Check out our Aug/Sept newsletter!
RANCH REVIEW THE
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
www.texasbaseballranch.com (936) 588-6762
SUMMER 2022 — IT’S A WRAP
Summer has always been a special time at the Texas Baseball Ranch® because this time of year is dominated by two different programs:
1. Our seven EPBCs that run from Memorial Day to Labor Day 2. Our extended stay, 2–11-week summer program
Summer Intensive Program “Fun” Photo – July 2022
The seven EPBCs this summer attracted over 200 pitching athletes from all over the globe. Around 20% of the attendees were returners. The other 80% were families getting their first real exposure to The Texas Baseball Ranch®, our systems, and our protocols. Eyes were opened — and lives and career paths changed. The three days felt intense, and on day three, every young man left Montgomery, Texas, with a specific customized plan of action. The real work begins when the athletes get home, and our Durathro™ Program offers remote support upon their arrival home, maximizing their experience. It is always truly heartwarming to get texts and emails from these young men and their families sharing their growth and achievements. The Summer Program is, on the other side, truly a horse of a different color. A high percentage of our Summer Intensive Program attendees were former EPBC campers. They felt drawn to the Summer Program because they wanted more of what the Ranch offers. They wanted to go deeper and wider and be pushed further — of course, we were happy to oblige. The Summer Program is a four-day-a-week intensive training process running Monday–Thursday from 9:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m. During this time, players get the most the Ranch has to offer ... An opportunity to experience the most progressive yet practical training available currently on the planet, specifically designed for the throwing athlete. That’s not to sound arrogant. It’s the result of years of study, implementation, careful assessment of the processes, and an insistence on “getting it right” — NOT “being right.”
Elite Pitchers Boot Camp – August 2022
It included the following:
• Developing a healthy, durable, and electric arm • Building velocity • Improving command • Enhancing secondary offerings (curveball, slider, and change) • Boosting recovery and consistency • Improving mindset and mental capabilities
How well have these two offerings worked?
The results speak for themselves.
• 525 of our athletes have broken the 90-mph barrier. • 180 of our athletes have topped 94 mph. • 30 of our athletes have shattered the 100-mph ceiling. • 129 of our athletes have been drafted by Major League organizations. For the past 18 years, summer has been a magical time for us at The Texas Baseball Ranch®. This summer — the summer of 2022 — may have been the best of all time.
–Coach Wolforth
P.S. If you’d like to see some of this summer’s record breakers, check out this QR code for a short video:
1
Where You Can DREAM as BIG as Your Work Ethic Will Allow! PHONE (936) 588-6762
TBR’S ELITE PITCHERS BOOT CAMP Service Highlight
with or surpassing your competitive peer group. At The Texas Baseball Ranch®, that is our entire focus: helping YOU with what you need and designing YOUR personal plan. Nobody does it better. Others try, but it’s just not the same. We simply have a better combination of systems, people, and culture when it comes to training pitchers. The Texas Baseball Ranch® is a serious program for serious people who want serious results.
With the completion of the summer, we now look ahead to the fall and winter — which will include five Elite Pitchers Bootcamps, one each month from October–February. If you or someone you know wants to make a trip to Texas for this incredible event, don’t delay. Besides, the fall and winter are the best time to be in Southeast Texas. The Texas Baseball Ranch® is the preeminent baseball pitching training facility in the country, and our Elite Pitchers Boot Camps are easily the gold The Gold Standard
Check out what one family had to say about their Ranch experience this summer: “I loved the boot camp … highly experienced coaches who were personally engaging to both the players and the parents ! No wasted time — incredible knowledge transfer and resources provided for continued learning. The BEST baseball training by far that we have participated in across
standard of pitching camps. This is more than just a simple camp: It’s an event! It’s an experience! It’s something you leave knowing you made a great decision when it comes to the investment of your time and resources.
18 years and really the best from any sport camp, and I have two Division I college athletes and two in high school.”
For more information or to register, go to TexasBaseballRanch.com/events. –David Glaser, Bulverde, Texas
Now more than ever, an individualized, hyper-personalized approach to pitching development is critical to catching up
LIFE CAN BE UNPREDICTABLE Preserving the Balance of Work and Family Life Workers shouldn’t have to choose between the job they need and the family secondary schools, and companies with 50 or more employees.
members they love. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was created to allow employees to take reasonable unpaid leave for a particular family or medical reason so they can maintain a work/life balance. WHAT DOES IT PROVIDE? The FMLA provides eligible employees up to 12 workweeks of unpaid leave a year with the requirement of group health benefits to be maintained during the leave as if employees were continuing to work. They are also entitled to resume their same or equivalent job at the end of their FMLA leave. WHO IS ELIGIBLE FOR FMLA? FMLA applies to all public agencies, all public and private elementary and
(child, spouse, or parent, but does not include parent in-laws) • To take medical leave when the employee is unable to work due to a serious health condition • For qualifying exigencies arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, child, or parent is on covered active duty or call to covered active- duty status as a member of the National Guard, Reserves, or Regular Armed Forces The FMLA exists so employees can tend to their families without worrying about their job, allowing them to provide the best care for their loved ones. For more information regarding whether or not your company is eligible for FMLA, check out your local government agency for more details.
Employees can be eligible for FMLA if they have worked for their employer for at least 12 months, worked at least 1,250 hours over the past 12 months, and work at a location that employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles. WHEN CAN I USE FMLA LEAVE? An eligible employee can be granted up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period for the following reason(s): • Birth of and/or bonding with a newborn child • The placement of a child for adoption or foster care with the employee • To care for an immediate family member with a serious condition
2
www.TEXASBASEBALLRANCH.com
Published by Newsletter Pro • www.NewsletterPro.com
PREPARING YOUR PITCHER Your Body Can’t Recruit What Isn’t Awake
One of the many mistakes made by pitchers today is that they are significantly underprepared for the volume (total workload) or stress intensity placed by pitching at the highest levels of competition. As humans, we often hope the job — any job —won’t be as arduous, complex, or complicated as we know deep in our subconscious that it could be. We have a saying here at The Ranch: “Your body can’t possibly recruit what isn’t awake.” If parts of your body are not fully awake, lubricated, and ready to be utilized, they simply will not be available to use.
If a pitcher has to primarily rely on their arm for peak velocity and performance, there is a greater risk of injury. That is why we view wake-up/warm-up as absolutely critical for success, and it’s one of the things we have zero tolerance for. Every single pitcher has the potential to be completely warmed up before a game, but very few truly are. At the end of the day, it is simply a choice. The most common excuse as to why someone isn’t fully warmed up is usually the fear of their warm-up being too extensive. They fear that they will be too worn out to last the entire game. But the way we see it — the way you view the problem may very well be the problem. If your warm-up has you feeling fatigued and affects your performance at game time, the warm-up may not be the issue. It may have to do with a conditioning issue, which is easy to solve. Always keep in mind that as the pitchers themselves are evolving and growing, so should their warm-ups! If you need a warm-up role model at the elite level to follow, take a look at the past greats like Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemmons, or Roy Halladay. There is, of course, no ideal, perfect warm-up process, but dedicating the time to find the right level of personal readiness for peak performance can make all the difference.
Throwing a baseball 70 mph at 12 years of age, or even 95 mph at 22 years of age, requires the full utilization of your body, not just your arm. We have found that most athletes hope they can perform at peak levels with less than full utilization/wake-up/warm-up of their bodies. But that isn’t realistic, and if anything, it’s extremely dangerous.
UPCOMING RANCH EVENTS
THIS MONTH IN BASEBALL HISTORY Frank Smith’s Second Career No-Hitter
ELITE PITCHERS BOOT CAMPS:
YOUTH PITCHING CAMP:
On Sept. 20, 1908, during one of baseball’s tightest pennant races, Frank Smith of the Chicago White Sox threw his second career no-hitter for a 1-0 victory over the Philadelphia Athletics. The “Piano Mover” made his mark as part of the White Sox’s dominant pitching staff in the early 1900s, utilizing a spitball that moved like a
•
OCTOBER 15 & 16, 2022
•
OCTOBER 8-10,2022
ELITE CATCHERS BOOT CAMP:
•
NOVEMBER 19-21, 2022
•
DECEMBER 9-11, 2022
•
DECEMBER 27-29, 2022
•
JANUARY 14-16, 2023
ADVANCED ALUMNI CAMP:
•
FEBRUARY 18-20, 2023
•
JANUARY 7 & 8, 2023
Details for these events can be found at TexasBaseballRanch.com under the “Events” tab.
A SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR OATES SPECIALTIES ! EQUIPMENT PROVIDER,
knuckleball. He nearly needed to pitch the 10th inning, but the White Sox walked it off in the ninth in a rather unusual fashion — White Sox shortstop Freddy Parent tapped an intentional walk pitch to the right side of the infield just slowly enough to let Frank Isbell score. Smith became the first White Sox pitcher to throw multiple no-hitters with his gem against Philadelphia.
www.OatesSpecialties. com/Durathro
3 Where You Can DREAM as BIG as Your Work Ethic Will Allow! PHONE (936) 588-6762
Published by Newsletter Pro • www.NewsletterPro.com
FIRST-CLASS MAIL US POSTAGE PAID BOISE, ID PERMIT 411
www.texasbaseballranch.com 5451 Honea-Egypt Road Montgomery, TX 77316
(936) 588-6762
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
PAGE 1 Summer 2022 — It’s a Wrap PAGE 2 TBR’S Elite Pitchers Boot Camp — The Gold Standard Your Guide to Family and Medical Leave PAGE 3 The Truth About Wake-Up, Warm-Up This Month in Baseball History PAGE 4 The Insane Story of the 1904 Olympic Marathon
In 1904, the year of America’s first Olympics, the men’s marathon was a bizarre spectacle to behold. In fact, it was likely the most jaw-dropping event ever in the history of the Olympic Games. On that hot, sweltering summer day in St. Louis, MO, only 14 of the 32 Olympic competitors crossed the finish line on what was deemed the most difficult course anyone was ever asked to undertake. Thomas Hicks, the American who actually came in first, received the slowest time of all of the Olympic marathons since 1896. But why was this one so tough? With temperatures of roughly 104 degrees F and 90% humidity, a rigorous 24.85-mile course with seven hills was a bit much for competitors. Not to mention, support cars were churning up dust, leaving it behind for the runners to inhale, and they only had two water stations available before the halfway mark — and none in the second half! Even seasoned runners were not up to this crazy course! Three hours and 13 minutes after the marathon began, Fred Lorz, who had ridden a third of the course in a car, crossed the finish line. He was about to be adorned with a floral wreath when he confessed he had gotten so tired that he accepted a ride from one of the cars along the way, so he was disqualified. The Crazy Olympic Marathon of 1904 IT’S UNBELIEVABLY TRUE!
Thomas Hicks, the true winner, was struggling with just 7 more miles to go. His fans on the sidelines provided him with a secret energy booster mix — a concoction containing strychnine (rat poison), brandy, and egg whites. By the time he crossed the finish line, he was hallucinating. And the fourth-place winner from Cuba wore dress pants and shoes for the entire race (because he lost his money gambling in New Orleans on his way to St. Louis and arrived after hitchhiking with nothing but the clothes on his back!). This 1904 Olympic marathon went down in history as the most bizarre and wildly entertaining race. Luckily, but surprisingly, nobody died!
4
www.TEXASBASEBALLRANCH.com
Published by Newsletter Pro • www.NewsletterPro.com
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator