First off, if you have never been to an ABCA convention and you are a coach or even an educator...mark your calendar for next year. It is a MUST ATTEND event. Check out 2019 ABCA Convention in Dallas.

The ABCA stands for American Baseball Coaches Association and is an organization that serves amateur baseball. 

After coming back from the ABCA convention, I have a few thoughts I like to pass on concerning my experience.

1. Every time I go to a clinic presentation, I try to pick up at least one new thought or drill from the presentation. In fact, this is what happened during several of the presentations I attended.

2. I listened to the speakers and tried to identify commonalities in their message. Some of the common themes I heard included focus, playing the game as part of a team, playing aggressively, growth mindset (open to learning new things-coaches and players), and teaching baseball drills in a progressive way (something we strive to do in our baseball drills system) so the kids learn the movements needed to do the overall drill.

3. There are a lot of cool, innovative, and thoughtful vendors doing some very cool things. We can't possibly name everyone but here are just a few:

• Blast
• Line Drive Pro
• Greater Midwest Baseball Tournaments
• GameSense Sports
• ​Steel Sports

On more than one occasion the speaker referenced that the most important thing we are doing as coaches does not have much to do with baseball, but helping kids learn about life through their successes and failures. This completely resonated with me because this is the foundation of Coach Baseball Right.

There were lots of people in attendance and I really enjoyed the opportunity to discuss, learn and become a better coach. I hope to see you next year at the ABCA convention in Dallas.