Inside The Purpose of the Cannonball Foundation

coaching_articleA FORMER HEAD COACH AT MULTIPLE PRIVATE HIGH SCHOOLS in the Boston area, Mike Schell has experienced what high school baseball is like for the “haves.” He also spent time working with kids in poorer sections of the city and knows the challenges faced by those coaches and athletes. Now in his first year as Director of College Counseling at Catholic Memorial High School in West Roxbury, Mass., Schell is doing what he can to provide players from lower-income areas the same opportunities to play college baseball as their more affluent peers.

Schell is Founder and Executive Director of the Cannonball Foundation, which strives to create higher education opportunities for high school players regardless of their economic situation and provides leadership training for both the athletes and their coaches. Named after William “Cannonball” Jackman, a popular Negro League pitcher who played in Boston and lived there after his career ended, the foundation uses a network of college admissions experts and baseball coaches to help players from city schools reach the next level.

“As a head coach and admissions counselor at two private schools, I noticed I wasn’t seeing many economically challenged players getting opportunities to play at the college level,” says Schell. “During my time in inner-city Boston, I saw that playing opportunities were diminished for them because of district budget cuts, and a lot of families were having trouble meeting the costs of playing in showcases. I also met a lot of parents who weren’t receiving honest recruiting information from summer league coaches, and as a result their sons didn’t get the level of education and mentorship they should.

“It upset me that because these kids didn’t have means to afford the new pay-to-play model, they were losing valuable access to coaches who could help them reach the college level,” he adds. “And as a result, they weren’t going to learn all the crucial lessons the game can teach, such as self-awareness, mindfulness, leadership, and overcoming failure.”

The Cannonball Foundation holds a series of events to help its athletes. These include college preparatory and informational workshops; numerous indoor workout sessions during winter; an affordable showcase event that invites players of all economic backgrounds to work with and learn from its network of college coaches and admissions experts; and the Cannonball Scholar program, a financial aid program that provides mentoring, academic
counseling, and athletic and life skills coaching to recipients.

The Foundation also offers resources to high school coaches. “The only way we can create systemic change is to get to the coaches who are in the trenches,” Schell says. “I’m hoping that every coach we help will go on to impact at least 10 kids who will utilize our resources and programs.”

Schell also says he’s been bothered by the decreased influence of high school coaches in the recruiting process and athlete development model. “High school baseball coaches can speak to the heart of the athlete better than summer coaches can,” he says. “By engaging students on a daily basis in an educational setting, high school coaches help them develop the pivotal skills they’ll need the rest of their lives. I have nothing against the summer league coaches, I just think high school coaches are in the best position to help players navigate the recruiting process and teach them how to use baseball to develop leadership.”

The Cannonball Foundation’s Coaching Fellowship program provides several unique opportunities for high school coaches to learn ways to help their players reach the college level and develop as people. During the winter, there are typically three leadership seminars where program fellows come together to talk about mentoring, helping athletes through the college admissions and recruiting processes, and using baseball as a vehicle for improving life skills. Then in August, 14 coaching fellows took a three-day bus tour of four college campuses: Boston College, Tufts University, Brown University, and the College of the Holy Cross, while also meeting with up with coaches from Bates College, Ursinus College, and Dickinson College. At each stop, the high school coaches gained and shared insight with and from their college counterparts and the schools’ admissions counselors.

“We had some great conversations about the opportunities the game provides coaches to teach important lessons to their players,” Schell says. “It was really powerful to hear their passion and to see them make such a strong connection with like-minded people. I want high school coaches to know about our resources and let us put them in touch with our network of coaches so they can improve as teachers and coaches and better prepare their players for the college admissions and recruiting process.”

KWB Experience Returns To Shreveport, La

The #GoodBattingTour rolled into Shreveport, Louisiana on January 31, 2016 to work with hitters at Ron Fenwick’s Next Level Baseball Academy.

This was the second time that Ron Fenwick hosted a KWB Experience at his academy and it has now become one of the more popular workouts in town!

The select group of hitters who participated had the opportunity to work one-on-one with Kevin Wilson on their swings in the cage as well as experience what it’s like to think like a next level hitter.

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Kevin walked the players through a detail oriented approach and provided perspective to the hitters via a classroom-style seminar. The interactive session allowed both the players and Kevin to have in-depth discussions from how to navigate an at-bat to providing clarity in the toughest situations a hitter will face. Hitters also walked away with a special KWB packet with the same materials that Kevin’s pro clients receive. A lot of notes were taken in those packets!

Special thanks goes to Tanner Tees for providing the batting tees for our Experience. We are proud to be partnered with the best batting tee in the game and every player who attends a KWB Experience gets to use the same equipment the big leaguers use!

The KWB Experience is available for high school, college and travel team programs throughout the United States and Internationally. For more information about how you can bring Kevin in to work with your hitters and coaches, click here for more details.

Consistent Confidence

In my opinion, Drew Saylor is one of the best young baseball minds in the game today. He has the unique ability to nurture, develop and maximize the potential of a person and a player. His thoughts are both simple but effective and I couldn’t be happier to share him with all of you. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Thanks Drew!

Consistency is very elusive in a game that promises failure 70% of the time. In many ways, it can become a trap. The more we try to stay the same, the more our results – and our confidence – suffer. To be consistent in baseball, you have to make adjustments.

As teachers, we’re always trying to develop consistency with our players. The word just rolls off our tongue, something we say without stopping to consider the complexity involved. Think about it; the very definition of the word consistency is “(the) steadfast adherence to the same principles, course, and form.” So, by the book definition, if we do the same thing, take 15 steps to the batter’s box, step in with our left foot first followed by our right, put our hands up by our right shoulder three inches higher than our clavicle line, bend our knees at a 60 degree angle, then we’ll get a hit…every time. Unfortunately, that’s not how our game is.

Most players fall into the “results create my confidence” category. It’s easy – look up your statistics, they’ll tell you how good you are. And when you’re hitting .350 with 15 HRs, confidence is in abundant supply. You don’t have to do anything; your teammates see it, your parents, your friends, even your opponents. Everyone praises you, you’re batting in the 4 hole, you’re on top of the world. You can even ride out that one bad day, knowing that it won’t drag down that ever important AVE.

As a teacher, those are the players I worry about. They’re striding out over a thin sheet of ice over a deep lake. At any moment, the cracks are going to start to appear, and they’re risking falling in. Results-based players are guys who are forced to ride the rollercoaster of emotions. When they fall through the ice, they get exposed. It’s a very difficult ordeal to go through. Panic sets in, they wonder how could they have lost their mojo? How can something that seemed so easy yesterday, seem so incredibly difficult today? They try every gimmick in the world. They seek advice from their personal instructors, other players, parents, and even twitter. But to no avail, they can’t “figure it out.” They may have been the best teammates in the world when they were on top of that ice, but once they’ve fallen, they provide no assistance because they are lost in their own little world.

Okay, take a deep breath and exhale slowly, it gets better. First, in order for us to fix a problem, we need to admit that there is one. The thought process of “confidence through results” is flawed. We understand that, we experienced it; in some ways, we lived it. We now have an opportunity to learn from this and grow as people.

Saylor Rockies

We begin to shift our mindset. Instead of deriving our confidence from the product, we can focus on the PROCESS. The first thing we need to do is know WHY.   Why do we hit the way we hit? Why does the ball go where it goes off the bat? Once we understand, we can begin to adjust. This is where consistency lies. Everyone goes up to the plate, rolls over an outside fastball to shortstop and gets put out. The best MLB players go back to the dugout and break down the at-bat. He goes through his mental checklist to see what the issue was. “Was I on time to hit that fastball?” “Did I stick with my plan?” “Did I see the ball out of the release point?” All those questions help him understand WHY he rolled over. He can make a correction and adjust his focus for the next at-bat.

This has a multitude of benefits.

One, he is able to digest the fact he failed in one at-bat. Most young hitters have a tough time dealing with failure. My answer to them – get used to it. We all have heard the often over-used line“failing 7 out of 10 times, you are in the Hall of Fame in baseball.” Heed that advice. Learn and get over it.

Two, he can examine his process that led to that failure.

Three, he can adjust his process and give himself a better opportunity for success next time.

This leads to the most important realization. HE has the answers to fix his problems. When hitters do this, they become empowered players. They don’t need the assistance of someone to help them; they can do it themselves! I’m not advocating that people become a lone wolf, doing everything on their own and rejecting everyone around them. You need to seek advice from people, but when you understand your WHY, you can filter out the excess information.

This process is not new, it’s not unique. We do it every day as people. Instant gratification has hindered our ability to realize this because we want the answer NOW! But I always quote Woody Hayes: “Anything easy, ain’t worth a damn.” Being process focused is a challenge, but we can refine our process to enhance our product. As hitters, THE PROCESS IS THE ONLY THING WE CAN CONTROL!

Consistency comes from these micro adjustments. The game will adjust to our success. Any pitcher worth his salt will stop throwing you pitches that you hammer. Once he adjusts and starts getting you out, we need to adapt to the environment. For example, if he’s beating you with sinkers inside, then you need to hunt for the ball up and in. You may not hit tough sinker, but when he makes a mistake up, you will punish him. That’s the fast-paced chess match of baseball.

Consistency is 3-5 foot seas. We are riding up a 4 foot wave of success. When we begin to go down the back side, can you pull yourself back up the wave? Adjusting allows that to happen.

DREW

Drew Saylor is currently the manager of the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, the High A minor league affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. You can follow Drew on Twitter @DrewSaylor19