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Youth Sports, the Long Game, and Why Foundations Matter More Than Prodigies There was a recent Wall Street Journal  article making the rounds in youth sports circles. It was short. Almost suspiciously short. The kind of article that drops a few data points, raises an eyebrow, and moves on before anyone has time to feel uncomfortable. The headline idea was simple enough: many elite adults weren’t elite kids. Early specialization doesn’t guarantee long-term success. In fact, it

There’s a truth about youth baseball that no one bothers to mention when you’re strapping that first batting helmet on your 10-year-old....

Every August, as the Little League World Series plays on TV, a stat circulates online and in youth baseball circles: “Only 8% of high...

Your kid's brain is doing something important during that pre-practice jog. Here's what it is.   Every practice, we run the same dynamic warm-up in the same order. Every game, we follow the same pre-game timeline. Parents sometimes ask why we're so rigid about this. The answer isn't tradition — it's neuroscience.   What Pressure Does to a Kid's Brain When a 12-year-old steps into the batter's box with runners on base and the game on the line, something happens inside their br

“It’s not about chasing Ws. Winning is a byproduct of the work, the studying, the reps on a T, the reps with a ball, the mental part of the game.”   If you have a kid on our 806 Drive 12U team, you've probably heard some version of this from us on the field. And if it sounded a little different from what you've heard at other programs, that's because it is different — intentionally so. This post is the first in a 15-part series we're putting together for our parents, players,

At 806 Drive, we care about winning games. But we care more about healthy arms, long seasons, and long careers . What good is winning today, if half our team quits at 14? It's not a crazy thought, there is some math to back that up. It's a balancing act of accountability, development and leadership. Youth baseball has come a long way in understanding arm health, and today we have clear, research-backed guidance from Major League Baseball  and USA Baseball  through the Pitch S

This scene has unfolded in front of me many times, and from different angles. It is something that has helped guide me through deep introspection and my own development.  As a parent sitting there, helpless, filled with anxiety and unanswered questions.As a coach, I read body language as we tally each kid's internal drive. In my restaurants, as a leader at different levels, learning watching and interacting. The signs are universal, the body language and ripples of the event

A Longform Essay for Amarillo & Canyon Baseball Families I write this from a place of failure. Not the polished version people like to quote in motivational speeches, but the real kind—the kind that stings, humbles, teaches, and eventually turns into something useful. Ben Franklin once said that he didn’t fail 10,000 times, he simply found 10,000 ways that didn’t work. Anyone who knows me knows I’ve lived a few thousand of those ways myself. I’ve made mistakes in business, in

Teaching kids to carry themselves, not just play the game — and accepting what comes after. The Promise and the Paradox Everyone wants confident kids.But when they actually show up with confidence, things change.They used to hang their head after a mistake. Now they’ll smile, nod, and say, “Coach, you’re right — I messed that up.”  They bounce back faster because they know the sentence doesn’t end with the mistake — it ends with the next move.That shift — from “I’m broken” to

I’m sitting in the cage.The air’s heavy.I can feel my breath moving, wrapping around my hands. I feel anxious. I don’t know what to say. I feel bad inside.The ball rests near my feet. The stitches stare at me. I’m just a kid. Simple. Lean. I can’t speak, so I squint instead. The sound isn’t clear — nothing is.The ball hits the target but doesn’t snap the way it should. My legs feel stuck. I can’t run. I slide. Reset the tee. My hand hurts. My shirt sticks to my back. I think

The Quiet Years Before 806 Drive After that tournament, I didn’t start a team.I didn’t rant, or pull my kid out, or try to prove a point. Instead, I went quiet. For about a year, I helped his head coach behind the scenes — quietly organizing things, helping with lineups, keeping notes, trying to make sense of it all. It wasn’t glamorous or official. It was spreadsheets at midnight, text chains with other parents, tracking little details most people ignored. I wanted to unders

I’ve seen amazing coaches. Guys who can teach. Motivate. Hold kids accountable. People who genuinely want the best for them. But being there for kids isn’t the same thing as being present . You can show up to every practice, drag the cage out, throw BP, and still not really see  them. I see it all the time—coaches half-listening, half-scrolling, half-thinking about the 700 other things waiting for them when the game’s over. And I get it. We’re all human. We’re tired, we’ve go

There’s a rhythm to youth sports that doesn’t always show up in the scorebook. It’s in the laughter before practice, the way a kid...

There’s a line every parent and coach has to walk. It’s thin. Blurred. Easy to cross without noticing. On one side is accountability —...

There’s a moment that happens on every youth field. A ground ball kicks sideways, a runner forgets the count, or a pitcher misses the...

It's a game of unfavorable odds - Didn't you know that? Baseball has always been a numbers game. We measure everything: batting...

“Don’t ever permit the pressure to exceed the pleasure.”  — Joe Maddon Opening weekend in youth baseball is always a test. Not just for...

If you’ve made it this far — through the 10–12 development years and the middle school filter — you’ve already beaten some of the...

Every youth baseball player passes through it. Some make it through. Some don’t. We call it The Middle School Filter  — that narrow...

At 806 Drive, we often talk about the big things —commitment, development, character, leadership. But today, we want to talk about...