Lightning baseball is simply a fun, fast paced, highly interactive opportunity for HS players to learn, in great detail, the finer points to the game of baseball as a supplement to their high school programs. Our program focus is our Fall Baseball Academy and as a result of our academy we have a Summer Connie Mack team that travels around the country playing the top competition we can find!
The academy occurs during 8 Saturdays and Sundays in September and October. Our goal is to teach the kids how to play the game, but more importantly, how to be leaders, be great teammates, build lifelong relationships and how to have fun playing the game of baseball while working hard and much more. It's a very big picture and we want to do what we can to help you with that big picture. College coaches talk about "Baseball Savvy" and being around all of our coaches will help you learn what that means.
Some benefits of our fall program:
* We have over 20 coaches, who virtually all played D1 baseball and/or professionally (with many STILL playing) that are all OUTSTANDING individuals that want to share their experiences.
* In each of our fall seasons, we've far exceeded our coaching goal of 5 to 1 (player to coach ratio) and attained an outstanding ratio of 3.5 to 1 over the entire fall. Trust us when we say you will not be standing around. You will be coached! We even create a spreadsheet identifying where EVERY player is, for every minute of the day.
* We are together for 6 hours every Saturday and 4 hours on Sunday. We put players thru all aspects of the game on Saturdays (at Cherokee Trail HS) and on Sunday's we play games (at Double Angels in Parker). In addition, we'll take a group of deserving individuals most Sunday's to play against the other "select" programs in the state as well as some possible Jr. College teams. When we're playing games on Sunday's, we have coaches physically out on the field so they can talk with players about the game, while the game is going on as opposed to after the fact. There is a good chance we will also take a group to AZ to play against various "scout" teams from that area as well.
* You are guaranteed to get work in at YOUR POSITION and you will get that work in with a coach that PLAYS/PLAYED that position in college/professional ball! In addition we will also make recommendations on positions that we believe you will ultimately end up playing as you progress further along in your career.
* Our work is very much "hands on" and the kids get many, many reps. That's the best way to learn, doing it over and over. We spend time on all aspects of the game, such as:
- speed/agility training where you get specific training in speed "mechanics" and more...
- throwing - arm strengthening using the highly respected Crossover Symmetry professional throwing programs and position specific throwing mechanics among other things.
- baserunning including, but not limited to, leads, jumps, reads, stealing, angles, sliding, etc.
- defensive position specific fielding/throwing mechanics, positioning, angles, communication, etc.
- offensive minded work such as mental approach, responsibilities, bunting, hitting mechanics, etc.
- use of the Pro Mirror Video System which breaks down the swing and stores the clips for future use on DVD's
- all aspects of pitching, not limited to just mechanics, but more importantly the other aspects of pitching such as PFP's, approach, various pitches and grips, etc.
- personal growth such as academics (we support each family having an academic requirement for the player), character, work ethic, coachability, passion, fun, leadership, how to be a good teammate and much more! We hope the players develop relationships that will last beyond their HS playing days...
- recruiting help...how, when, plans, roles, communication and much more.
* We have PERSONAL relationships w/ many colleges (obviously, if you check the resume's of where all our coaches played as examples). We cannot guarantee any of those schools will recruit our players, but if the players do their part, we'll do everything in our power to help w/ that process. Don't take for granted that any program you're playing in is going to actually help you thru the recruiting process. Many will even say they just are there to get you seen...it's YOUR job to find a college. We will get you seen AND help you find a college.
* We are interested in kids w/ strong grades...we have arrangements w/ parents/students as to what their academic requirements are - and if desired by the parents, we even have grade checks...if you don't make grades then you don't play on that Sunday. Grades are CRITICAL to their future and college coaches agree with us. If a player is willing to work hard in the classroom (and learn) then he's got a much better chance of "learning" on the baseball field as well.
* We bring in GUEST INSTRUCTORS for the fall...that means these guys are ON THE FIELD the entire time working, hands on, w/ you guys...in previous years we have had coaches from Kentucky, Dallas Baptist, Florida State and IPFW here...this coming year they all want to come back and other schools have expressed an interest such as Gonzaga, Missouri, Southern Utah, Penn and others.
* We have a "mentoring" program where coaches follow up w/ players about academics, the recruiting process, etc.
* We work very hard to keep our numbers of players limited by position and graduation class (obviously fewer FR than SO, JR & SR) so we can always try to accommodate the players request for position specific work.
