Stop the Madness Now!! Join Our Community
- By Jimmy Fowlkes
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- 26 Oct, 2018
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The Culture of Youth Baseball Must Change
From the beginning, the game of baseball has always been a source of community pride. The culture of youth baseball today is not only splitting up communities, but it is limiting the opportunities for underprivileged families to participate. The ability to teach important values like teamwork, mutual respect, and sportsmanship are being lost.
Fowlkes Baseball, Inc. is a non-profit organization that recently established the Fowlkes Family Memorial Fund. Our family has a long tradition of helping young athletes and communities. Since February of 2015, my family has lost our father, mother, and brother, who were all respected community leaders. Read more about their inspiring life of dedication to children and their families at https://www.fowlkesbaseball.com/fowlkes-family-foundation#MemorialFund.
Growing up in a baseball family has allowed me to carry on this proud tradition. We have established over the years a large network of outstanding coaches, and former players that have become great mentors.
I have been contacted by people all over the United States that are encouraging me to move forward with this unique pilot program! I hope you like the logo I designed, too. To honor my family, the following program has been proposed to national youth baseball executives.
The main goal is to bring back a strong since of community! Coaches will be trained to have a better knowledge of baseball. Players will be taught good sportsmanship and respect for the game. A 5 tool player can hit, field, throw hard, run fast, and hit with power. Our unique program will also stress the importance of being a 5 tool person. They would become spiritually grounded, physically fit, educated, community oriented, and civic minded.
The idea is to have parents sign up children 8 and under to play in a sandlot baseball league. No adult coaches will be involved at this age. Only a trained supervisor. When enough kids sign up, they will play a sandlot baseball game. They will choose captains, pick teams, and make all decisions without a coach or umpire. The purpose is to teach the kids to play for fun while learning the rules of the game. I've done this for years at camps, and kids this age always have a blast!
The main goal of the 9 thru 12 age division is to train all the parents that want to be coaches and teach the players how to play the game right and respect each other. Teams will train together, play controlled scrimmages against each other, and not play games until they're ready. A controlled scrimmage means playing a live game with coaches helping the players repeat a play to get it right, or stopping the game to explain what should be done.
Once the league grows to enough teams that are ready, you will have a group of teams with knowledgeable players proudly representing the community. As the league grows, a since of family will develop within the teams as they stay together for several years with their teammates and coaches.
At 13 years old, the players will begin participating in a feeder program to get them ready for high school. This will help strengthen the local high school programs by providing them with a 5 tool person that may also be a 5 tool player. The players coming out of this program will be encouraged to come back and mentor the younger players!
Because of the lack of options for youth baseball players (rec ball or travel ball), I know that there is a strong desire to have a program that teaches, trains, and motivates young athletes.
I welcome anyone to contact me who desires to sponsor our program, or would be willing to fund the scholarships that help underprivileged families. The success of this pilot program will establish a model that will allow us to expand into other communities.
Go to www.fowlkesbaseball.com for more information or to contact me. Thank you!
Fowlkes Baseball, Inc. is a non-profit organization that recently established the Fowlkes Family Memorial Fund. Our family has a long tradition of helping young athletes and communities. Since February of 2015, my family has lost our father, mother, and brother, who were all respected community leaders. Read more about their inspiring life of dedication to children and their families at https://www.fowlkesbaseball.com/fowlkes-family-foundation#MemorialFund.
Growing up in a baseball family has allowed me to carry on this proud tradition. We have established over the years a large network of outstanding coaches, and former players that have become great mentors.
I have been contacted by people all over the United States that are encouraging me to move forward with this unique pilot program! I hope you like the logo I designed, too. To honor my family, the following program has been proposed to national youth baseball executives.
The main goal is to bring back a strong since of community! Coaches will be trained to have a better knowledge of baseball. Players will be taught good sportsmanship and respect for the game. A 5 tool player can hit, field, throw hard, run fast, and hit with power. Our unique program will also stress the importance of being a 5 tool person. They would become spiritually grounded, physically fit, educated, community oriented, and civic minded.
The idea is to have parents sign up children 8 and under to play in a sandlot baseball league. No adult coaches will be involved at this age. Only a trained supervisor. When enough kids sign up, they will play a sandlot baseball game. They will choose captains, pick teams, and make all decisions without a coach or umpire. The purpose is to teach the kids to play for fun while learning the rules of the game. I've done this for years at camps, and kids this age always have a blast!
The main goal of the 9 thru 12 age division is to train all the parents that want to be coaches and teach the players how to play the game right and respect each other. Teams will train together, play controlled scrimmages against each other, and not play games until they're ready. A controlled scrimmage means playing a live game with coaches helping the players repeat a play to get it right, or stopping the game to explain what should be done.
Once the league grows to enough teams that are ready, you will have a group of teams with knowledgeable players proudly representing the community. As the league grows, a since of family will develop within the teams as they stay together for several years with their teammates and coaches.
At 13 years old, the players will begin participating in a feeder program to get them ready for high school. This will help strengthen the local high school programs by providing them with a 5 tool person that may also be a 5 tool player. The players coming out of this program will be encouraged to come back and mentor the younger players!
Because of the lack of options for youth baseball players (rec ball or travel ball), I know that there is a strong desire to have a program that teaches, trains, and motivates young athletes.
I welcome anyone to contact me who desires to sponsor our program, or would be willing to fund the scholarships that help underprivileged families. The success of this pilot program will establish a model that will allow us to expand into other communities.
Go to www.fowlkesbaseball.com for more information or to contact me. Thank you!
As Jeff Frye puts it, the #shegone nation is growing! "People all over the country are on board with our mission to get back to old school baseball!"
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Your gift of baseball or softball equipment or in kind donation is tax deductible
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