Website Manager

Indy Clutch Baseball

Contacts

Indy Clutch Baseball, LLC Contacts:

President - Steven Russell / (317) 430-0174 / [email protected]




Coaching

POSITIVE COACHING

Today I want to talk with you about positive coaching and why it’s paramount here at Indy Clutch Baseball.

With the arrival of tournament play as the norm, the game has changed in intensity over the years to younger and younger ages.  The pressure to win every inning, game and weekend is HUGE.  People get caught up in it.  Coaches easily find themselves “winning at all costs.”  This creates a myriad of problems, the most common of them is frustrated, stressed out and screaming coaches.  People demand to win (for lots of reasons) and I guess coaches think that by screaming at kids they will play better?  Screaming at players doesn’t inspire them, it usually makes them “tone deaf” and sadly, lose their love for the game.

Coaches often forget that these aren’t adults.  These are young, impressionable, growing kids who may even already lack self-esteem and confidence.  Being negative (even in their humor) or being loud and screaming at players usually just shuts them down. 

I often ask my coaches – “how did we do at the dinner table?”  By this I mean, did the players go home excited and feeling good about themselves after practice or the game?  Or, did they go home feeling dejected, upset or broken down, or even numb? The last thing we want to do is break players down and have them lose their love for the game.  We want to be a positive part of the dinner table discussion!

Why would any parent want to PAY someone to make their son feel bad about themselves?  Ok, we understand that not all players are above average players.  We understand competition, and most of the time you don’t win all your tournaments and the coach can get frustrated.  But as parents, we want our kids to feel confident and good about themselves, right?

Baseball can be a challenging game.  I think it gets even more difficult when a coach is screaming at the same time.  For sure, it doesn’t help.

Coaches yell at players for a variety of reasons.  The biggest reason is NOT about the player, it is to tell everyone standing outside the fence that he (the coach) was not responsible for what just happened on the field.   WHY?  This is for the coaches own self esteem.  The problem is, he just hurt the player – sometimes irreparably.  Maybe they are trying to win at all costs so they can get a better coaching gig or hang onto the one they have.  To me, this is a “coach centered” approach.  It doesn’t work.

At Indy Clutch Baseball we use a “player centered” approach.  We are more concerned with the individual players than we are the coach or the program.  Our goal is to facilitate our players in being more confident, which then leads to them becoming more skilled and better baseball players.  Confidence is the key to a player’s success.  It will lead them towards accomplishing their ultimate goal for playing youth baseball.

There are many factors that can potentially come into play as to why a player is at their current playing level:

  • Physical development – have they hit their growth spurt?
  • Confidence – emotional development
  • Genetic Lottery – some people are just born with the “baseball gene”
  • Desire – do they really LOVE the game and WANT to succeed
  • Frustration – what is their current mindset, past experience or goals
  • Are they playing for themselves or someone else?

Indy Clutch Baseball coaches take the time to understand our players.  Our goal is to reach them and assist them in improving their game, no matter where they are on the talent / growth spectrum.

Isn’t that pretty close to the definition of “a Coach”?

To me the gauge of a good coach is not wins and losses, it is – did the coach facilitate every player on the roster in being the best player and person they can be?

Welcome to Clutch Baseball

Welcome to Indy Clutch Baseball

Welcome to the Indy Clutch Baseball family!

We realize you have MANY options when it comes to where your son plays baseball.  Thank you for taking the time to check out our program.

As a parent of a youth baseball player you probably are intending to:

  • Find a team/coach who actually cares about your kid
  • Find a team where your son will actually play frequently and improve on his game
  • Find a team that won’t make you go broke supporting your son’s passion

The intentions for players are typically to:

  • Find a team and a coach that they actually like and enjoy playing for
  • Find a team where they can play more innings and improve on their game

At Indy Clutch Baseball we help both our players and parents accomplish ALL of these goals, and this is what makes us unique.

With many years spent on the baseball field in one aspect or another, we were inspired to start our own program because we intend to do things differently than the rest.  I am not re-inventing baseball, and I don’t expect to change the way baseball operates.  My intention is to have a positive impact on the players and families who play with Indy Clutch Baseball.

Here are some of the areas where we do things differently:

  1. Positive Coaching
  2. Costs Less – AND – Save Money
  3. Playing Time for All Players
  4. Memories and Community
  5. No Politics
  6. Proper Use of Pitchers
  7. Coaches Get to Just Coach & Communicate Vs Operational Side

Again, I thank you for your time, and look forward to providing a stellar baseball experience for you and your family!

All the best,

Steven Russell 

Indy Clutch Baseball, LLC

[email protected]

317-430-0174

Why Clutch Baseball?

Indy Clutch Baseball Costs Less AND Saves You Money

 

I’m sure you realize by now that youth baseball has become a big business!!

As parents, we needed to find a way to accomplish the same level of baseball, along with the same opportunities, and quite simply do it for less.

Indy Clutch Baseball offers players (and Parents) a similarly competitive schedule for drastically less money.  While there are costs involved, as a whole, the baseball world could make things way more affordable.

There are many clubs out there that are now doing multiple out of state tournaments for 9u, 10u and 11u teams.  This can quickly drive the price of participation out of reach for many people on many levels.  Parents typically travel with the players on these trips.  So in addition to the cost of the events, you have travel, hotel, days off of work and other travel expenses.  These trips can cost a family $1000 - $3000 per trip.  Are these necessary?

Indy Clutch Baseball tries to take the best of these opportunities and incorporate them into the program. We like to include many of them into the player fee vs an additional fee.

Contact

INDY CLUTCH BASEBALL

5105 Marble Ct 
Indianapolis, Indiana 46237

Phone: 317-430-0174
Email: [email protected]