Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Off-Season Camps and Clinics

As fall ball wraps up over the next weeks, many kids are ready for some time off, and deservedly so. However, this late fall/early winter period is also a good time to begin planning for off-season workouts, training programs and "head" drills to teach the fine points of the game.

In North Texas, we know of a few programs that continually provide a high quality regimen for helping young baseball players in strength, agility, speed, mechanics and mental conditioning.

These two programs are administered by pros -- people that understand youth sport bodies and conditioning. Common sense runs high, egos are kepy under lock and key, and results are positive for the players and parents.

1. Ray Burris Elite Positions Clinics -- These clinics are typically done Thrus and Fri nights for 2-3 hours. There's also a Sunday set of sessions upcoming in late November. Clinics include Catching, Fielding and Hitting as taught by instructor Shane Davenport. Pitching and Parents' sessions are run by Ray Burris. Players see results quickly here, and they get as much head/attitude adjustment as they do physical training. Many pros come to Ray to fine tune or rebuild mechanics, and athletes of all ages wil find knowledgeable, proactive instruction here. More info at RayBurris.com or call at (817) 589-9055

2. Arlington Baseball Academy BPEP -- The Baseball Player Enhancement Program (BPEP) is designed to improve each player during the off season in preparation for the spring season. Focus is on overall strength, endurance, flexibility, speed and mechanics. The sessions, run by owner JD Magee with Pantego HS Pitching Coach Bobby Hart are a favorite among a growing number of youth select players in Arlington, Texas. Sessions are now being booked and are limited to just 30 players per season. More info, email JD Magee or call him at (817) 792-3532, ext 4.

One additional item, we have found everything we could want in sports nutrition from the folks at FitRx. These guys get it, and have a tremendous stock to choose from. They'll also answer questions quickly and correctly. Get everything from pre-game snacks, to advance protein and creatine mixes. This isn't Balco folks, safe and superior supplements and fitness food from name brand manufacturers. More info, FitRx.com.

If you know of good solid off-season instructional programs, either comment to this blog, or email me at ski@texball.com.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Roy Oswalt Puts on a Clinic


Okay, so this isn't a Youth sports note, and I don't know how much you watched Wednesday evening, but what I saw made me a big fan of Roy Oswalt, and of an aggressive, REALLY smart pitching style. With the aid of a good performance by Brad Ausmus, Oswalt moved the ball in and out, up and down seemingly at will. He kept the ball down throughout most of the evening, bringing it up ONLY when he chose to.

Good case in point was his work against St Louis centerfielder, Reggie Sanders. His first two at-bats Oswalt contiued to throw heat up and in, confounding the slugger. Third time up? Down and dirty two-seam fastballs that Reggie could only watch go by. Boom done.

MLB called his performance "a postseason game for the ages" and likened his Busch Stadium outing to great ones by Cardinals hurlers like Bob Gibson, John Tudor and Chris Carpenter. Certainly more-so than anything seen from counterpart Mulder, who has given us good discussion points for our pitchers and infielders ths next practice, i.e. KNOW where you're going with the next play, ALWAYS hustle to cover the base, and BREATHE when things seem to be unravelling around you. Mulder's throat and cheeks tightened up more and more as the game went on, and Lane's solo shot to left might has well have gone through his heart, cause it all ended pretty quickly afterwards.

Congrats to Roy Oswalt and the Houston Astros. They made Puholz's shot a footnote, and their efforts showed a strong sense of destiny. Kinda like those guys on the south side of Chicago. Should be a great match-up come Saturday.