Pitching and Fielding Clinics

Lynnfield Little League has completed their first Pitching and Fielding Clinics on Sunday March 9, 2014.  We had 30 players in each clinic and throughout the five weeks, we've seen tremendous improvement in each and every player.  When we first started, we had players who couldn't catch and others who couldn't throw.  By week three we were already seeing improvements in each of them.  At the end of today’s clinics, I can happily say that these kids are without a doubt better players.

I want to take a few minutes to thank a bunch of people who made this a success.  First I want to thank the parents of the players who participated.  Thank you for trusting us to teach your child the proper fielding and pitching mechanics of baseball.  We weren’t sure what the outcome of the clinics were going to be as it was the first clinic for most of us, but we knew we were going to give them our best!
 
I would like to especially thank the following Board Members/Coaches/Dads/overall good guys…Jim Delaney, Tony Gesamondo, Dave Calvani, Tom Pascuccio, Tom Buston, Rob Higdon, Rob Gizmunt, Jeff Mullin, and Bob Tashjian for their commitment over the last 5 weeks.  Some of these guys did NOT have a child participate in the clinics, but gave up 3 hours of their Sundays to teach your kids.  Without their dedication to the program, these clinics couldn't be the success that they were.  I'd also like to thank Tommy and Davey Bettencourt for coming down to our clinics free of charge to assist with our structure.  As I've stated before, Tommy is on the staff at Peabody High and is known as a tremendous fielder.  Dave is a former Professional Baseball Scout and is considered one of the top pitching gurus in the country.  He travels across the US to seminars and to his professional contacts in order to get the most recent information on techniques and proper mechanics.  The Bettencourt Boys were kind enough to come to two of our clinics.  The beauty for us was that they validated what we had been teaching the kids, and they also taught all of the coaches a few things as well.  BIG THANKS to Jimmy D. for bringing the Bettencourt Boys to our clinics.
 Also, BIG THANKS to Rob Higdon who convinced his cousin Mike Johnson of the Dodgers to come to one of our Pitching Clinic to help out.  This was a real treat for the kids to have a Dodger’s player working with them.  Mike was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule while he was between spring training sessions to come and help your child be a better pitcher.  Mike was able to show the kids and the coaches some new techniques that the Dodgers organization is currently using. 
 
Finally I want to thank the players.  Initially we were hesitant to have 30 kids in the gym at the same time, but luckily for us, we set a tone early on and the kids accepted it.  They came every week simply to work on their baseball mechanics.  The beauty at the end of the clinic today was watching the majority of these kids walk up to each and every coach to thank the coach for their time.  They were like little men extending their hand to say thanks to the coaches.  This wasn’t done because a parent said so, but instead because the kids realized that they learned a lot in the time they spent at these clinics.
 
Thank you all for making this first clinic a great success! Looking forward to the snow melting and finally getting on the field!
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Thanks
Nick Marano
Lynnfield Little League