This past weekend was undoubtedly the best weather of 2013. So why weren't we training outside?

The value of youth sports isn't simply found in the athletic development and discipline attained through its training.

The core value stems from the social interaction and friendships that are fused beyond the game.

I remember big games and special wins as a child. Equally clear though are the memories of swimming in hotel pools and running around the halls together.

Our preseason getaway took place this past weekend and I'm confident that my players etched some lifetime highlights into their memory banks.

As a youth team manager, it has been my intention to create a family atmosphere in which each individual feels compassionately obligated to become a joint family in what is otherwise a very isolating world.

Sometimes that means cheering for another child's hit and sometimes that means vacationing together with no "baseball" scheduled.

The 2013 Mississauga North Tigers Spring Getaway

The team arrived at Clifton Hill in Niagara Falls on Saturday at noon. We checked in and headed over to Nightmares Fear Factory.

Being the players first year to face live pitching, I wanted to give them a lesson in fear and how to overcome it.

I told them that no one was allowed to chicken out. If one of the team got too scared, the others would support him and make him feel safe.

Proudly, the team managed to make it through the darkened halls. Not before proving who was the most chicken of them all... the coaches!

After the haunted house, we walked down to a park along The Falls. The boys had a tennis ball and played some "sandlot" style baseball in front of one of the Wonders of the World.

With the weather being so great, there were hundreds of spectators who passed through the park and caught a glimpse of what has been a tradition for decades in Canada. A bunch of kids finding a piece of open land and playing a game of baseball.

The parents had an opportunity to simply sit in the grass, forget their worries and enjoy the beautiful weather. Raising athletes makes life busy and difficult. Here was a moment to just be relaxed and watch their children forging lifelong friendships.

After working up a sweat and an appetite, we walked back up Clifton Hill for a pizza party dinner and arcades at Boston Pizza.

The kids had free range of the games while the parents had some refreshments and played some pool.

I was so happy to see all the families being together with their children. There were plenty of smiles and it was a great way to get ready for an evening by the poolside back at the hotel.

On the wall of the Boston Pizza was big picture of Jim Morrison. I grouped the players together in took what has become my favourite picture of them.

One of the parents of the team posted it on Facebook with the following quote by Jim Morrison

"Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free."

The day truly had come full circle. Beginning with a moment for the children to face their fears at the haunted house, they were left with the remaining day to simply BE FREE.

The night finished with a 2 hour long swim in the hotel pool. During tournaments, we give the players an early curfew so that they aren't too tired for the games the next day.

With no game in the morning, we were able to let the boys stay up a little later than usual and enjoy the night with their friends as much as they had the day.

In the morning, we took the boys to Community Park Field in St. Catherines. Coach Jeff Lounsberry of the Brock University Badgers invited them onto the field for pregame batting practice.

My players got to hang out and talk to the players that a decade before were starting their Rep baseball career.

The Badgers players were awesome. They invited my Tigers players to sit in the locker room and dugout with them.

The highlight was having Mississauga North alumni Tyler Harrison put on his "Property of MNBA" t-shirt during batting practice.

Our weekend finished with eating some ice cream and watching some Canadian University baseball on a warm sunny day.

Stress free and relaxing before the grind of a full season of Rep baseball unfolds.

I'm confident that I have the athletes to compete at the highest level in Ontario. I'm certain that they will work as hard as they can and never give up.

We will give ourselves an opportunity to win every baseball game this year.

When the season is finished on labour day weekend, the 2013 summer will not only be a string of exciting baseball games.

It will be the accumulation of value that youth sports brings to a family. A value that was forged in Spring with a weekend getaway that was highlighted by moments beyond baseball.

In the aftermath of the horrific yet mysterious ankle injury of Jose Reyes, I ponder the metaphysical question of fate. Does everything travel to the same destined end?

Are the Jays' win totals pre-ordained or do the players, coaches and management have control over the win-loss columns?

Do we have control over the direction of our lives? Does every decision simply ignite the flame of that inevitable path?

I had two thoughts when I saw Reyes rolling around the KC dirt with tears in his eyes; 1) I hope it isn't as bad as it seems 2) Might this wake-up this sleeping giant?

The Blue Jays have reportedly been underachievers during the first week of the season.

The batters haven't been able to come up with the hit when needed.

The starting rotation has been... well... awful.

A little tangilble adversity may just be the very thing that this team needs.

With the loss of Reyes, might the starters begin attacking the zone trying to get as far into the game as they can?

With the loss of Reyes, might the difference makers like Lind and Rasmus explode towards a streak that would otherwise be thought as laughable to suggest?

Reyes' fluke ankle injury could be viewed as a chaotic accident furthering the despair that has been a disappointing 4-6 start.

I saw the faces of those Jays in the dugout. The kind of expression that says "this is serious."

And maybe that is what will happen. The Jays will take this chaotic moment and guide it towards their inevitable destiny.

Is this the destined year for the Blue Jays? Is this the year that they reach the post-season and a hockey city breeds another shade of blue in October?

After a lack luster start, this rude awakening event may be the very incident that will get the player's attention and right the rails of team that many expected to contend for the title.

The Blue Jays are 2-5 to start the season. Why even bother watch the next 155 games? This team is obviously not put together right. Dickey's Cy Young was a fluke. Bautista just had a few good years. It's time for 29 year old Josh Johnson to retire. He's washed up.

No, wait! The last two World Series champs started 2-4 and 2-5. Dickey gave up runs at the beginning of last year and then won the Cy Young. Bautista had 6 homeruns in Spring. Even Strasburg gave up 6 earned runs last outing.

I understand Toronto hasn't won a major North American championship in any sport in 20 years. I get that the beloved Maple Leafs haven't even made the playoffs in neraly a decade.

I realize the hype and hope that was stirred up this offseason has got people talking.

Enough already though. If you want to follow baseball, try using a measure of ambivalence.

Winning and losing coexist in this great game. A long season breeds streaks on both ends of the spectrum.

Be passionate. Fill your tweets with chirping and trash talk when they're winning. And yes, boo the disappointment when they're losing.

But can we class ourselves up a little Toronto? Do we really need to bash the team or apologize for the losses in the first week? Can't we be a legitimate Big League fanbase?

Do we really need to fire Anthopolous already or search the annals of Baseball Reference to justify the 2-5 start.

Enjoy the uncertainty and contradiction of baseball. Expect a win, be disappointed with a loss and be grateful that we get a chance to play again in a few more hours.

We are such a "what's next" culture that we never take the time to appreciate what's happening now. If we spend the whole season worrying about the end, we'll soon find the end here and we've wasted the opportunity to sit back and watch a very talented group of athletes play the greatest game.

Will the Toronto Blue Jays finish last in the AL East with 70 wins? Sure.
Will the Toronto Blue Jays finish first in the AL East with 90 wins? Sure.

I expect them to make the playoffs. I'll be disappointed if they don't.

In the meantime, I'm not going to let the future unknown distract me from watching Brandon Morrow paint the outside corner, Reyes go first to third on and infield groundout or Brett Cecil reinvent himself as a solid reliever.

The design of baseball stimulates us to have opposing feelings and attitudes towards the players and team. However, the deisgn also requires us to enjoy the roller coaster that the length of the season provides. It's hard to enjoy that ride if you jump out of the car before you even get to the top of the first hill.

Last night I was fortunate to attend an advanced screening of the movie 42, the story of Jackie Robinson.

I've blogged many times about the inspiration I draw from the valour and perseverance Jackie displayed while breaking in as the first African American player in the Major Leagues.

The movie starred Chadwick Boseman as Robinson and Harrison Ford as the visionary General Manager Branch Rickey.

Most baseball historians won't learn any new facts in the movie. Much of the content has been told through countless books and documentaries.

But I don't think this movie is for baseball historians.

This movie is for a new era of children who are fortunate to live in a time when racial injustice isn't so prevalent.

Of course racism still exists but certainly not to the degree it did when Jackie broke into the league in 1947.

Like racism before, our world is prevalent with many other social injustices.

This movie isn't just about letting African Americans remember their roots. It's not about rehashing the same ignorant rhetoric that blighted the American landscape.

42 is a movie about standing up to injustice... period. It's about teaching our youth that they have a right, in fact an obligation to voice their opinion when beliefs or systems are inherently wrong.

As my friend Rob says often, the world needs people that are catalysts to change. Jackie was a catalyst to racial inequality. Branch was a catalyst to baseball injustice.

My favourite quote from the movie comes when Jackie asks Mr. Rickey for the last time, "Why did you do it?"

Was it for racial injustice?
Was it to make more money?

What drove this man to stick out his neck in front of the rest of the baseball world?

I won't ruin it for you. I'll let you find out yourself. But when you do, know this. It is the exact same reason I continue to fight for a better baseball system in the province of Ontario.

The movie 42 shall serve as a reminder that change is inevitable when it is for the right reasons.

Rep team away tournaments are usually season highlights. The players get to hang out in hotel rooms, swim in the pool and spend time together off the field.

Strict coaches, like myself, impose early curfews during these tournaments. The players never really get to have full freedom of enjoyment because the focus must remain on the games.

In order to free my players from the game restraints we have planned a pre-season away "practice" this year.

We organize a spring hike a week before each season. I use it as a way to say thank you to the players for all their hard work during offseason training.

You can read about last year's hike here.

This year, we have planned an action-packed weekend in place of the simple spring hike.

We are heading to Niagara Falls on the Saturday and checking into a hotel on Clifton Hill.

Our players move from the pitching machine to live pitching this year. We have been teaching them to be confident at the plate. There will be no better way for them to conquer their fears than to brave a haunted house together as a team.

After experiencing the Nightmares Fear Factory, an inside pitch will be nothing.

Saturday will continue with a "sandlot" game in the park across from the Falls, team dinner and bowling at the Boston Pizza on Clifton Hill and then a pool party at the hotel.

The unique part of the trip is that we won't have a semi-final game in the morning as usually happens during summer tournaments. We can just let the boys play and enjoy their time to the fullest without the restraints of preparing for competition.

Sunday morning, we will be heading to Brock University where Coach Jeff Lounsbury has invited my team to take morning batting practice with the Badgers.

It will great for them to meet some of the Mississauga North Tigers alumni playing for Brock like Tyler Harrison

Depending on the weather and how tired the coaches are by then, we will decide to stay and watch the Badgers play a game in the afternoon or take a hike along the Whirlpool Rapids.

We've been working hard all winter to prepare and compete with all of the top teams in the province. Thousands of swings. Long toss 3 times per week since January. Bullpens, groundballs, double plays and blocking.

I'm positive they are ready to compete. However something tells me that the last 5 months of training will pale in comparison to the impact that 2 days of hanging with their friends will provide.

I've tried to approach Baseball Ontario in every way possible. I've spoke up at Annual General Meetings. I've had a fireside chat with some of their executive management. I've written transparent controversial blogs.

I've written conciliatory emails to the entire Baseball Ontario executive board and board of management. (See Copy Below)

I've brought a public arbitrator into the picture by approaching the provincial Minister of Sport, Michael Chan, in hopes of getting the ball rolling towards positive change.

Nothing!

Not a response. Not a scheduled meeting. Not a "we'll get back to you". Not a single acknowledgement.

Baseball Ontario, understand this, your current structure is hurting the greatest game in the world. I am not going away so just deal with the situation.

Your lack of professionalism and complete disrespect for a member who wants your organization to be the greatest in the country is appalling.

I so desperately want to believe this is a misunderstanding. Want to believe that you prioritize the game and our children. Your silence has me questioning your character.

There are hundreds of people in this province who are fed up with the ridiculousness of your incompetence.

Do you think I care how my perseverance is perceived? Do you think I care if you like me?

I'm not here to join your club. I'm here for my 3 year old son. I'm here for my neighbour's kids and for the kids in every corner of this great province.

If you think it's too much work, move aside and we'll get someone in there who understands it takes a little concentrated effort to build and maintain greatness.

You should have scouted me better. I'm not going to be an easy out.

It's time to step up to the plate and make the changes necessary to maximize on the potential that the history of the OBA left you with.

Let's Go Already!

PLAY BALL !

Email to the entire Baseball Ontario Executive and Board of Management:

From: Michael Smolders [mailto:mike@elite-effort.com]
Sent: February-25-13 12:17 PM
Subject: Baseball Ontario Changes

Good Morning Everyone,

I attended the Special AGM on Saturday in Cambridge. I am always impressed to see how much passion there is for baseball in this province. Some of you may know me and some may not.

I have a deep interest in baseball in this country. I have a vision that our current development structure will be transformed and we will exponentially grow our amateur youth participants while also developing more elite level professional players.

The current structure of Baseball Ontario makes this vision impossible to realize. The disconnect between grassroots, competitive and elite is creating a disservice to the game and making everyone's job a whole lot more difficult.

I believe that I have some viable strategies to build a better system in Ontario. I am not interested in politics or processes. We all know there is a problem in Ontario and we all need to fix it. Regardless of who we are locally affiliated with or whether we sit on the Baseball Ontario board.

Some may see me as a troublemaker disrespecting the members that long served our youth. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have upmost respect for the thousands of volunteer hours you have logged. If you have been personally insulted by my actions or words, I am sincerely sorry. The bottom line is that I have a passion and a vision I intend to realize with a complete disregard for how people view me along the way. I often disassociate business with personal feelings and forget that not everyone does the same.

I would love an opportunity to get some of the amazing people together in this province and begin planning a structure that will make our grassroots players stay in the game and maximize our Elite players' potential.

Here is a recent review of this Saturday with some positive changes that can come out of it: http://beyondbaseball.blog.ca/2013/02/25/real-opportunity-for-baseball-ontario-15567477/

Over the past year, I have been focused on transforming our local association and now I would like to extend those positive changes across the province.

I play this game with my son at the end of every session of catch in the yard. He can stay outside all night if he continues to throw and hit the target I give him.

He's always begging me to stay out a little longer so I give him the chance to extend it as long as he can.

When we're just throwing, tossing popflies or I'm catching his pitches, he has no problem hitting the targets.

As soon as I make him worry about the results of his throws, he inevitably tenses up, aims his pitches, gets caught up in his mechanics and simply loses his natural delivery.

Last year Ricky Romero was thrown into the role of pitching staff ace and leader. He seemed to relish the opportunity on the outside but many questioned his mental confidence as he continued to walk batters and remain winless after each outing.

This year, Ricky comes into camp at the opposite end of the spectrum. He is now barely holding on to the 5th starter spot after the Jays bolstered the staff with Johnson, Beuhrle and RA Dickey.

In both cases, Ricky's mental approach focuses on the results of the pitch instead of the process of his delivery.

In 2012 he made it his responsibility to get wins. Sometimes that meant being too fine, trying to strike out a batter instead of trusting his defense. The outcome being far too many walks.

In fact, I remember a preseason promo of him talking about "1 inch". Saying that he was refining himself to fix the one inch that caused the ball to be hit out of the park. Unfortunately trying to fix that one inch caused his pitches to be off a dozen inches.

This year he's in camp competing to remain in the starting rotation. He's pitching for outs instead of working on his delivery. The same poor mental approach producing the same poor results.

HOW CAN IT BE FIXED?

Ricky needs to throw without any concern for what happens afterwards. Once he does, he will soon find that easy natural delivery that propelled him through Cal State and into the first round of the 2005 Draft.

Like Halladay before him, sending him to Buffalo (Syracuse in the case of Halladay) won't do him any good. In 'AAA' he will remain focused on the results, hoping that they will get him back to Toronto.

Ricky should remain in Dunedin after the team heads north. Let him throw with ease, find his natural delivery and rebuild his confidence by being the star of the dugout like he was in 2011.

In 2001, Halladay was optioned to Dunedin at the beginning of the season and it turned out to be the recipe for Cy Young, No-hitter and Perfect Game success.

I like Romero's grit and determination. I'm confident that someone with so much talent will find his way back to the top tier of Major League pitching.

Like my son in the backyard, once he stops worrying about the bad things that will happen from throwing the ball wrong, he will let his strong, live arm do what it was intended to do; throw the ball right and get batters out.

I had alot of people ask me why we did it for free? Why did we spend our evenings and weekends building an indoor facility?

I had a vision it could be done and was willing to invest all of my time in a project that would prove the concept. A local non-profit baseball association could support their own indoor facility.

I was fortunate to be surrounded by a group of people that not only trust me to coach their children, but also sacrifice their own lives to help me build a better community.

I thought the reward was seeing it work. I thought the big pay off was watching the hundreds of children playing baseball inside during this long and cold winter.

I thought that was the priceless gift until I received the call from the Toronto Blue Jays.

In appreciation for the efforts we were making to grow the game of baseball in Mississauga, the Blue Jays have invited the players of my 10U Mosquito team to take part in Opening Day Ceremonies at the Rogers Centre.

In what will truly be one of the greatest Opening Days in recent history, my players will have an opportunity to be on the field as the 50,000 fans cheer, wave flags and flash cameras.

This experience will serve as a valuable visualization tool. They will be dressed in full Jays uniforms. They will be experiencing what it's like to be in the big leagues.

The Toronto Blue Jays are doing more than giving some kids a chance to be on the field.

They are allowing us an opportunity to give our children a gift that has no dollar figure. A priceless experience that they can hold in their hearts and minds and motivate them to follow their dreams.

Who knows which of them may be returning to the field 10 years from now? Using that visual of the 2013 Opening Day to drive them and remind them of what can happen if you devote your life and passion fully towards being great.

Baseball Ontario held its Special AGM on Saturday in Cambridge. This meeting was scheduled in response to the many questions about the direction that the province should be taking in regards to Midget level baseball. Midget is for players between 15-17 years old.

The belief by many in the province is that non-profit Midget baseball is being destroyed by for-profit Elite teams that are luring players and parents away from the local baseball associations. They believe they are offering false promises of better coaching and athletic scholarship opportunities.

The consensus is that a few of these private programs do offer a higher calibre coaching and viable post-secondary opportunities while the majority are simply a private business preying on people's unrealistic views of their own talent level.

There was a lengthy discussion that was primarily focused on the relationship between Baseball Ontario and the Premier Baseball League of Ontario (PBLO). Agreements were made in the past to help protect Baseball Ontario's athletes from being taken by the PBLO. Some feel these agreements are being violated. Some feel the agreements are not strong enough. Some believe there should not be an agreement at all.

I am of the belief that the agreements don't matter.

I guess it is understandable that many would like to fix the issue of declining Midget registrations by trying to create a "quick fix".

A committee and the Board of Management had the task of creating a new model for Baseball Ontario. A model that would in essence compete against the PBLO by allowing teams to be formed with the best players from around the province.

A constitutional amendment would need to be made that would allow players to go to these teams without needing a release from their local baseball association.

The thought was that these teams could charge far less for similar programming offered by Elite teams. This would entice players to remain with Baseball Ontario.

This is a band-aid solution trying to solve the bleeding out of midget players.

My issue with this philosophy is that the diagnose is wrong.

Midget level baseball is not being destroyed by Elite programs. That is simply a fraction of the many other underlying issues.

Some of these issues can't be contended with. 15-17 year olds get jobs, girlfriends and find other interests in life. Constitutional amendments can't change that.

What Baseball Ontario and its members need to focus on is the real diagnose. The solution that has taken Sport Canada and Baseball Canada years to research and develop. They have done all the work for us and now all we need to do is to read and listen.

Without getting back into the debate about Long Term Athletic Development, I am going to simplify it down to its basic terms.

1) Early levels of baseball need to focus on developing skills before playing games. Baseball Ontario must standardize this process and provide labour, funding and resources to get associations enacting this. Baseball is only fun when you can play it.

2) Early levels of baseball need to groom parents to be coaches. Teach them organization, the importance of mentoring in a community and basic baseball fundamentals. Baseball Ontario must give local associations a developmental structure that shows how Rep baseball can assist in grooming these parents.

3) Teach the children to throw the ball properly before the age of 8. Baseball Ontario must make all associations accountable to their programming. If a local association doesn't want to change that is fine. However, they won't be eligible for the assistance that other associations are receiving.

4) As the children enter pitching, the previous focus on throwing has produced better pitchers. Making Mosquito level baseball more enjoyable and retaining families. Hitting skill is increased because players get a pitch to hit.

5) When the Rep teams are selected in Rookie Ball, the remaining players in house league still have better skill than before because of the development programs from 4-8 years old.

6) After moving to Rep, the coaches must continue to volunteer in the house league system. Again, this is a structure and strategy that Baseball Ontario needs to provide all locals.

7) There is a higher player retention in Peewee and Bantam because parents and players enjoy a well played game.

8) As the children age and mature, the continued focus on development in house league has allowed these players to be capable of playing Rep once puberty has changed their lack of athleticism.

9) As players decide to move to Elite level teams, there is a larger supply of adequately skilled players to fill in at the Midget level.

10)Baseball Ontario and the PBLO work together to train coaches at the Rookie, Mosquito and Peewee levels so that even lesser skilled players will have a chance to improve with better coaching.

This is only a worse case scenario. I believe that with increase player registration and player retention, local associations will have more money to build affordable programs that can in fact compete with the elite leagues.

The membership of Baseball Ontario voted against making any changes right now. However, that doesn't mean that we are going to allow the same dysfunctional structure to exist.

Now is not the time to make an elite level Midget program. Now is the time to plan for an elite level Midget program for the years 2018-20.

It is simply a basic concept of physics. If you want something to be strong at the top, you must build a strong base at the bottom.

I look forward to encouraging and working with all baseball people in this province to plan, prepare and execute a strategic plan that will grow the game at all levels, elevate our elite players to professional status and create a legacy for Baseball Ontario that will resonate all across Canada.

From the moment you become their coach you are engrained in the fabric of that boy or girl's mind forever. As one of society's authority figures, what you say and how you say it can have deep emotional impacts on the child.

Your actions, body language and overall vibe that you bring shows them how to act.

You can destroy their confidence or you can carry them to pinnacles they couldn't even imagine.

Everything matters as a coach.

Your impact is far less about their athletic skill development and far more about their human character development.

How do you react when they do things wrong? How do you discipline them? Do you balance the love and fear or are you a one dimensional personality giving them too much of one and not enough of the other?

When is the last time that you walked over to one of your athletes and simply told them that you liked them... or loved them?

These players sweat for you. The feel pain and push through. They trust that you know what you are talking about and they believe that your guidance will lead them in positive directions.

How often have you pushed them beyond their sport? Have you made them help out in their community? Have you told them that your team, your guidance comes for price? Not a price that money can purchase.

Have you taught your players the value of goodwill?

The devotion of a young athlete leaves them vulnerable to impression.

Let's make sure that as a coach, every impression that we leave on them is a catalyst for them to reach the mountaintop.