The Origin of Calgary Elite Baseball Academy
I always thought that getting into coaching meant the end of being a player. Believing that is what prevented me from becoming a full time coach a lot earlier in my life. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I realize now that coaching full time has made me a better player and has increased my passion for baseball even more.
Once I moved to Calgary after playing a season of baseball for a team in Seattle, I started helping a private U18 team train in the winters. I was eventually asked by a friend to help assistant coach a U13 team with him in 2017. That same season, my friend ended up leaving to play baseball in Germany, and I was handed the head coaching position. Despite the lack of success that season, it exposed me to the joys of coaching young athletes and I was hooked. In 2018, I moved to an organization that was called the Jr. Dinos at the time, and was the head coach there for 2 years for their U18 AAA “yellow” team. In 2020, I decided to transition from Head Coach to the Strength & Conditioning Director for the entire Jr. Dinos program. I had grown to prefer the off season training, and understood the value of strength training and how much of a role it plays with learning new skills and preventing injuries.
Of course we all know what happened in March of 2020. The pandemic disrupted a lot of baseball programs and forced associations, teams and academys to improvise and adjust. When the pandemic forced our first lockdown and prevented large gatherings, I was very fortunate to have been privately instructing a large numbers of baseball players across the city in a variety of different age groups and teams.
Calgary Elite Baseball Training
During the pandemic, I formed Calgary Elite Baseball Training. It was an opportunity for me to work privately with athletes within the restrictions of the lockdowns. I was extremely grateful to have been able to help so many athletes over the next couple of years and form strong relationships with them and their families.
Calgary Elite Baseball Academy
The goal eventually became to find a way to help more athletes and to create more positive change within the Calgary baseball and fastpitch community. Calgary Elite Baseball Training needed to become an academy. Despite some set backs, Calgary Elite Baseball Academy pushes forward with the same simple objective: to help elevate the caliber of baseball and fastpitch across the city, and to help as many athletes as possible discover their potential and help them achieve their goals.
Wake up with PASSION, Train with PURPOSE, Play with PRIDE
Our motto is the encapsulation of our beliefs, ideals and goals. It refers to how a player should think and how they should conduct themselves. I’ve always held a high regard for how players should carry themselves on and off the field. It’s something I learned when I attended the University of Jamestown. Coach Hager was a firm believer than even off the field, the colors of our school are always on our back, and how we conduct ourselves reflects on the school and our team. To this day when I talk to him, he still reminds me to act first class and to uphold being a Jimmie with integrity.
