colors and they gotta land and burst to that cone and match color. Now they're feeling first step and we'll go into understanding. Like, to me, the prep stuff is important because it helps us get into understanding of same side step. If I'm going left of a rhythm step versus crossover for range. Right. But we can't get there until our timing is is correct first. So like burst stuff or twitch stuff I think is what really teaches the prep set more than just the landing. So almost going over that basic quickly, but spending more time on the burst, I think is where it's important.
Yeah. And I try to like, not. I hate doing drills that are just prep set because we're not working field. Yeah, right. They matter for sure.
[00:38:13] Speaker A: Same thing as bringing the ball to the middle and transfer. It's the exact same theory of you got to add the other movement in with it for.
[00:38:19] Speaker B: Exactly. Yep. So what we do a lot, and this is where I love the group setting, is we'll do like the player who is currently up, they're already moving. Right. So if they're going around to Conan fielding, that's great. The next player is landing their prep step on my contact to that rep, and they're landing and bursting in whatever movement pattern they have before their ball. So every drill we do, we try to include prep step, but I actually try to include it for the next player more because that keeps the flow of the drill and their focus increases because even if they're standing in line, they got to be paying attention. Like, they can't miss their part. And it keeps the drill flow. Like you're not waiting on the next person to step up. And so it really saves a lot of time. Like, it's super efficient. But anything that we can do to get the work in while we wait that we don't have to specifically add drills for. I'm all about. So we do a ton with prep set without specifically doing a ton of drills that are only prep set.
[00:39:14] Speaker A: What other training age are you? And I saw Valley retreated one year.
[00:39:18] Speaker B: Yeah, I work with Valley. Yeah, I work with Valley. They're awesome. Their training gloves are Great. We use the, the Valley Eagles a lot, which are the, the ones that squeeze. Their flat gloves that squeeze.
And then we use the K47s a ton. So those are their seven and a half inch. We use those with the mini balls. I have one of them sitting on my desk right now. These things are great. They're. They're an inch smaller in real weight so you can throw them. But even softball players, we use these mini balls and the mini gloves. Yeah, I love it. Yep. So we do all of our hands work with, with those.
I'm not big on adding constraints just to add them. Like there has to be a purpose. And the great thing with the Valley gloves is like the purpose is there, but it's not like the player has to learn to use the tool.
It's just learning to field. So like those are the tools that I really like. So we use a lot with Valley.
They, they sponsor our fielding competition every year. We run an eight hour fielding company. It's awesome. It's like super competitive. It's Great. They have 12 different competitions and then a semis and finals where they're on the clock in front of everybody. Like it's pressure, it's great.
So we do stuff with them. And then T claw is the other one that, that I work with. And it is like it's the invention that everybody is going to wish that they came up with because it's so simple. It is literally just claws that twist into the turf and it's a line between. It's just a string, but that way you're not tripping over a PVC pipe or anything like that. So like we use those for a ton of the drills to just create line markers for different lanes or whatever we're doing.
Outside of those, I don't really use much. Like it's, it's a lot of like, I don't use machines. I don't think they're bad. But like I would rather them see ball off bat when possible. And like if you can fungo well and spin well and do those things, I think it's a better feel for the player. So like we'll use. We. We fungo pretty much everything or hand feed.
And Valley and T claw are about the only real training tools that, that we, we use an arrow bat. But that's for hitting. Right. But they. I love that for the youth side. Like my kids use that. It's great. But yeah, we're. Valley's been great to us. I know there's other great training gloves out There I don't know if they're better or worse. But to me, like so much of business is people and the people at Valley are incredible and their products are good. Like I've had no reason to look elsewhere. So we won't like, they're great, they've treated us awesome.
[00:41:33] Speaker A: When you're talking about throwing, then how much time do you have to spend with shoulder tilt on the different arm slots, especially thrown on the run?
[00:41:39] Speaker B: A ton.
And, and stationary. At first they just don't.
Yeah, they, you know what? They, they start to understand arm slot dropping, but they don't understand shoulders tilting with it. So utilizing like the, the clock metaphor of just what that is and turning with it is huge little games like with the youth side of, of stationary one footed catch play. This is something we got from Kai of just like 1 point versus 3 of where they're throwing. We'll do that of different arm slots consistently.
And oddly enough for the ones who get it, they hate the simplified drills because they feel more awkward because they're like, I'm better when I'm fluid and on the run, but you got to do it to teach it. So we'll do stuff with foot placements of understanding transfer into that. And the biggest thing that I show them this is a question that we get a lot is like we're big on. If we're throwing on the run, our transfer goes to right hip. And the question I always get is like, well, why would I go to right hip if I'm supposed to get to midline? And then you have them hold their hands there and tilt shoulders and they realize right hip is midline. It's the same spot. My shoulders are just different. And then you get the buy in of what that looks like. So I think a lot of them, like what I have to fight is we're so big on everything coming in and not anything side to side. And then you get on the run and now we want some side to side. So for youth players, like they struggle with breaking the habit of side to side to then understanding when it can apply and when they can get it back.
But realistically the biggest fight that we have is like even when we get them in the right spot, they all want to pronate and come through low and then they just spike it. So getting them to finish high and be okay with in a training setting like you might throw it 10ft over
[00:43:22] Speaker A: the target right now, throw it up in the air.
[00:43:24] Speaker B: Great. Yeah, let's learn from that. That's a, that's a good mistake to happen. So it's really like the biggest issue is not the skill. It's that players suck at failing and they hate it so they don't want to do it again. They're like, well I can't do that. It's like you can and you're going to need to like be okay with learning from that rep and getting a little closer next time. Like progress over perfection and once you get them bought into that, it really doesn't take that long. And then like they, it takes a little while to start making them in game just from a trust standpoint. But we've had a few even eleven you softball. We've made six do or die one footed plays this year. And like I'm fired up every time for them. Like, let's go. One of them, the girl was like halfway down the line. We didn't need it. But like she went through it. She was like, let's go. Like, this is awesome. Keep making that play. Overthrow it. I don't care. Let her get to second. But like learn to make plays that you're going to need at the next level.
[00:44:14] Speaker A: When you add new stuff in because we're going to see new things all the time, how do you decide what, what you're going to add in with your, your planning?
[00:44:23] Speaker B: I'm a big believer that the players kind of dictate that, right? Like it really depends on their growth and where they're at. And that's the cool thing about being of the structure. Kind of different drills individually in a group setting is some players, when they're ready to move and advance, like you can do that within those structures but like the big things that I see from it are the idea of training athleticism, training spins, training like stuff that you might not see often, but training the body to understand how to move, right. Like we don't need to train a backhand spin because you're going to see it 20 times in a season. You might see it three. But if your body knows how to move out of that position, then you're in a position to make more plays than just that, right? So I think like those are the big ads and it's so funny because that's the stuff that when you post, everyone's like, I'll just train them to, to field it. It's like, well I promise we're doing that too, right? Like we're not just showing up like, all right, backhand spins for an hour, baby. Let's go. Right? Like it's not like that. But it. That's gotta love social media. That's how it shows up sometimes, right? But it is really cool to see like what. What most people don't see is you make a backhand spin and you feel good coming out of that. And whether it's a throw to second or first and then suddenly the routine ball that you get next, your confidence is through the roof. The way your body flows is insane. Like those plays make you better at the routine just because they boost your confidence too.
So a lot of times it's stuff like that. Some of it to me is I love in season lessons too, in the sense that you can see what's happening in game and then you can bring them in and make adjustments. And some of that is the idea of getting downhill. But where the players seem to struggle right now is if they're getting downhill, they're going to be on the run. And if they're more stationary or routine, they're going to throw off a two. But the ability to get downhill and then break down is something that they struggle with. Like how do I go from being full speed where I have time to then getting into right, left and just making a routine play versus having to make a routine play harder than it needs to be. It's like they learn it and that's all they want to do. And I don't blame them. They're fun, right? But. But figuring out when I have that tool set that I don't have to use that tool all the time is really the next step for, for a lot of those fielders and putting them in drills where there's decision making is really what that looks like. It's not like we can, we can do any drill. We could probably make great infielders with only doing five basic drills. Right. But they get bored. So you mix it up, you try different things. But the reality is it's not the drill, it's the intent that you're giving them behind it. We could run the same drill and focus on different speed runners, same drill, focus on different glove patterns, like, but it's giving that. And, and from what I have seen, at least in our area, there's a lot of we're going to hit you a bunch of ground balls and there's not a lot of teaching or training or challenging to field it a certain way. Like we'll have days where it's all one handed. That's the stuff that's going to make them better. Like holding them to a standard where they will fail more in training. But if they come in with me and they feel 95% of the ball's clean, I failed them in that hour. Like I didn't challenge them enough.
But it's the old adage from when I was teaching too. Like, as a teacher, if everybody in your class gets an A, are you a good teacher? I don't know.
If everybody fails, are you a good teacher?
I don't know what the answer is. Right. Like, I want to see everybody at a C level at that session. I want to see them fail and see where they need to grow, but also experience enough success that they feel good and they want to come back. Right. There's a balance to it for sure.
[00:47:48] Speaker A: Is that that same six week block with hitting then too?
[00:47:52] Speaker B: Yeah. So we'll have players come in and they'll go infield for an hour, right over to hitting for an hour, and then right over to speed and strength for an hour.
And I know he spoke at one point in the abca. Donovan Clark is new with us. He was with the White Sox for a few years as their speed and strength guy. So he's in house with us now, which is all, I mean, training wise. Like, it is really great for our players to have what they have. I don't know if they get it at this point when they're young, but as they get older, they'll figure out like they have some really good trainers that they're going to see every week. But yeah, same structure for arm care, for pitching, for hitting, for infield, for catching.
So we try to offer it all and allow them to get in and really be there for three hours and take a night versus, you know, it's the monotony of one hour every night that people go to train that really tires them out. But you're in there and you're loving it. You, you can go for three or four. You're 11. Don't act tired.
We're tired. We're old, ryan. Like they're 11 years old, man. They can play.
[00:48:49] Speaker A: Same progression with hitting then too, you kind of get to the basics the first week and then as they get closer to the season, you start to challenge them a little bit more.
[00:48:57] Speaker B: Yeah, so it's a lot of mechanical base. Early step one is really for. For Adam, who does our hitting stuff is really understanding motor preferences and getting a baseline of like where their swing is and where really where the low hanging fruit is first. Right. Let's make those changes where we can as it progresses closer to season.
Way more on machine Way more of timing stuff and situational hitting and less mechanical work at the end of the day. At some point, like the reality is you're going to get to the game. Whatever swing you have, that's what you got and you got to be successful with it either way. So learning to compete and not have a swing in game and think like, oh, I dipped there, did like just compete. You're not going to fix mechanics in that moment. Go in external task orientation, like know what the job is, step and do that. So yeah, same, same, similar progression of what that mindset shift is going into season versus the start of the offset season.
[00:49:51] Speaker A: Why is. I've always felt like kids from the state of Indiana can hit.
[00:49:56] Speaker B: Well, I can tell you, I think everybody works is right up the middle in Indiana and that's because the cages are long and short and nobody feels good if they pull it into a side net, even if it was 110 off the bat. Right. So they learn to use middle just based on them hitting and that's the only way they're going to see ball flight.
And truthfully, I don't feel like Indiana hitters have had a choice because just the pitching coming out of Indiana for the last 5ish year, like it's been
[00:50:21] Speaker A: longer than that, by the way. Yeah, you can go back to the 70s.
[00:50:25] Speaker B: Really. Yeah, yeah. I mean it's been, it's been insane. And we saw a huge growth in just baseball in this area as, as grand park has grown. Truthfully, like as that venue has grown, baseball in this area has continued to do the same. But I mean, shoot, even, even in high school last year, everybody in our conference had somebody 90 plus. I mean it's every single team that we're going to go and see. So like arms are really good and if you want to be in the lineup, you got to figure out how to hit. So that's, that's, you gotta, you gotta get in lineup. Somehow those guys are finding it out and they're spending, I mean they spend a ton of time in the cage. That's the thing in the off season. So like there's, there's pros and cons, right? Like you, everybody wants more game time, but I'm a big believer that like shutting it down for a little bit and training and getting better, like getting bigger, faster, stronger, like that's not wasted time. That's, that's a great use of the off season versus 30 more games. You don't need 30 more games.
[00:51:18] Speaker A: And it's for the most part It's a very blue collar state.
[00:51:22] Speaker B: It is for the most part. Yeah.
[00:51:25] Speaker A: You get outside of Indy, like for the most part, it's a blue collar state.
[00:51:29] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, and everything's easy to get to. Like we're on the south side of Indianapolis, so outside of the circle, like we, we draw, we get people from two hours south of us, people coming from Ohio. Like it's hour and a half to two to a lot of big locations. So being centrally located helps. I mean, we've, we don't get that many that travel. But I have once a senior softball player in Bowling Green that's been coming for three hour sessions before she goes to Oklahoma State next year. Like, that's awesome. But we're close enough that she can do that and it's two hours. So that's been really nice.
We've, we've grown a lot on like just the college players and even minor league and pro side of players we got coming in now, which has been fun because those athletes, like, they feel it too, that, that's been fun to train them because you can tell them something and you don't have to describe the feel like you do to a youth player. They know exactly what you're talking about as you're saying it. And it's interesting because you would think that those are the ones that feel like they don't need the coaching.
It's the exact opposite. Right. And rightfully that's why they're there. That's what you figure out. Like they are craving the coaching. They want you to tell them what they're doing wrong. And that's why they've gotten to a point of being at the level that they're at. I think that's one of the biggest lessons for the younger players to like see and learn from the higher level ones is there isn't an excuse. It's not. Well, I was. Well, I did this because it's. Okay, great. So do it this way. Okay, let me try that. And they'll straight up tell you, like, I don't like that. Cool. Like if it doesn't work for you, it doesn't have to. But tell me, like, you don't have to do it just because I said it's not my career. Like you're the one playing.
So yeah, it's been those, those guys are cool to work with for sure.
[00:53:05] Speaker A: Well, I think they know too. They, they're stuck at the level they're at for a reason. So they've got to get better if
[00:53:10] Speaker B: they want to they got to find something. Yep, Absolutely. Absolutely.
[00:53:14] Speaker A: When was your first ABC convention?
[00:53:18] Speaker B: So we. Let's see. First one, I was down there as a vendor, actually, with baseball, academics. So it was. We. We ran two years there with an app. We were working with Ned Yost, and it was a baseball situation app. We won Best in Show.
It was in Nashville, but not the last one. It was the one before that. So it had to be six or seven years ago at that point.
And the app was awesome. We loved it.
And then the actual tech side of it that I know nothing about just bombed, and it just didn't work. The concept was great, but the app just didn't work. But that was my first one, and I was grateful for it because I had no idea I was coming out of college. I was coaching, but hadn't been exposed to the ABCA at that point and went and made the decision that year. Like, I'm going every year and haven't missed one since.
One of the highlights, we bring down coaches every year. We all stay in an Airbnb. There's about 15 of us most years that go. And even just providing that, like, four coaches within our program is so cool because we'll go. And because of the way everything's set up, like, I don't see a lot of them throughout because I'm going to infield stuff. We got some going to catching and hitting.
And the first year, we had a couple that just followed me around, and I had to tell them, like, look, guys, I love you, but, like, you're here to get better and you have different areas that you want to learn and grow. Like, this experience, if anyone hasn't been, and you go, don't let anybody else change your experience. Like, sometimes it is going to the vendor booth, sometimes it's presentations. The last couple years, truthfully, I've been at less presentations. I have a great plan. I've just been stuck in the hallway talking to guys. And sometimes those are better than the presentations. Like, you just. You see a guy once a year and you get locked into a baseball conversation that takes an hour. That's well worth missing something that you can watch back online after the fact, too. Right? So it's been. It's been awesome. And I think seeing the growth of it and just the difference of presentations, like, it's been cool to see mindset stuff take off and see things on the youth stage of, like, coach development from the relationship standpoint, like, it's just diversified so much, and it's to a point that really like whether you coach Eightu, 18U, college pro, like there are sessions and things for you that it hits every coach of every level, really, baseball or softball. We have softball coaches that are like, well, the softball one's more expensive. We've had softball coaches come to the baseball one and they love it. Like they're getting great information too. So you guys are crushing it with it.
[00:55:39] Speaker A: Appreciate it. Do you have a forward moment, something you thought was going to set you back but looking back now helped you move forward?
[00:55:45] Speaker B: Yeah, man. I feel like it's a career of fail forward moments and a career of like, if you don't ask, you'll never knows for me. Right? So like the, the Ned Yost thing ended up happening because I asked a question to the dude that was running it of how can I help? And I was 22 and had no idea if there was anything right. But worst he says is no. So a lot of, a lot of it has been, you know what, let's just go for it and see. Let's ask the question. Let's, let's get in the right room and see what it looks like.
But my, my biggest fail forward moment was early in my career. I was an assistant coach at Delville. We had lost in the semi stay as my first year coaching high school ball lost in the semi state and they brought me in at the end of the year. Our coach was resigning and they said, hey, we got to go through the interview process, but just so you know, it's yours. Like we just got to go through it. It's like, all right, cool, I'm 23, I'm about to get a head coaching job. Like this is going to be a great step.
So we go through the process and they bring me in again and they say, hey, after reviewing everything, we have a candidate that's 73 and has coached high school for 25 years and you're 23 and haven't had a varsity job at this point, if you have a bad season, it'll look really bad on us. So we want you to continue to be the assistant. We want you to run the infield, run the pitch calling, really run the team in a lot of ways.
But we can't bring you in as head coach because this guy is way more experienced. And at 23, when you're full of pride and ego, it is very difficult to continue. And there was a big part of me that was ready to just step away and say, I'm not coaching you guys. Figure it out. And I probably would have Felt righteous for about 10 minutes in doing so. But it wasn't the right move. Right? Like, we do it for the players and the relationships and that side of it. And I knew I had a lot to give. So that was the first year that we ended up shifting on the high school level.
I very much that year live by the motto that if you can't get out of it, get into it. So whatever my role is, I'm going to be great. We shifted 40% of players that season. We won a state championship and it was my least favorite season ever. Like, I was miserable going through it, but looking back on it, like, the memories of being miserable and still showing up and giving my best, I needed to learn that I could do that. Like, I needed to learn that I was capable of feeling a certain way and still showing up for the people around me that needed me, including that head coach who didn't make that decision right. And now he's stuck with a 23 year old on staff who's full of pride and ego and wants his job and he's got to manage me. Right? Like, we had a great relationship, but it was really hard. Like, I remember sitting there and just being so angry of what that would look like. And I remember winning state and being so excited about it, but also having the feelings of like, man, that was a tough season.
And knowing that at that point, like, I had done my job and it was time for me to move into something different.
And that something different was to go to a school that they had won three. Their record for a season in winning games was three. And my thought was, if I can take this team and start from the very bottom and prove that I can do something with that, then I'll have opportunities. Let's see what it looks like. And we won 14 games in a conference championship. And then I moved to the Fourier side of it. I think it taught me a lot about overcoming, about what it looked like to really be in a spot that you don't love, but show up and do the work and really row the boat or chop wood and carry water. Great books. Just the idea of doing my part and no part is too small.
It gave me a better appreciation for, oddly enough, for the custodians and all of those people that you hear talked about.
Like, I didn't think about that at 23 until I didn't get the role I wanted. And then you start to see the small things of everybody that impacts a team or a program or a player and you start to realize, like, man, there are no small things. Every role, every job, they're all important. And if you do them well, that will take care of itself and you'll have bigger opportunities. Like, the opportunities will present themselves when you're really ready. And looking back in that moment, I wasn't ready. Like, I had too much selfishness in me to be ready to take that team at that point. But in the moment, I didn't realize that. So good thing. Good thing somebody put me in my place to learn it.
[00:59:54] Speaker A: Yeah, but that's karma thing, too, that you handle it the right way. You know, you're always upset by stuff, but you handle it the right way. And so the baseball gods end up taking care of you.
[01:00:02] Speaker B: Absolutely. Yep. The game will always take care of you. You're either humble or you will be.
[01:00:07] Speaker A: Have you added any morning routines in now that you're not in the high school?
[01:00:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
Huge with them, I think. And, like, I feel a big difference when I don't do them right.
[01:00:17] Speaker A: So I'm the exact same way when I off my routine. I am not good. I'm not good.
[01:00:21] Speaker B: Yep. So. So what I've had to come up with and. And like, I've learned from myself with my mindset clients that I work with of like, we now go with, you have an ideal morning routine and then we have a minimum morning routine. Right. Because sometimes the day goes to crap and things come up. But, like, what is the bare minimum that you got to do? And. And for me, I have a. A probably a little bit crazy for most people manifestation playlist that I listen
[01:00:46] Speaker A: to in the morning. I'm all in on it.
[01:00:48] Speaker B: Huge. So I listen to that. I do morning writing.
I'll write down every day three goals, three positive affirmations, three things I'm grateful for, my mitts or most important things today. Like the three things that I will not go to sleep unless I complete those. Three people that I'm going to connect with that day. And then three power phrases of things that I'm going to lean back on in my head all day when things go wrong. That's just going to keep me on track towards the goals that I have. So every day I write those.
And then social media has actually helped with my morning routine because I have players or clients that, like, if I don't post a picture of the book that I'm reading, I'll get a text of, like, you didn't read today, coach. And that's great. Like, I need that accountability. So it started as like, okay, I'm Going to hold myself accountable. Now I don't get the chance. I got others that are going to get on me. So I always post a picture of the book, something that I'm reading and then for me the biggest thing is like I want to apply something from what I read within that day whether it's in a conversation or a way that I can respond. But if I'm going to really like rewire, retrain myself to think certain ways and act certain ways that's got to be immediate impact or implementation from what I read to what I do. So that's like the full morning routine. Worst case I'll knock out one instead of three of each of those things in my writing and I'll play my morning list on my way to the gym and I'm all right but I would rather sit at my desk and knock out knock out each of those aspects.
[01:02:14] Speaker A: Steady gym. You do the same thing every day.
[01:02:16] Speaker B: Working out wise most days it's. It's really nice for me my kids don't go to school until 8. They get picked up at 8:50. It's wild.
So like we get up and we do we call it garage work.
[01:02:29] Speaker A: Should be by the way I know
[01:02:30] Speaker B: it especially when they're that I'll see
[01:02:32] Speaker A: the buses out at 5:30 in the morning.
[01:02:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:02:36] Speaker A: To ask elementary school kid be up that early. It's not, it's not healthy.
[01:02:41] Speaker B: Not healthy. No. There's a flaw in that system for sure. But mine go to school late enough that like we can get up. We hit and field every morning in our garage and then from there I'll go to the gym. So I get up and do my routine stuff typically prior gym wise like sauna time is a great time for, for just box breathing manifestation stuff like that's music in and just kind of sitting and being and I as much as I have tried to take gym time and like use it for whatever else for me that needs to be my hour where I refuse to answer a call, I refuse to respond to a text. I'm not perfect at it by any means but it is so like I don't have real hours but I'm always on the clock and you know how that goes. Like it's, it's constant. So to have a guaranteed time that I'm just, I'm shutting it down and I'm going to focus on me I need to do a better job of handling it that way. But when I do I feel better. Like it is a good reset going into the rest of the day that I've had that hour just for myself and I need to take it sometimes I don't. Today at the gym, I sat in the parking lot for an hour on the phone. Got stuck, right? Like those still happen. I'm not perfect, but they're few and far between. The more that I really focus in on what I need. And I think a lot of times, like when I was a young coach, it was about what everybody else needed. You get older and you realize, man, I'm. I'm actually unable to provide what everybody else needs unless I'm taking care of myself and providing that for me first. So it seems selfish at first. And you realize, like the only way to fill others cup is to make sure that mine's full. And if it's not, I ain't got anything to give.
[01:04:14] Speaker A: Yep, for sure. All right, what's some final thoughts before I let you go, man?
[01:04:18] Speaker B: Final thoughts. Let's see. I think from an infield standpoint, let's give a few final thoughts there. Hands, feet, eyes, people. Like the three things that you absolutely need. People. Forget about the eyes. If your hands don't work, your hands can't. Or if your feet don't work, your hands can't play. We got to be able to get there. If our hands don't work, doesn't matter how quick we are to get there. But if our eyes don't see the ball, it's very difficult to feel blind, right? So making sure that we're, we have an emphasis on all three of those things and really allowing them to play athletically, I think that's, that's the biggest thing at a young age.
I hear all the time, just do routine, just knock it down, just get in front. That doesn't play long term. I'd rather them make an error trying for a do or die at the age of 10 than them knock it down in the runner. Be safe at first. Like be okay with mistakes that show long term growth or development from the individual side.
One of my favorite sayings is change people or change people, right? Like always give your players, your parents, your families, whoever you're working with, an opportunity to show them what they're doing that isn't positive. Give them a chance to really change who they are. And if they're unable or unwilling to do that, then you're faced with the opportunity of changing personnel and moving on to different people that will get on the same energy bus and will support that mission and will come alongside you in that. But I spent a lot of time chasing people that weren't following along and weren't on the same page. And, and you find out along the way like, unfortunately, it happens, unfortunately, you're gonna find people that are meant for a season and not a life. But the quicker you can recognize that the right people, if you are, if you act like the person that you say you are and you're that person, consistently the right people will come alongside and you'll find yourself in the right rooms. It's hard, but keep being a good person, literally, regardless of what anybody is saying or what it. Like social media sucks. A lot of things get out there that are true, aren't true. Whatever, none of it matters. Y' all like character over reputation and everything that you do, the right people will find you. That's the biggest thing. I think you get into coaching and you start to see everybody has their opinions and no one's shy about sharing them. But at the end of the day, if you know who you are and you're proud of that person and the character that you have, you don't have to be concerned about, about the other people. So we leave it like this last thing. I'll say. Five finger focus is the culture we try to instill in parents and players. Number one, control the controllable.
That's all we, we have, right? Focus on that. Number two, attack the day with joy and enthusiasm. Give an opportunity every day that you wake up to do something great. Go and do it, make an impact. Number three, dream big and ignore the naysayers. Whatever they say is fine. We don't have to pay attention to it. Number four, be relentless. Everything you do with a purpose, on purpose. Number five, choose faith through fear. Fear is going to be present, but how you handle that and what you do with it is going to impact who you are and what you're capable of. Because if you can do those five things, you'll grow as a baseball player, but you're also going to be a pretty darn good human being too. And at the end of the day that's, that's probably more important or should be more important for those of us that are coaching is developing quality people.
[01:07:14] Speaker A: Thank you, sir.
[01:07:15] Speaker B: That's all I got.
[01:07:15] Speaker A: Appreciate your time, Jake. Thank you very much, man.
[01:07:18] Speaker B: Absolutely, Ryan. Thanks for having me.
[01:07:20] Speaker A: Jake was on my list for a while to have on the show. I love his energy, enthusiasm for player development.
One of the best voices we have in the game on impact field play. I'm a big fan of how he handles his social media. Also definitely worth a follow.
Thanks again to John Litchfield, Zach Hale and Matt west in the ABC office for all the help on the podcast. Feel free to reach out to me via email our brownleebca.org Twitter, Instagram or TikTok coachbca or direct message me via the MyBC app. This is Ryan Brownlee signing off for the American Baseball Coaches Association. Thanks to Leave it better for those behind you.
[01:08:09] Speaker B: Wait for another day and the world will always eternal and your love there before your name and you know that way Wait for another day.
