NVTBL and the NOVA Baseball Magazine partnered to host the 2018 Northern Virginia Coaching Clinic on Sunday afternoon at the Executive Conference and Training Center in Sterling.

American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) liaisons Jeremy Sheetinger and Andrew Bartman and 14 members of NVTBL’s Pro Advisory Committee held informational presentations in front of over 500 area coaches free of charge.

The lineup of speakers included Oakton’s Justin Janis, Westfield’s Rob Hahne, Paul VI’s Billy Emerson, Gonzaga’s Andy Bradley, Madison’s Mark Gjormand, South County’s Mike Gallagher, Lake Braddock’s Dan Griel, Freedom South-Riding’s Mark Wrighte, Riverside’s Sam Plank, Marshall’s Aaron Tarr, Centreville’s Scott Rowland, retired West Springfield and Flint Hill coach Ron Tugwell and former SYA coach and current Washington Nationals’ physical therapist Seth Blee.

Topics of discussions included throwing, catching and hitting mechanics, pitching mechanics and arm care, base running, approach on the mound and at the plate, bunting, defense, team culture and utilizing technology.  

The coaching clinic provides an annual headline event for the Pro Advisory Committee to create opportunities for coaches to network, share and collaborate on coaching and teaching skills, fundamentals and life lessons through the game of baseball.

The ABCA also announced their annual coaching convention will be coming to the Washington D.C. area in 2021. The convention will run Jan. 7-10 at the Gaylord National Hotel in National Harbor, Md.

Here are a couple of comments made from coaches who attended:

"Thank you for the coaching clinic yesterday.  I enjoyed the ABCA's ProActive Coaching presentation and the insightful breakout sessions that followed.  No matter how many coaches clinics I've been to, I continue to learn more and thank you for the outlet to do so. "

- Deven, Stars Baseball

"I wanted to thank everyone for the work that was put in to organize the Coaches Clinic today. I help coach in CYA for both house and travel teams and I know many our league's coaches who attended that I spoke with at the end found the sessions they attended very useful. We took items we heard and brought them straight to the practice that our travel team had this evening.  I think having ABCA there was good as I know many of our coaches were not aware of this resource."

-Brandon, CYA