Mike Hennessey To Serve As Director of MP Academy

Myers Park Trinity is excited to announce that Mike Hennessey has accepted the position of Program Director for MP Academy (MPA), the league's new instructional group and competitive division for age 13-and-over baseball.

Hennessey is the current Head Varsity Baseball Coach and Program Director at Charlotte Country Day School, where he has served for 10 years. He was named the 2006 and 2011 South Charlotte Weekly Coach of the Year.

Mike began his coaching career at the Canterbury School in New Milford, CT. He has served as an evaluator and coach for the Mid Atlantic region's USA Baseball National Team Identification Series, and has coached at the United States Naval Academy in their summer leadership camp. He is an executive board member of Baseball For Life, a Charlotte service organization dedicated to helping young men develop important life skills through baseball.

In addition to his position as Program Director of MP Academy, Mike will also serve as Head Coach for MPA's 14U team. Mike is an excellent instructor and passionate teacher of the game. He is well respected in the Charlotte baseball community. We are fortunate to have Mike on board to lead us into the next phase of the continued improvement our league.

MPA is now preparing for its Winter Academy, to be led by Hennessey and our own certified strength and conditioning coach, Josh Thomas. This will be an offseason skills development program with a strength, speed and agility component. 

Tryouts for the 13U, 14U and 15U teams will take place on Saturday, November 15th, at Covenant Day School. The teams will be led by Covenant Day Varsity Coach David Houseton (13U), Hennessey (14U) and Scott Ahlum (15U). Interested families should contact MP Academy at mpacademy@mptll.org.

Stay tuned for more information in the near future regarding both the team tryouts and the Winter Academy.

Summer Instruction at MPTLL

Myers Park Trinity is excited to offer a variety of instructional baseball and softball opportunities for the upcoming summer. This is a chance for your kids to work on improving their game in a familiar and convenient setting.

MPTLL's own Baseball Fever camp, under the direction of league coach Jason Wishnefsky, is returning for another summer. Baseball Fever has scheduled four 5-day camps for 2012.

HQ4 Baseball will also be holding camps this summer, and will have two 4-day All Skills camps, plus pitching & catching and hitting camps.  For more information on both camps, visit the MPTLL Summer Camps page on the league website.

For individual or group instruction in a smaller setting, check out the Hitting and Pitching Lessons page at my own Hardball Mechanics blog. I will continue to schedule lessons at our park throughout the year, using video analysis to pinpoint mechanical flaws and customized drills to fix them. Special summer pricing has just been announced. As always, 10% of the proceeds goes to Myers Park Trinity to help pay for capital improvements like our newest batting cages. Contact me for more information or to schedule lessons. I work with kids of all ages and skill levels, including players from our American League, National League, Major League, Junior League and Softball divisions, as well as area high school players.

Whether your player is preparing for next season, learning a new skill or getting extra practice in for all-stars, summer is a great time to do it.

Summer Baseball Instruction at Randolph Park

Myers Park Trinity is excited to offer a variety of instructional baseball opportunities for the upcoming summer. This is a chance for your kids to work on improving their game in a familiar and convenient setting.

MPTLL's own Baseball Fever camp, under the direction of long time league coach Jason Wishnefsky, is returning for its 10th summer. Jason was an instructor with Baseball Fever from day 1, and more recently partnered with Zan Copeland to provide this camp to our players. Baseball Fever has scheduled three, 5-day All Skills camps, a 2-day pitching and catching camp, and a 2-day hitting camp.

John Spencer, Head Varsity Baseball Coach at Myers Park High School, has scheduled two, 4-day All Skills camps. Coach Spencer previously held sessions on Sundays last August and September at our fields.

HQ4 Baseball will also be holding camps this summer, and will have two, 4-day All Skills camps, and a 4-day pitching and catching camp. 

And for individual or group hitting or pitching instruction, I will continue to schedule lessons at our park throughout the year, using video analysis to pinpoint mechanical flaws and customized drills to fix them. This summer's schedule will include mornings and afternoons. For more information, please visit my Lessons page and contact me about setting up a time. I work with players of all ages and currently have students from various American League, National League, Major League and Junior League teams at MPTLL.

Time to Start Getting Ready

It's February - technically still winter, but baseball season is right around the corner. In the interest of shaking off the rust and getting the arms in shape for the season, this is the time to dust off the ball and glove and start throwing once or twice a week.

Many players, including my own pitching students, have been in a winter shutdown period.  Some have been working on their swings in addition to enjoying other sports like basketball. But with tryouts and practices only a few weeks away, it's a good idea to start preparing by gradually throwing a little more each week as the season nears. Eventually the pitchers will take to the hill, but not until their arms are conditioned.

Hopefully we'll get more good weather like this past weekend: Sunny and 70 on Sunday. At one point every field and batting cage was in use. It felt and looked like May. The fields are always there, so get out there or in the backyard and get ready for the season.

Strength Training for Kids

A recent NY Times article takes a look at a study regarding the safety and potential benefits of youth strength training.

There has been a long-held belief that kids could not gain strength from any kind of weight training, and that it could even stunt their growth or cause growth plate damage. But the latest research indicates that kids actually benefit from such exercise, not by bulking up, but by creating more efficient interaction between the nervous system and muscles.

Doctors do not advocate putting kids in the weight room, but do encourage other types of fun strength training activities that get kids away from the computer screen or tv and will prepare their bodies for the sports they play. This makes a lot of sense, especially for baseball and softball, those activities that develop core and leg strength - something our more serious ballplayers might want to consider this offseason.

Arm Care and Velocity Development Clinic

Tickets for the 2nd annual Arm Care and Velocity Development Clinic are on sale at the South Charlotte Sports Report. This clinic is led by Alan Tyson of Architech Sports & Physical Therapy. Tyson is considered one of the leading arm care specialists in the region.

This clinic is highly recommended by many baseball people in the area. It is for serious pitchers, age 12-18. It is a non-throwing event, since many pitchers have shut down their arms for the winter. But the information provided by Tyson and the other speakers is said to be extremely beneficial.

The event is on Saturday, December 4th from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm at Ardrey Kell High School. The cost is $90 per player-parent combo. Visit the South Charlotte Sports Report website for more information.

Article on Overuse Injuries

Tommy John, then of the Los Angeles Dodgers, was the first to undergo ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) replacement surgery. Since that initial procedure performed by Dr. Frank Jobe in 1974, Tommy John Surgery has become a common fix for serious elbow injuries. And as previously mentioned in this blog, it has become far too common in young pitchers.

Here is a link to another article about overuse, or "repetitive stress" injuries in young athletes. Amanda Schoenberg writes in the Albuquerque Journal about author Mark Hyman's experience with his own son's injury, and his book on the subject, "Until It Hurts."

I am currently reading the book and will comment on it later. But for now, there is some useful information on overuse injuries in this article. The more informed we are, the better.

What's Causing the Arm Injuries?

This guy on the left is not the only one having significant arm trouble these days. He's just the most prominent. Stephen Strasburg of the Washington Nationals was the #1 overall pick in the 2009 MLB Draft. His college and pro coaches were careful with him because he was widely considered to be the best pitching prospect in years, if not decades. But apparently it was too late. Perhaps the damage was done before he even got to college.

Strasburg is one of many elite pitchers having to undergo surgery and take months off these days due to UCL or shoulder injuries. But the trend is not limited to the best in the world. Youth pitchers are blowing out their arms at a high rate too. But why? Is it flawed mechanics? Curveballs? High pitch counts? According to the doctors and the studies, there are several factors.

Gregg Doyel of CBS Sports blames it on youth coaches and parents. His article from August 26, 2010 may be on to something. Doyel is no expert when it comes to arm care, but he can connect the dots based on what the experts say. Among the primary experts are Dr. James Andrews and Dr. Glenn Fleisig of the American Sports Medicine Institute (ASMI), among other credits.

ASMI conducted a study with some important conclusions - mainly that while arm injuries often do not rear their ugly heads until high school or college (or later), they can begin in youth leagues. How do they begin in youth leagues? Overuse at a young age. Not a new term - that's why we have pitch counts. The study says that arm fatigue is the primary factor involved: "When regularly pitching despite arm fatigue, the risk for injury requiring surgery increased 3600%." That's almost a guarantee.