Why We Are Involved with USA Baseball
A couple of days ago, I overheard two dads casually say that the only reason that the Gamers do the USA Baseball process is for “recruiting”, as if it was just a known fact. This is another one of those assertions that have zero basis in reality.
In the three years of running the Midwest Region for USA Baseball, over 1000 players have come through the sub-regional and regional process. 500 players have played in the St. Louis regional events, with 75% of them from outside of the St. Louis areas.
Of these players, there are at most 5 players that joined our program after the USA event (i.e. players that were not Gamers before the event, that become Gamers after the event). Note — we do our tryouts BEFORE the USA regional event. That is 5 out of 500, 1%.
We have more players than this LEAVE the Gamers program because they were upset at not being selected in the USA event.
I know that other local programs like to talk about this, and use it as a reason to prevent their players from competing in the USA events. Of course, this just limits their players from the USA Baseball National Team process, and results in the opportunities being given to kids from Oklahoma, Arkansas, etc..
But, this talk is far from the truth. And, it is more upsetting when parents just take these statements at face value, without questioning the basis.
So, why does the Gamers program help USA Baseball run the Midwest Region? Three reasons:
- It is the right thing to do, to provide Midwest region kids the opportunity to participate in the National Team Process. Over the past 2 years, we have had 8 kids selected for the National Teams Trials (none from the St. Louis area). Visit http://USABaseball.com. It is the elite of the elite in youth baseball. This is something Midwest kids deserve the opportunity to participate in. Before our involvement, there was no established pipeline from the Midwest to USA Baseball. We were honored to be selected by USA Baseball to be the Midwest regional directors.
- It expands our relationships and network with college coaches across the country. It makes the Gamers program more well-known across the country. This helps our current HS players in the college recruiting process. The USA Baseball National Team program is at the core of elite baseball for the youth and college levels.
- We learn a lot from the process — in particular, by coaching elite players from across the region and interacting with other top club programs across the country at the National Event in Cary, NC. This makes our program better, because it helps us understand what other players/clubs do and how they do it.
Update – we stopped running the USA Baseball Midwest NTIS in 2016 because the quality of the event degraded substantially in 2015/16 and the event became more about revenues to USA Baseball than the actual baseball experience of the players.
A man is know by the company he keeps …
For some reason, this time of year in youth baseball and with the start of school & college, the proverb “A man is know by the company he keeps” pops into my head.
Man is a social creature. None can live alone, away from the society of his fellow being, like shipwrecked Alexandra Selkirk who aspired for company in the lonely island. It is always very natural for him to seek the company of others. Even when all his immediate physical needs are met, he must have someone to talk to enjoy himself with. At home he has his near and dear ones by his side. But that is not enough. He must have other companions— friends to whom he can unburden his heart and with whom he can exchange his ideas and share his enthusiasm.
Hence, we must intimately associate with others; we must do so that our friends may come to exert a great deal of influence over us, on our character and conduct. Man is by nature imitative, and he will often be led to imitate others.
For good or for evil, others very often lead and guide us. They may mould our tastes and interest, and shape our character. We become good or bad as our friends are. For instance, if a man is virtuous and honest, he will by his speech and conduct inspire his friends with goodness and honesty. Similarly, if our friends are wicked, we may follow them do as they do and become wicked ourselves. Naturally, we cannot blame people if they judge us by the company we keep. The same boy shapes differently if placed in different companies.
Furthermore, no companionship, at least no lasting companionship is possible unless the parties have similar tastes and interests, likes and dislikes. It is like the magnetic affinity. A man who is bad in instinctively drawn to those who are similarly bad. It has been most truly said that birds of the same feather flock together. Here also the character of our companions is an index of our own character. If he does not show his dislike nor try to avoid uncongenial company, having found undeserving, he will surely, in course of time, become quite as bad as his friend. It is quite axiomatic that one who is virtuous will shun the company of those who are given to the ways of vice. He will try to make friends with those that are good and on the right path.
Companionship thus is a positive factor not only in the formation of character but in the estimation of man’s true worth. It is at once an influence on character and a measure of one’s real worth. A man is often judged by the collective quality and identity of his group. Nobody will believe that a particular robber of the gang is honest. As we are drawn to men who feel and act like ourselves and we are influenced by them. An estimate of the moral character of an individual can easily by made in reference to that of his companions. He cannot be different from his friends. So we conclude that he is what his friends are. Just as one rotten mango spoils the rest in the basket, similarly one wicked man corrupts a lot of friends.
In the choice of our companions, we must be cautious and careful because on this choice depends so much. Before we make friends with others, we must watch their conduct and know what kind of men they actually are. But as children do not know what is right and wrong, parents must see that boys and girls do not fall into evil company. This task should begin at school, — in the formative years of a boy or girl.
Coach Gallion Perspective 