1199tthh AAnnnnuuaall BBeesstt EEvveerr BBaasseebbaallll CClliinniicc 22000066 February 3 to 5, 2006 Rennaisance Toronto Airport Hotel Participant Resource Package SPONSOR PAGE PLEASE JOIN US IN THANKING OUR PREMIER BASEBALL SPONSOR AND THOSE THAT HELPED MAKE THIS EVENT “THE BEST” THROUGH SPONSORSHIP AND ADVERTISING, AND PARTICIPATION IN OUR EXHIBITOR’S HALL Durham Sports Wholesale 2 2006 Best Ever Baseball Clinic Welcome to the 2006 Best Ever Baseball Clinic It is with great pleasure I welcome all coaches and baseball enthusiasts to the 19th Annual Best Ever Baseball Clinic. This year’s clinic promises to deliver interesting baseball topics in a practical, informative and fun format where participants can get useful baseball drills and engage in great discussions in small and large group settings. In my role as Director of Coach and Player Development for Baseball Ontario, I have had discussions with hundreds of coaches about what they need to help them become the best coaches possible. A common need or theme arising from those discussions is: “How do I run effective practices?” Or, “How do I practice specific game situations?” Out of consideration of these and other questions came the theme for this year’s BEC: Baseball . How To Practice It. The roster of speakers at this year’s event will cover in detail the practical application of many common baseball situations from pre-season indoor workouts, to pre-game and pre-practice preparation, position- specific infield and outfield practice plans, proper batting practice, pitching for young players as well as practicing technique and Pitcher Fielding Position drills (PFPs), and an insightful perspective on coaching young athletes. As well, there is the Exhibitor’s Hall that features many long-time Baseball Ontario sponsors and some new contributors as well. Participants at this year’s clinic will see changes not only to the baseball part of the clinic, but to the venue itself. We feel that the Rennaisance Toronto Airport Hotel will be an excellent venue for the new format. As well, this Participant Resource Package will allow coaches to not only follow the program, but keep notes in an organized manner for future reference. And finally, Baseball Ontario is thrilled to have the Toronto Blue Jays as our premier sponsor for this event. As a result, all participants will receive two free tickets to a Blue Jays game in April or May. Please go to the Blue Jays booth to acquire your ticket voucher. This event is made possible by the hard work of many people behind the scenes. I would like to thank Jenn Gaudet and Mary-Ann Smith from the Baseball Ontario office in Cambridge for their efforts with registration, promotion and the web page dedicated to the BEC. Many thanks to Dirk Drieberg from Vaughan and Mark Orton from Oshawa for the overall administration of this event and handling of the Exhibitor’s Hall and the acquisition of sponsors. While the topics addressed at this year’s BEC are by no means exhaustive, I hope they are a great start to providing coaches with the tools to become better at their passion. Please fill out the survey at the back of this Participant Resource Package so we can begin planning the 20th Annual Best Ever Baseball Clinic, and customize it to your needs! Yours in Baseball, Wayne Parro Director of Coach and Player Development Baseball Ontario 2006 Best Ever Baseball Clinic 3 2006 Best Ever Baseball Clinic February 3 to 5, 2006 Rennaisance Toronto Airport Hotel Clinic Theme: BASEBALL . How to Practice It SPEAKERS: Pete Caliendo Jonathan Mathews Hitting mechanics are just part of Practicing the Corners development of a hitter First and Third Defence Practicing indoor for real game situations Mike McRae Remo Cardinale 11 Common Pitching Misconceptions . Pitching: 12 year olds and below and how to correct them Pitcher's Fielding Practice – PFPs The critical components of a solid delivery Around the Bases . and how to implement them into a throwing program Rick Johnston Marc Picard Bunting and the Short Game Functional Batting Practice Pre-game and pre-practice preparation – Proper Run, Stretch, Throw Routines Ken Joyce Absolute Catching Drills Infield Practice Planning and Execution Doug Wilton Outfield Practice Planning and Execution Coaching is Teaching – The Art of Teaching 4 2006 Best Ever Baseball Clinic Pete Caliendo Pete brings unmatched experience and expertise to the development of baseball skills to all players and coaches. His vast knowledge and worldwide presence has earned Pete immeasurable respect within the baseball community. Currently, Pete is President of Caliendo Sports International, a worldwide baseball company that trains individuals, teams, coaches and deals in professional baseball operations worldwide. As Director of Baseball Operations and Coach for the Schaumburg Flyers, a professional independent team, Pete had over 20 players sign with major league organizations along with making the playoffs. As Player procurement Director for the North Shore Spirit, Pete put together the full roster of 22 players that went on to the Northeast World Series. As a skill development coach, Pete provided more than 200 youth coaches training programs throughout the world. He is a large proponent of having a national certification program for all volunteers in baseball. To support this knowledge base, he has produced 5 baseball instructional tapes (“Coaching Made Easy) used as a benchmark resource by coaches across the country. Pete presented at the National High School Coaches Clinic as well as 12 additional Association Clinics and has presented in 15 separate countries. Internationally renown, he served as the Pan Am Baseball Association Director, an organization that won 3 gold medals in the Pan Am Games, including the Gold over Cuba. His experience also includes coaching the Belgium Baseball Federation National Team, 1999 Team USA, a team with professionals that competed in Australia’s Intercontinental Cup, serving as the International Baseball Federation’s technical commissioner and served as USA Athletes International’s Baseball Operations Director. While living in Europe, Pete became an associate scout with the Toronto Blue Jays for European professional baseball. He completed his European tour as T-5 Sports Agency’s worldwide Baseball Operations Director prior to returning to the U.S. as a Coach and Baseball Operations Director with the Schaumburg Flyers, Independent Professional Baseball Team based in Illinois. Following that stint, Pete became Calgary’s Professional Baseball President, a Northern League organization. Pete has also coached in the United States with the Mickey Owen Baseball School, Doyle Baseball and the Billy Williams Baseball School. An active community supporter, and as the President of Caliendo Sports International, the Italian American Association awarded him the prestigious “David Award” recognizing business excellence. Pete’s BEC Topics: Hitting mechanics are just part of development of a hitter Practicing indoor for real game situations 2006 Best Ever Baseball Clinic 5 Remo Cardinale Remo Cardinale joins Baseball Canada’s national team program for another tour of duty in 2005, taking the reins as field manager of Team Canada at the XXXVI Senior World Cup qualification tournament in Bradenton, Fla. Since his foray into Canadian amateur baseball coaching in 1982, Cardinale has worked in various roles at the local, provincial and national levels. His efforts have not gone unnoticed, as he has coached teams at four world championships and eight national championships. Such competitions include the IBAF World Cup tournaments in 1998 (Italy) and in 2003 (Cuba), where he served as pitching coach for Team Canada on both occasions. Before guiding Team Ontario to a silver medal at the Canada Summer Games in 2001, Cardinale held the position of pitching coach for various Baseball Canada national junior and senior teams from 1995 to 2000. Between 1989 and 1994, he helped mold young, developing Canadian baseball players at all levels as pitching coach and manager of the Ontario provincial team. His own personal baseball playing experience aided him as he began his career as an Instructor, helping him parlay his amateur pitching background into a successful coaching acumen. The second Canadian amateur player signed by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1977, Cardinale spent two seasons pitching in the Blue Jays’ minor league system. Now the top pitching instructor at The Baseball Zone indoor training facility in Mississauga, Ont., Cardinale also remains an active coach for the Mississauga North Baseball Association. He was recognized for his coaching accomplishments as the 2001 winner of Baseball Canada’s Lionel Ruhr Award, given to the association’s coach of the year. He has since continued his work as both a coach and instructor, as he is fully certified as a Baseball Ontario course clinician for Levels I, II and III. He has three children – daughters Natalie and Kristina and son Michael. Remo’s BEC Topics: Pitching: 12 year olds and below Pitcher's Fielding Practice – PFPs Around the Bases 6 2006 Best Ever Baseball Clinic Rick Johnston Rick Johnston oversees all baseball operations and is Head Instructor at The Baseball Zone in Mississauga (www.thebaseballzone.ca). Rick has more than 30 years experience in elite baseball as a player, coach and instructor. As a player, Rick has played in numerous international tournaments as a member of the Canadian National Team. Included in these are such competitions as: the 1988 Seoul Olympics; the 1987 & 1991 Pan American Games; 1985 & 1987 Intercontinental Cups; and the 1988 International Cup. He has also played at the Canadian Senior Championships as well as being a league award winner and record holding member of championship teams with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the Inter-County Baseball League. Rick also attended and excelled in baseball at Cuyahoga Community College in Ohio and at the University of British Columbia as an original member of the National Baseball Institute.