Why Choose The Captains?

Because your dreams are our dreams.

A few months ago I was watching one of my favorite TV Shows, Ted Lasso. At one point, Coach Lasso said something that really resonated with me:

"I love coaching. Now, I'm gonna say this again just so you didn't think it was a mistake the first time I said it. For me, success is not about the wins and losses. It's about helping these young fellas be the best versions of themselves on and off the field. And it ain't always easy, but neither is growing up without someone believing in you."

The Captains aren't only focused on winning. Our goal is to give you the tools to achieve your dreams. Not sure what I mean? Keep reading to learn more about the tools that we believe are vital to playing at the next level.

What You Get as a Captain

Most travel teams are more about winning than player development, and more about money than preparing players to excel at the next level.

The Captains offers the following to all our players:

1. "Skills that Scale"

Unlike other sports, youth baseball has an extremely low retention rate as kids transition to a bigger field. One major reason is that the game gets exponentially harder as the field gets bigger. Rather than focusing on skills that will ensure victory on a 60-foot or 70-foot field, we are focused on building competitive 90-foot baseball players. Our coaches teach and reinforce "Skills that Scale," specifically the ability to move fast: swing fast, throw fast, run fast.

2. Long-Term Athletic Development

A key component of "Skills that Scale" and competing at the next level is athleticism. While baseball fundamentals of hitting, pitching, fielding and baserunning are vital, we also believe that athleticism is equally important. Building athleticism is an often overlooked fundamental of baseball. We incorporate components of speed, agility, strength and conditioning in a fun and exciting way to help our players fall in love with "The Grind."

3. Player Evaluations and Metric Tracking

We analyze each player and track their metrics in the following criteria: Home to First Base sprint time, Home to Second Base sprint time, Batted Ball Exit Velocity, raw arm velocity, defensive velocity pitching velocity, and pop time for catchers. We use Blast Motion sensors to track our swing data and provide each player with instant feedback on their swing. Tracking and understanding these metrics is critical in monitoring progress and work load.

4. Personalized Training Plans

Regardless of your skill level, we create personalized strength and conditioning plans to help you improve, to make you faster, stronger, and hit / throw harder. We also have a specialized "Throwing Velo Program" prepared by experts to help our players increase throwing velocity over time.

5. A Safe Place to Fail and Learn

We always tell our players that in baseball, you either win or learn. We work hard to create an environment that helps kids be comfortable with failure. We started calling this the “Fail Faster” approach, because the sooner you fail, the sooner you can learn from it. Instead of rewarding performance and outcomes after a game and making a big deal about certain plays, we let the kids talk about what they learned. When a player strikes out, we celebrate it, because now you get to be the hero in the dugout by telling your teammates what you learned so they can have more competitive at bats.

6. Community Service Opportunities

You know what looks great on college applications? Community service. The Captains provide opportunities for our players to serve our community and leave the world around us better than we found it.