I grew up in a small town, and I have always had a sense of "small town" community where I have lived. I think its important to get involved in the communities you live in and give back what you have to offer. I have trained two of my neighborhood teams to incredible success this summer. The Welles Park 12U travel team and the Windy City Storm 13U travel teams had great summers. Welles Park, down the street from my house, had not won a travel game in two years prior to this season. I designed and led a training program this winter and spring and put a professional coach in place for them. The turnaround was amazing. After losing 40 consecutive games, the Welles team finished 15-4 in the NSBL, finishing 4th out of 20 teams, beating many full time travel teams along the way. Last week, they competed in Cooperstown, beating two full time travel teams from the East and Southeast and competing with several National level travel teams. To add, the team became fan favorites amongst the Cooperstown staff and the 120 teams present, as our boys have some dynamic and memorable personalities. I remember distinctly in January, when Mikey D. asked me, "Coach, just help us to win 1 game this year, PLEASE!" Well, they won their first game and never looked back, and more importantly than wins, it was fun to see the confidence and self esteem of these boys reach new heights this summer!
The Windy City Storm 13U Elite team won the MSBL elite championship. A very talented group of boys who have college and pro baseball aspirations got their first taste of what "real" baseball is like at the next level. They left "dad" coached travel baseball and got professional training for the first time. It was amazing to see the amount of development in each player and it certainly paid off on the field. This team, who won 5 summer tournaments, has several players that will be future prospects! Above is a picture of the 2010 MSBL Elite Division Champions.
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