Development Is More Important Than Winning!

As a former player and current coach, I can’t stress enough about how development for young players is more important than winning games or being on a good team.  Yes winning is great!   I doubt any coach would try to lose or not care about winning.  We have seen players move around in South Jersey quite a bit just because winning was their priority.  Some have been on 5 teams in 5 seasons.  How does that make a player progress?  It doesn’t!!  The bottom line is, people will rarely ever look back and compliment you on winning championships or tournaments at age 11 or 12 years old.

The real reason for being a part of a club team is for development and to help prepare the player for high school and college baseball.  To make sure that gets accomplished, the first thing you need to look at when joining a club team is how the practices are operating and if the players are being taught the right way to play the game.

If you do join a program, make sure it’s not just because the team won X amount of games or tournaments last season.  Lastly, I’d like you to keep in mind, that just because your child is successful and one of the better hitters or pitchers on the team, does not mean they are doing it correctly.  For the most part, players are usually picked for teams in high school, college and of course professional baseball for their mechanics and or body language.  Bad mechanics and body language will hurt every player at some point in their career.   This is why proper training is recommended as well as playing in private clubs and organizations.   That is called Winning!!