The baseball offseason at LM isn’t a time to sit back and relax; it’s a time to push yourself to reach whatever level to which you aspire. Whether the goal is the varsity, college, or professional level, ballplayers are actively at work and constantly improving. The head varsity coach, Colin Quinn, can’t stress this enough. However, most of this work is not mandatory, as fall ball isn’t an LM school-funded sport. The LM Baseball Boosters, a group of parents and community members, are the ones that deliver the funding to organize games and provide hats and jerseys.
On September 3rd, players arrived at South Ardmore Park to display and work on their skills. Fall ball is an optional event to participate in, and typically 75 percent of players from the spring regular season come to play in the fall. However, this doesn’t mean the other 25 percent of players are slacking. Many are engaged in external fall leagues, and some prefer to use this time for one-on-one coaching at facilities in the greater Philadelphia area. Additionally, fall ball is open to everyone, and no tryouts occur. This allows players of any grade level to participate if they were cut at spring tryouts or are new to the sport.
To determine teams, the first two days of practice were used to gauge skills and divide players appropriately. Teams Maroon, Blue, and White were assembled, and they went straight to work, led by coaches Colin Quinn, Brandon Mussleman, and Thomas Mann. Moreover, the Shipley School’s Varsity pitching coach, Edward Curtis, also gives his time during the week to help out the fall teams. Every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, practice occurs between 4:00 p.m. and 5:45 p.m., and every Saturday morning there is a game. Fall games are more of an intramural experience than an uber-competitive contest. For instance, they only keep track of innings and not score. There are also some other minor changes to the game that allows players to get as much opportunity as possible at the plate.
This fall ball season goes from the start of the school year to around Halloween. After that, there are meetings with the coaches to discuss players’ strengths and weaknesses and what work players need to put in to reach their goals by the time the regular season rolls around. Although it sounds like ballplayers are on their own until March, this is not the case. LM baseball holds winter workouts at the school’s gym, AFC Fitness in Bala Cynwyd, and at Diamond Baseball in KOP. The Bala Cynwyd facility allows players to work on hitting during the chilly months of the winter and get personalized help from the people that work there.
Players don’t just work on improving at baseball during these times; they work on becoming better people. In the fall and winter, LM Baseball hosts clinics to promote youth players and help them improve as well. These clinics occur at South Ardmore Park, at our home turf, the AFC Fitness facility, and occasionally there are middle school programs in the evenings closer to the start of the regular season. As a player myself, I love that we help out players in our community, and it is my favorite part of fall ball.
By the time spring tryout rolls around, players are ready to go. All the practices, late night workouts, and drills are put to the test in two days. But through all of these seasons, the most important thing to do is stay healthy with a proper diet, exercise and sleep. Health is always priority number-one for the coaches, no matter what sport. And after all of this, the regular season begins!
