Pack Nation — I’m excited about what the VisionX team is bringing to coaches, athletes, and organizations. We spend countless hours developing mechanics, strength, and the mental game. Our conversation with VisionX got me thinking about another part of that development: how athletes take in visual information, process it, and respond during play. What excites me is how accessible they’re working to make this training. You don’t need to build an expensive training lab to explore it. VisionX combines technology-based exercises with physical coordination drills, offering options for individual athletes, teams, and organizations. That creates a potentially valuable opportunity with a low barrier to entry: a way to explore vision training within the development program you already have. In our classroom webinar, the VisionX team walks through: • The difference between seeing clearly and using visual skills efficiently. • Baseline assessments and what coaches can learn from them. • How their training progresses. • Actual drill demonstrations and ways to fit training into an athlete’s schedule. 🎥 Watch the 45-minute webinar here: https://www.skool.com/trainwithpack/classroom/5ec1f2e2?md=978af3f1f18640af832b672f21627833 It’s available to every community member—no Premium upgrade required. 🌐 Explore the VisionX website: https://www.visionxsports.com/ Pack receives no commission from purchases. Contact VisionX for current pricing, team options, and discount eligibility. Making great coaching accessible, repeatable, and impactful beyond the diamond means bringing opportunities like this into the conversation—and giving you the information to decide what fits your athletes. 💬 Where could vision training fit into your organization’s player-development plan? What would you want to know before getting started? — Coach JT

Coach JT here. Whether you coach baseball or softball, your experience and questions belong in this community. Let's get you connected and help you find something useful for your next practice. 1. Introduce yourself below - Sport and age group: - Coaching role: - City/state or country: - Biggest coaching challenge right now: - What you've already tried: Already part of the Pack? Share an update about your current team or challenge. 2. Open Start Here: Your First 10 Minutes in the Classroom The guide points you toward resources for practice planning, team culture, parent conversations, hitting confidence, and recruiting. 3. Join a conversation Reply to another coach or post a specific question in Ask a Coach: Q&A. Include your sport, age group, situation, and what you've tried so others can give useful answers. 4. Try one idea - and tell us what happened Your field experience helps the next coach. Share what worked, what didn't, and what you changed. Check the Calendar for upcoming live sessions. Start with one connection and one useful idea. Let's build from there. - Coach JT Pack Baseball & Softball Academy

Pack Nation — our conversation with the VisionX team is now a 45-minute classroom webinar, available to EVERY community member. Explore the visual skills athletes use to track, process information, and respond during play. Inside the webinar: • Seeing clearly versus using visual information efficiently. • Baseline assessments and training progression. • Technology drills and physical coordination demonstrations. • How the program can fit into individual or team training. 🎥 WATCH THE CLASSROOM WEBINAR: https://www.skool.com/trainwithpack/classroom/5ec1f2e2?md=978af3f1f18640af832b672f21627833 No Premium upgrade or level unlock is required. The lesson includes timestamps so you can find the topic you want. 💬 LET’S KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING After watching, leave ONE question below. Include your sport and age group so the VisionX team has context. Explore VisionX: https://www.visionxsports.com/ Use code PACK for 10% off. Pack receives no commission from purchases. Check VisionX for current options and discount eligibility. — Coach JT Making great coaching accessible, repeatable, and impactful beyond the diamond. Ryan and Seamus — thank you for sharing your expertise. Tagging you here so members can direct their questions to you and continue the conversation: @Ryan Curry and @Seamus Brazill

Years ago, I was helping the Spartans organization when they had 13 kids who hadn’t made any of the teams at the main tryouts. They asked if I would coach another team. I said yes. I spent two seasons with those players. Winning took time. A big part of our work was rebuilding confidence and changing what those kids believed was possible for themselves. One player still stands out. He had grown about six inches over the winter and was struggling to figure out his new body. Hands, feet, coordination—everything was catching up. He had been put in the outfield, but he was struggling there, too. As I watched him, I started looking at his frame and wondering what else he might be capable of. “Have you ever considered pitching?” His answer has stayed with me: “Oh no. That’s only for the good players.” Think about what that young man was telling me. He had already decided which category he belonged in—and which opportunities weren’t meant for him. We started working on pitching. He became our first winning pitcher. Over those two seasons, he recorded the most wins on our team. He pitched on his freshman team in high school, then spent the next three years on varsity. He eventually had an opportunity to play in college and chose a different path. Today, he owns eight Cinna-Buns, and is a successful business owner. I’m proud of his baseball journey. I’m even more proud of the person he became. I can’t claim coaching caused everything that followed, but I know we gave him an opportunity to see himself differently. That’s something we can do as coaches: believe in a player before that player knows how to believe in himself. An athlete who struggles can start carrying the belief, “Something is wrong with me. I need fixing.” Our instruction can give them a different framework: “I have value right now. I can learn. With the right instruction and an opportunity to work, I can grow.” That’s what I mean by coaching from a solution-oriented framework. We identify where the athlete is, what they want to accomplish, and the next step they can take. We teach skills without making their current struggles their identity.

PACK NATION — this conversation goes well beyond the scoreboard. Steve Boorstein joined me on Inside the Dugout with the PACK to share how a skiing accident and a stroke changed his life—and what it has meant to rebuild, adapt, and keep finding reasons to move forward. What stood out to me was his honesty. He talks about the hard parts, the things other people cannot see, and the humor that helped him face each day. 🎥 Watch the full interview attached below. IN THIS CONVERSATION: • Relearning everyday skills and adjusting to a different life. • Finding moments of humor without pretending the challenges have disappeared. • The role of family, caregivers, and support from other survivors. • Turning his experience—and other survivors’ stories—into his book, Different Strokes. • Why someone can look fine on the outside while still facing significant challenges. MY COACHING TAKEAWAY An athlete returning from a setback may be carrying more than we can see. Ask, listen, and find a meaningful way for that person to stay connected to the team. Progress and support will look different for each individual. Steve is sharing his personal recovery experience, not a treatment plan. His story is a reason to listen with greater understanding—not to expect everyone to recover the same way. 💬 COACHES & PARENTS: What is ONE practical way you keep an injured or sidelined athlete connected, valued, and involved? Share your sport and age group without naming the athlete. Thank you, Steve, for trusting the PACK with your story. — Coach JT PACK Baseball & Softball Academy