The last couple weeks I have been stressing the importance of LTAD (long term athletic development) as the fundamental principle for everything we do at 706. So many clubs use development as a loose term but only use games as a way to display that development. I think it’s flawed; however, I want to clarify that I am not painting this picture with a broad brush. There are many great coaches and organizations around and I know we are young and still make mistakes but my vision has always been through a lens of how WE can do this better. To enforce development and practice what we preach, I sent out resources last week for nutrition guidance and a 2 month, 3 day per week lifting schedule with intended outcomes that sets them up for November and December training. IF you need them or did not get them, please let me know. 

I’ve spent some time in August to gain clarity and insights to what is happening in youth baseball and how we can try to make a difference. I will be sharing thoughts on this over the next couple weeks. Below are the take home messages I kept hearing….

• Development is the main thing. Sports provide an opportunity to teach life lessons as well as create physically and mentally strong athletes on the field. If we have players that stay in our program for multiple seasons and do not pursue baseball beyond, I hope they have become better men, great husbands and fathers because of their time with us. I hope me and my coaches exemplify this. Developing skills take time. I am working on implementing a developmental process that will track metrics and provide a player card for us to discuss as I really think development is a word that gets thrown around like a baseball at a 9u baseball game. I hope to bring both qualitative (subjective) and quantitative (objective) measures to this program to enhance our developmental process. 
• Games are just a test. Parents, please remember this. GAMES ARE JUST A TEST. We sometimes get caught in the illusion that games at 13 years old matter. It doesn’t. The reps to develop the skill matter. USA Baseball recommends athletes practice 65% of the time and play games 35% of the time for ages 12-14. We have to get back to prioritizing skill acquisition and not game performance at such a young age. 
• Travel Baseball is going to change. NCAA has cut rosters from 40 down to 34 while providing full scholarships to all on the rosters at the D1 level. This will go into effect in the next couple years. This will cause a trickle down effect in all levels of college as most power 5 schools will be using the transfer portal to fill rosters. The days of college projects are fleeting. JUCO, NAIA, D3, and D2 will be a priority. I see this devaluing showcase/exposure travel baseball. 

So at the end of the day, keep the main thing the main thing! As we start getting ready for fall baseball, treat games as tests to find out what skill set your player needs to work on during the off-season. 706 will be here to help facilitate growth and development by holding them accountable to the attitude and effort needed to excel.