My experience with the University of Virginia baseball program has been more fulfilling than I could have ever imagined.  I was afforded the opportunity to take part in the planning and running of a NCAA Regional Baseball tournament, coach and instruct along side a group of college coaches that are second to none when it comes to instruction and I will forever be able to say that Coach Brian O'Connor is one of my mentors.  I still have to stop and put that into perspective for myself.  I have always been a baseball fan.  I always wanted to play in the college world series.  I have a mentor that not only played in the college world series, but is forever immortalized in the minds of anyone that attends the college world series in Omaha.  He is one of the players who's image is captured during a celebration after a win at Omaha in a statue out front of the stadium.  Now, if and when I decide to leave law enforcement and try to get into college coaching, I will be able to put forth that part of my training has come from one of the most respected college coaches in the entire country.   Let me clarify at this point about my future aspirations.  I do believe that I have the knowledge and capabilities to coach at the collegiate level.   However, I know if my dreams are to become a reality, I will have to coach at a small school.  And, I am fine with that scenario.  The trick is going to be finding a school that I can both teach at and coach.  

My internship did not turn out as I thought it would.  I really didn't understand how much time away from Charlottesville Coach O'Connor was going to be spending.  However, I was able to spend much of my time around Davenport Field and the program as a whole.  I was able to instruct at the UVA baseball camps.  This wouldn't have happened if I wasn't a part of the program already.  I was able to get to know several of the players and see first hand the type of men that Coach O'Connor is recruiting.  This are good men with a ton of heart and who understand how the game is played.  They play it hard.  Or, as Coach O'Connor preaches...Hard 90.  This was a great approach for me to see.  This is exactly how I played and what I continue to preach to my players and my own children.  

I sincerely hope my relationship with the UVA baseball program continues.  If it does not, I can take solace in knowing that I received training, guidance and inspiration from one of the premier baseball programs in the country.  And, I will be able to take that with me regardless of whether I stay in law enforcement or if I fulfill my original dream of coaching college baseball.  Either way, this summer was a huge success from my perspective.

I spent some with Coach O'Connor on Wednesday, August 1, talking about my professional goals.  I was very appreciative of this time since Coach O'Connor's available time is few and far between.  As an aside from my goals, I wanted to point out that I initially thought the summer would be a great time to do this internship with Coach O'Connor because of the available time.  The reality is that the summer is probably the busiest time of the year for these coaches.  They are on the road non-stop looking at talent and shaping the future of the program.  So, again, I appreciate anytime I can get with Coach O'Connor.  We actually had to break our meeting into two shorter meetings because of both of us needing to go meet with our wives.  So, that actually worked out well. When we were able to sit down and really dive into the topic at hand, I felt very good about the meeting.  As we talked about my potential future coaching en devours, I learned that in order for a college coach to be able to actually go out and recruit they have to pass a NCAA recruitment test.  This is an open book test that makes coaches show an understanding of compliance issues when recruiting an athlete.  I never knew there was a test.  I just assumed that once you were a college coach you could recruit.  I asked him if this was something that I could work towards so I would have the certification prior to trying to get into college coaching.  Unfortunately, Coach O'Connor didn't think that I could.  His understanding is that it isn't a separate certification that someone can get, but rather it comes in conjunction with getting a coaching job.  

I talked with Coach O'Connor about the possibility of staying involved with the UVA program even after the internship ended.  He said he thought that was a possibility, but it would probably be on a project-based need.  I admittedly was hoping for something more definitive, but I'm excited just at the potential involvement.  I also talked with Coach O'Connor about what the best route for me to take to get to the eventual goal of teaching and coaching at the collegiate level.  We both agree that getting into the college coaching world initially is a young man's game.  Unfortunately, I am not a young man and I am looking at fulfilling a dream as my second career.  However, Coach O'Connor did acknowledge that it is not unheard of to go from the high school ranks to a small college.  And, I realistically understand that is what I am looking at doing.  I know I am never going to coach at a Division I school.  I think what will be best suited for me is to find a small school in a small town where I can both teach Criminal Justice classes and perhaps start out as a volunteer assistant.  Then, with any luck, the volunteer position may turn into a paid assistant.  Further, if everything in my blissful life falls into place, Allie will be able to coach at the same school in the women's soccer program.  

Coach O'Connor and I also touched on what I should be doing in the interim to continue to move toward preparing to try to coach at the college level.  We agreed that obviously I need to continue to coach, but he suggested that I find a situation that would allow me to develop even further versus just being an assistant.  He suggested that I speak with a local gym owner, Todd Proctor, who also runs the local Travel Baseball program.  This is actually something that I have been working on for a while.  Todd asked me to take one of the U13 teams about this time last year, but I had to turn it down because of various time constraints.  However, since this is my last class, my time has opened up a little bit.  I have been talking with Todd about coaching, but nothing was definitive.  And, ironically enough, as I was working out with my son, Reid, at Todd's gym, Total Performance, I mentioned to Todd about coaching again.  We had talked recently about me helping with a Showcase team this fall, but he said that there is interest in making the Showcase Team an actual team that would continue beyond just this fall and into the Spring.  He also told me that I would be the head coach.  So, as of today (8/2), I am the Head Coach of a 17U Elite Travel team.  I haven't had a chance to tell Coach O'Connor about this development, but I suspect he will be pleased for me.

Coach O'Connor and I also talked about continuing to be an instructor and get my name out into the college coaching world.  He confirmed for me that most Division I program has their own camp.  He suggested that I send e-mails to the coaching staff of camps I am interested in working starting around March.  Then, he will send a follow-up e-mail to the same coaches endorsing me for the jobs.  This will be an important endorsement since many of the guest instructors are college coaches versus high school coaches.  So, sometime around the first of the year I will be trying to figure out which schools have camps, the dates and trying to pair them up against my known work rotation.  With any luck at all and Coach O'Connor's endorsements, I will be able to do some instructing next year and become a regular on the instructors circuit.

The original shock of being asked to work the University of Virginia Baseball camps had not worn off yet when I arrived at Davenport Field on July 15 for the Instructors Meeting.  I really didn't have any idea what to expect or know how to prepare.  I literally felt like a high school freshman preparing to go in to the big school with all the upper class men for the first time.  Was I wearing the right clothes?  Who will be there?  Will I know anybody?  Will I be able to handle myself as far as knowledge and experience?  I was one of oldest, if not the oldest, coaches in the room.  Many of the coaches in the room were from colleges. This really took me back because I didn't really understand the complexity of running a baseball camp of this magnitude.  As with anything during this experience I have had to force myself to step back and look at the particular situation from a business stand point and not just be in awe of my surroundings.  Specifically, I initially didn't understand the point of having coaches from other schools working a UVA camp.  I thought it counter productive to have competing schools helping and viewing potential student athletes.  However, I came to realize that in order to run a camp of the size the UVA runs, it is important to have enough quality instructors there to have an acceptable Instructor to Student ratio.  Additionally, since the campers stay in dorms there has to be adults there to be in charge of them.  In order to do that, personnel has to be willing to come to the area to handle this responsibility.  Then I started thinking about the Return on Investment aspect of the camps.  Most of the visiting instructors received anywhere from $350 to $500 to work the 3.5 day camp.  For the Developmental Camp (11 - 15) we had 160 campers.  They each paid $600 for the camp; unless they were commuters and then they only paid $500.  We had 24 instructors.  So, for UVA the ROI was easy to see.  They were able to make approximately $84,000 just in tuition.  Clearly there are other costs involved that take away from the Net, but it is still a lucrative venture.

I also examined this from the guest instructors perspective.  I have learned through this experience that many of the assistants that are volunteer coaches make their money in the summer.  Not every program is large enough and successful enough to host 12 camps throughout the summer.  So, these volunteer assistants have to be on the road almost the entire summer to make $350 - $500 per week.  Plus, they get room and board included.  Their only expensive for the week is traveling to get to the camp.  In addition to the income, these coaches are looking to build their network.  Many of them are young and are doing what they have to do to stay involved in baseball.  They are all chasing the brass ring and want to get exposure.  I would go as far as to say that the income is secondary to the possibility of being recognized by a bigger program and advancing their careers.  For the instructors, many are hoping to accomplish the same thing that the campers are accomplishing.  They are hoping to get better at their craft and get noticed.

That's it for now.  I'll type some more a little later, but my experience in coaching at the college level camp was incredible.  I was able to learn from some amazing coaches, UVA and others.  I had an opportunity to ultimately do what I love the most; teach baseball.  I received some positive feedback from the Lead Instructor on my instruction and leadership.  He commented on my willingness to be the last guy at the field and to be willing to help out as much as possible in every situation.  I hope this leads to being asked to work more camps.

I believe I've mentioned this in the past, but aside from being a police officer I am also an assistant baseball coach at a local high school.  It is this love of baseball that has actually lead me to doing my mentorship for the University of Virginia baseball program.  So, I recently was asked if I could help with their annual camps.  I was very excited because UVA has an elite program.  However, it dawned on me the other day that I may have been asked because of my mentorship and not because of my baseball knowledge.  This created a little bit of hesitation on my behalf because I didn't want to look ridiculous to my mentor or the other coaches by thinking I was being asked to do anything on-field.  I started to think that perhaps they just needed me for logistics or administrative things.   Well, I obviously couldn't not ask, so I did.  To my delight, I have been asked to be an on-field instructor as well.  Know, I am also helping with the preparation for the camp; equipment set-up, paperwork, etc.  This is very exciting to me because I will be able to offer something to younger athletes while still learning about the business side of the program.  As with so many larger programs, as I am learning, there is an unpaid volunteer coach.  In UVA's case, this is Coach Kirby.  Coach Kirby runs the camps and the money that comes in is filtered through the program, but ultimately is what pays Coach Kirby's salary.  So, the success of the camps has a direct correlation to how much the Volunteer Coach makes as well as continues to build the lore of the baseball program.  The first camp, July 15 - 18, will be for elementary and middle school kids, so we probably won't be looking for any recruits.  However, the camp at the end of the month, July 28 - 30 is for high school students and this is where student-athletes that have an inkling of wanting to play for UVA come to camp hoping to impress the coaches enough to warrant them [coaches] paying attention to their high school career.  More on that experience after that camp.

Let me start off by saying I am going to be adding lots of updates to this as I play catch up.  I put off starting my blog because I was intimidated by the concept.  I have never written in a blog and certainly never created a blog.  I am clearly facing this fear and I have created my blog.  After I get caught up in my entries I will be able to make my comments on a regular basis.  I'll be trying to see if I can back date them and create older posts.  If not, they will be current dates with heading underneath to accurately depict when I actually experienced what I was working on at the time.

I should add that my posts won't be daily at the beginning.  Coach O'Connor was right in the middle of the season and the last thing I wanted to be was a distraction to Coach O'Connor.  Additionally, I work full-time as a Police Sergeant and that takes a considerable amount of time.  I just happened to get started on my Mentorship around the same time as evaluations were being written and several projects were due at work.  So, the dates of posts will be erratic.  

Coach O'Connor invited me to take part in a logistics meeting as UVA was preparing to finalize their bids to host a Regional and Super Regional Tournament.  I learned how much goes into the coordination of the tournament.  The meeting was lead by Director of Facilities and Operations, Mike Stroud (http://www.virginiasports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=17800&ATCLID=3736770) .  Also present were directors of house keeping, ticket sales, marketing, Athletic Director for Facilities and Operations, catering, grounds keeping, etc.  The entire weekend has to be planned out with contingencies for everything.  The main concern is weather.  At the end of the day, this isn't about a sporting event.  This is about the economics of a sporting event.  There has to be planning for the amount of staff needed, how much food is needed, etc.  The ultimate goal is to provide the best experience for the fan.  The fan should not know that anything is going on other than the games.  Each objective is to create an experience for the fan that has them not just walking away with great memories about the game/experience.  Further, the fan has to also enjoyed the experience so much that they are already looking forward to their next experience.  This meeting was about making sure everyone in the ballpark and at the University understands this approach and embodies it.

I also started interviewing current players in preparation for the New Recruit Mentorship Program.  I sat down with Jared Kind ( 
http://www.virginiasports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=88824&SPID=10613&DB_OEM_ID=17800&ATCLID=3634295&Q_SEASON=2011)

as one of the more experienced leaders on the team.  We talked for approximately 45 minutes about some of the things that he experienced and what he saw as critical parts of this new program.

Coach O'Connor was meeting with Associate Director of Athletics for Facilities and Operatives, Jason Bauman (http://www.virginiasports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=17800&ATCLID=1133799).  He invited me to sit in on the meeting as a learning opportunity as the initial planning phases of hosting a Regional and Super Regional Tournament were be looked at.  This was a different kind of meeting from the previous years since the certainty of hosting was an unknown.  Coach O'Connor certainly felt that the season has progressed to the point of being worthy of hosting one or both of the tournaments, but many things had to fall into place.  The main point of the meeting was to determine the game plan of ticket sales; to include parking.  AAD Bauman wanted to make sure Coach O'Connor was satisfied with the idea of putting tickets on-sale.  Many coaches and athletes are very superstitious.  However, Coach O'Connor understand the necessity of planning and coordinating.  He was fine with the plan and endorsed the ticket and marketing plans.


The rest of the day was spent shadowing Coach O'Connor and observing him deal with the daily operations of running the program and preparing for practice that day.

Coach O'Connor brought me in to club house and introduced me to his staff.  He showed me around the facilities and let me observe practice.  We started out in the indoor cages.  I observed bunting drills and players hitting off the tee.  We then moved outside and I helped the Operations Assistant, Billy Messer, set various parts of the field up.  One of the things I quickly learned was the amount of preparation that has to go into getting ready for practice.  Something else that I learned was the differences in coaching styles and preferences for utilizing on-field techniques.  The baseball program that I am a coach for rarely, if ever, takes batting practice on the field.  The UVA program does utilize it as a matter of being able to have the players see specific results to drills they are working on.  This isn't to say that working in a cage can't be beneficial.  It is just a different philosophy.  A second right answer.  And,of course, shortly after the field was set up for practice, it started raining.  Well, wanting to show that I was part of the team and willing to contribute regardless of the task, I jumped in and help pull the practice equipment off the field and put the rain tarp on the field.  My wife was none to happy with this effort because a pair of my good short got ruined by the mud.  Oh well, I loved every minute of it.