 The Fieldhouse Pirates, based in Ontario, Canada, started with an emphasis on the development of older-age athletes, but are rolling out sophisticated and vigorous training programs for the younger set as well. A 26-week skill development sequence is the heartbeat of this push to broaden the abilities of athletes who may be looking for something outside of hockey. A dynamic and modern indoor facility has also helped the Pirates look the part of a great place to learn the game.
Quotes from Fieldhouse Pirates Media Day Session: Steve Gregg, 10u coach: We’re one of the main clubs starting with kids as young as 9 or 10 in Canada, working their way through 18. It’s about feeding the older ages and getting kids better, to get an education out of it, or whatever else. There are challenges in the younger age groups, but we train the kids at 10u the same as the older ones. It’s a brand requirement, from bunt coverages to how a catcher catches the ball … it’s a good fit. For the first year of the club, we’ve exceeded our expectations. We’re technically representing a country at this event, and it’s a bit of a pride thing – we want to make sure we show you Americans we can play something other than hockey. Coming from a different country to an event like this, we have a huge amount of family and teammates. We try to support each other as often as we can. These guys at 10 look up to the (older) kids, who help train them as well. It’s a great clubhouse feel. Cameron Cassels, 10: We’ve been trained by all the same coaches, and we have faith in our teams. We hope the best for them, and we will compete for them. We’ve been practicing our hitting, and keeping our heads in the game and not making errors mentally or physically. We’re pumped to be the only Canadian team here, and we want to put out our best effort, and hopefully good things will happen. Jordan Windisch, 14u coach: When we come down, it’s a great experience to see the talent they will compete against to get to the next level. We want to give these guys a chance to grow. Anytime we come down here, we do it to compete. We’ve been working all offseason to show what we can do, so this is a great opportunity. To be at a place where so many college and major leaguers have come through is really special for the guys. We just have to come down here and play hard; we don’t always get an opportunity to play these top teams. Adam Cherepacha, 14u: I think it’s cool to (mentor) the younger teams. We get to show them how to improve just as we try to improve like the older guys have. These are great players here, and who we will be competing with to get into (college baseball). We want to push ourselves, and show that players from Canada can play, too. You do what you can, play your best and see what happens. Tony Busseri, 11u coach: This is a high point for the season; we’ve been building to get to play this level of competition. Everyone has known about this for months and months and this is the day that’s been circled on the calendar. We were the first (Canadian) program to bring elite academy-orientated academy baseball to this age level, so we took a big risk. A lot of community-based programs laughed at us; this is Year 2, and I think we’ve been a big success. Evan Maillet, 11u: We’ve had a pretty good season, and I’m really pumped to play in this tournament. We’re working on hitting and staying mentally focused. Jake Watson, 12u: I like how we have different types of practices. You can do pitching, then do a day for hitting, one for infield. You get to do a little bit of everything, and that gets you to be a better player. Tags: Baseball News, Triple Crown Baseball, US Club Nationals |
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