The concept of this conference came about in the Fall of 2020. I was going through our limited practices with 10 or less and was having the time of my life. I missed human interaction so much and I missed the players even more. I was locked in on zooms throughout the pandemic as many other coaches were, and I was excited to share my newfound knowledge to my players. When I started to get to work on this, I realized quickly it was going to be harder than I thought to apply all of the information that I just gained. I started thinking about why this was. Then, I remembered that it was easier to apply the information that I had gained at the three conferences I went to before covid. These conferences were the ABCA national coaches convention, slugfest and pitch-a-palooza. The missing ingredient for the zoom conferences was that true human connection. I started to get excited about the thought of these conferences starting back up once covid-protocols were lifted. These conferences are the backbone to creating better coaches year in and year out. I have a tendency to think about how I can make things better, and I did this with baseball coaches conferences. The areas of concern were attendance numbers, location, fresh speakers and affordability. I quickly realized that this is something that others felt the same as me. Then, I started doing research and saw that this was a reasonable goal to get the Connecting the Dots Coaches Conference off the ground. With the support of my wife and friends, I am so excited to announce that the inaugural conference will take place December 3rd-5th in Knoxville, TN. I have been writing blogs for over two years now and found it fitting to write one to inform you how I intend to make the four areas stated above the best that I possibly can. 

Attendance Numbers- Human connection is key and that’s why these conferences are so successful. The ABCA is a fantastic conference and I think that it applies the rule of “Team of Teams” perfectly. All baseball coaches have a specific area that they loved to indulge in whether that be hitting, pitching, defense and more. The subsets all have their specific topics they like to discuss but we are all at this conference to become a better baseball coach. Here is an article that describes the principle laid out by General Stanley McChrystal. 

Team of Teams Summary

It is my hope with this conference that we can become one of the smaller teams that can stay connected and meet up at bigger events such as the conferences that most of us have been to in the past. 

Location- The event will be primarily held at the Hilton at Knoxville airport. This location is ideal because it’s central to everything around  Maryville/Knoxville. These two towns have so much to offer for whatever you would like to do with your time outside of the conference. If you are flying in, there is a walkway straight to the venue/hotel that you will be staying in. Rideshares to Maryville and Knoxville area are available at all times. 

Speakers- I’ve started to notice that over lockdown, the same speakers have been shuffled in and out of conferences.The goal is to bring some new faces to the stage that are well respected in the baseball community. It’s my hope that over the years, this conference will be a stepping stone to the bigger conferences around the country. Giving the up and coming coaches a chance to practice their public speaking skills before they hit the big stage in a more intimate space.

Affordability- Baseball Coaches are not made of money. We are about this profession for many other reasons, and one of them is not our salaries. That’s why I’m trying to make this event as affordable as possible. The hotel, flights, and ticket will all be at an industry low so that young coaches can come get the continued education they need to kick start their career. 

It is my hope that we can build this conference into a small community that comes together yearly to share all of their new ideas and ideas of old. Make sure to reach out with questions and ideas that you think could help!