The Tidewater Drillers have a history of being one of the top organizations for travel baseball in the country. The Drillers were founded by Matt Sinnen and Gary Wright in 1994. Their goal was to build an organization with not only great young baseball players, but great young men. The Driller organization has produced numerous national championships, division one, and professional ballplayers. Most importantly, Driller coaches have developed hundreds of successful young men by requiring educational and social standards.
Quotes from Tidewater Drillers Media Day Session: Carson DeMartini, 14u (injured, will coach 1B this event): I feel like most of our guys compete at the high-school level, and the Virginia Beach area and Hampton Roads teams are competitive there. Our guys have to fight for those spots, and it brings out energy on the travel ball field. I’ll try to get the dugout fired up and I’ll be out there trying to steal signs and pick up things people don’t always pick up. Tommy DeMartini, 14u coach: The organization has competed nationally, so when we put this 14u team together we had tournaments like this on our calendar. Make no mistake – we are here to compete. We feel we bring a very good brand of baseball here; we do the little things very well and we should be able to compete against any team, anytime, anywhere. Two weeks ago, down here (at East Cobb) at the World Wood Bat (event), our guys got a good feeling, that we belong on the big stage. Being tested in our area is not necessarily convincing … to compete down here against the big boys and playing well had our guys believing in what we are doing and that the work is paying off. Landon Bonneville, 13u: I’m excited about our group of guys -we’ve got a real talented group. It’s going to be interesting to see what we have going on here. It’s been interesting this year, and we’ve had ups and downs with hitting and fielding. But it’s come together well. It’s a huge tournament for us, because we are putting our name on the line. Topher Ellis, 13u coach: The progress this team has made in the past nine months has truly been impressive. We’re excited to be here and hope to be competitive in every game. Going from 12u to 13u, it’s about the transition from the small field to the big field. Early on, it was difficult, because there are things you have to learn that you never thought of. They picked up on it quickly; they’ve demonstrated how to do it on a higher level. We are representing more than our 13u team; we are representing Virginia Beach baseball and what they have to offer. I played for the Drillers when I was their age, and I have a certain sense of pride … I’m even a bit nervous for this tournament. Scott Stubby, 10 coach: The opportunity to come down as an organization … we saw that and we jumped at the chance. We thought it would be a great thing for the guys to understand what they do impacts the group. It’s a process, and this is one of the first chances we’ve had to do that. Throughout the fall and spring, and even before that with some of them, the fundamentals come into play, but you’ve got to find a way to make it fun as well. That’s probably the biggest priority, is you want them to be excited to get back on the field. Tags: Baseball News, Triple Crown Baseball, US Club Nationals |
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