June 27, 2010
Preparing the next generation of ballplayers
by Brett Rudy/
Jonathan Pollard gives a pep talk to the New England Stampede's Eric Rolfs.
Like most amateur baseball players, I plan to play the game until my body forces me to stop. To ease this transition, I find myself coaching more and playing less.
While I continue to play on two adult teams, I also manage by son’s Little League team. Of course, it is easy to choose coaching your own kid’s team. Opting to mentor other people’s children and develop them into baseball’s next generation commands real respect. Some of Greater Boston’s most active and elite amateurs do just that.
The Amateur Athletic Union is a baseball network that enables kids to play against a wider range of competition than what they could get by playing on their town team. Kids sign up nationally, and are placed onto local teams that travel to play each other.
Typically, AAU provides kids a higher level of coaching than town baseball, as the coaches tend to be former athletes, as opposed to parents coaching their child’s team. These kids get to work out at top-notch facilities, and play against the region’s top talent.
Many AAU players also play baseball on their local town teams to supplement their travel baseball seasons.
Marc DesRoches
Plays for the Somerville Alibrandis (Yawkey League)
and Easton Huskies (Cranberry League)
Manages the RBI Hawks
DesRoches’ baseball accolades stretch over a dozen years. Earlier this season, he threw a no-hitter for the Alibrandis. He’s been named Yawkey League MVP four times, Cy Young award winner once, has won a Triple Crown, and tossed a perfect game. During college, he was the Big East Pitcher of the Year while at Providence, and he won a Cape Cod League championship with the ChathamA’s. Yet, DesRoches’ most valuable performance is what he gives back to the kids.
By day, DesRoches is the director of travel baseball for the RBI Baseball Academy in Foxboro, Mass. The RBI Academy is a year-round indoor baseball training facility that provides lessons, clinics and camps with superstars ranging from Jason Varitek to Dustin Pedroia. Its RBI Hawks program is for kids ages 13 to 18, and carries three teams (13U, 15U, 17U).
“The 17U RBI Hawks have a ton of power arms and a solid mix of talented young position players,” DesRoches said. “College coaches can find prospects on all of our rosters. We definitely have some Division 1-3 talent, and a couple of players that may get drafted down the line if they continue to progress.”
But it’s more than just performance on the diamond. DesRoches adds: “Baseball teaches the values of humility, teamwork, perseverance and the importance of having a solid work ethic to anyone who ever gives it a try.”
He adds: “Instilling a solid work ethic in kids that will help them in every facet of life is the No. 1 bonus for my career. No matter what they choose to do in life, they will have to work hard to get there. Baseball is just a fun kind of work. I like to get updates from kids as to how they are playing in their games during the school season. I need to hear about the struggles so we can get past them.
“It’s great to get back to basics and help a kid through a slump. You can see the confidence build with each swing during a lesson. I can remember a couple of years ago having two pitching clients throw high school no-hitters in the same week. Those phone calls are great to get! I care about every single kid with which I get the chance to work.”
As somebody who has tried to teach my own son to play baseball, I know it can be a challenge to get your kid to listen to you. Sometimes, it is easier for youngsters to take guidance from somebody else.
“A side bonus is that I get to help out a lot of father-son relationships out there,” says DesRoches. “Maybe in the teen years, some sons start to bump heads with their dads a little bit over baseball mechanics. I take pride in being able to be a bit of a buffer getting everyone on the same page again.
“Some kids are just ready to hear a different voice even though I am telling the kid the same thing that the father had been telling him all along.”
When asked how he juggles playing on two teams and coaching three others, DesRoches says, “I miss some of my own games, but I’m here for the kids. Some days are just 12 hours of baseball, so you will get no complaint out of me, that’s for sure.”
Jonathan Pollard
Plays for the White Sox (MABL)
and Malden Bulldogs (Yawkey League)
Manages the New EnglandStampede
Pollard has been selected as MVP of the Boston Men’s Baseball League the last three years. And now, he finds it hard just to find pitchers who will throw him a ball he can hit, as he currently leads the league in walks to go with his .333 batting average. Before that, Pollard played for Salem State College, where he was named MASCAC All-Conference both his junior and senior seasons.
Pollard founded the Stable Academy within the confines of the Extra Innings facility in Woburn, Mass.
The Stable was designed to produce scholarship-worthy student-athletes through personal training.
“I was at a point in my life where I had to make a decision on whether I was going to coach high school or college,” says Pollard. “As I weighed the pros and cons, I was approached by MTV about being the ‘Coach’ for an episode of MADE. I was ultimately cast as the Coach and helped a young kid make his high school JV team through five weeks of one-on-one private instruction. This opened my eyes to a whole new area of coaching. I really enjoyed the style of private instruction and decided that was where I wanted to concentrate my coaching career.”
Out of the StableAcademy, Pollard founded the New England Stampede, an organization of six baseball teams with kids ages 11 through 15. They play home games at Austin Prep in Reading, Mass. The Stampede provides the kids Pollard trains with a playing options, while giving Pollard an opportunity to see his lessons executed in game situations.
As an instructor, Pollard teaches his kids to work as hard as they possibly can in practice and in lessons to develop their self-confidence: “If you prepare as much as you can and maintain an unwavering work ethic, you can’t help but be confident in every situation the game puts you in,” he says. “I always use the example that if in school you study for a test on a particular chapter of a book and you study to the point you can virtually recite the information word for word from that chapter of the book, you walk into that test with not a care in the world because you know you will not be presented with questions you are not completely prepared to answer.”
Running the Stable Academy and the Stampede is a full-time job, but Pollard still finds time to get into games of his own: “Generally the kids have every minute of my day up until about 7 p.m., and then I run off to a game and play until around 10:30 p.m.,” he says. “But I always put my kids first. I love playing baseball still, but the days in my career that really matter are behind me. My players are in the beginning years of their games that matter, so their careers are worth much more than mine.”
