The Garden of
Gears is pleased to make this offer to all who dare to raise the bar on their
baseball skills to a level they never thought possible. All you have to do to
join the program is to make the following commitments:
Training - As a member of the Gears, every day
including Game Day is a spring training day.
Sportsmanship - As a member of the Gears, you will
learn how to win and how not to lose.
Skills - The Garden of Gears will teach you the skills
necessary to grow as a player and as a team.
Hustle One of Game’s greatest players was Pete Rose;
his nickname was “Charley Hustle.” Hustling is the difference between a good
team and a great team and between a good player and a great player. As a member
of the Garden of Gears you will always:
Sprint
from the on-deck circle to the batter’s box;
Sprint to
first base on a base on balls;
Sprint to
the dugout, to the mound, from and to the bull pen, sprint everywhere.
Sprint
each and every time you leave the batter’s box toward first base (unless a
ball is obviously foul, and when in doubt, sprint toward first -let the
umpire make the call);
Sprint
out all fly balls. Even if you are on base with two outs when the catch is
made, sprint across the field to the dugout;
Sprint
back to the dugout after a ground out;
Sprint to
the next base when you are on base and the batter walks;
Sprint to
your position or to the dugout even after you make an out;
Training To the day you hang up your cleats, there
will always be new challenges:
New
skills to acquire;
New
situations for which you must learn how to properly react;
New
agility skills to conquer;
New
drills to master skills at a higher level;
New
strength and endurance exercises to work on to become faster, stronger, and
quicker.
Never be
satisfied -- never be discouraged, but never be satisfied. There are always
opportunities to improve. Even Barry Bonds puts in three to four hours of
individual practice every day. It is a proven fact - winning happens
during practice, not during a game.
Sportsmanship Winning is a matter of teamwork.
You are a
member of a team - individuals cannot win baseball games;
You are
only as good as the weakest player;
If
another player is having difficulties, help him;
If you
are having difficulties, ask for help;
The team
that works together at improving skills will always win in the end.
While an
individual might get the game-winning hit or make the game-saving catch, someone
else had to point out the flaw in a swing that when corrected led to that hit
and someone else had to hit the hundreds of fly-balls it took to learn how to
make that catch.
Skills With the proper effort and the right training
anything is possible..
The
Garden of Gears is committed to excellence in every skill;
Our
coaching Staff is made up of ballplayers with experience at the
collegiate and professional level;
Our
skills training calls for constant repetition of basic skills until required
reactions are virtually automatic - what we call “muscle memory” exercises
Our
skills training emphasizes correct practice techniques - practicing
fundamentals incorrectly is worse than not practicing at all;
Speed and
agility drills are a basic component of our training system - top physical
condition will derive top performance;
Skills
levels will be constantly assessed - players must compete against themselves
striving to constantly improve as much as they are physically able;
There is
no such thing as “good enough” - Barry Bonds does not consider himself good
enough and thus still puts in hours of practice each and every day;
Our
Skills page lays out some of the drills, techniques, and fundamentals
necessary for excellent play. It also lays out our training philosophy and
some of the targets we set as guideposts for the developing player.
If you are
prepared to put in the effort, we will see to it you are properly rewarded with
successes on the field and more importantly with exposure to scouts from
colleges and the pros. Please go to our History page where it tells the
story of the Garden of Gears’ traditions and some of our illustrious alumni. As
noted, our Skills page breaks down our training philosophy, and lays out
our proven training program that has yielded results time and time again as
evidenced by our all-time record of 894 - 426 for just under a 70% winning
percentage!
