Sometimes a highschool baseball participant simply wants an opportunity. Somewhat one thing additional to get observed and additional their taking part in profession.
So longtime coaches Dan Donato and Rick Forestiere joined forces to create the Elite 100, a program designed to assist native highschool baseball gamers get acknowledged. The inaugural occasion is scheduled to run at Brandeis on June 27-28 from 4-8 p.m.
“We’ve always wanted to find a way to take care of the local kids and we don’t have anything like this around here,” mentioned Donato, the top baseball coach at Dexter Southfield. “The goal is to provide a showcase where we have a mix of kids from the public, private and Catholic schools. I’ve reached out to a lot of local high school coaches and they are fully on board with this.”
To tackle an endeavor of this magnitude, it helps to have individuals with a bit cachet; Donato and Forestiere match the invoice. Donato was a multi-sport athlete at Catholic Memorial who performed hockey and baseball at Boston University. He went on to a minor league profession in each the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays organizations, getting as excessive as Triple-A.
Forestiere performed baseball at Brandeis, graduating in 1991. He spent 26 years within the Independent School League, teaching at each BB&N and Thayer Academy earlier than stepping down in 2022.
It’s one factor to have a showcase, however doing it the precise means might be troublesome. The reply to their dilemma was proper below their noses. Donato despatched his son Danny to John Papas’ Elite Football Clinic, whereas Forestiere was the athletic director at BB&N the place Papas was the top soccer coach from 2003-2013.
“There is no better guy at running a clinic than John,” Donato mentioned. “He is the master at this, my son went to his NE Elite Clinic and loved it.”
When they approached Papas with the opportunity of changing the Elite Football Clinic mannequin to baseball, he was solely too glad to supply his knowledge, expertise and steering.
“First of all, I’ve known both of them for a long time and I have the utmost respect for them,” Papas mentioned. “They know baseball and have great connections throughout the sport. In order for something like this to be successful, you need panache. Danny and Rick both have that. They’ve coached multiple MLB draft picks and hundreds of college players. They’re respected by both the college and high school coaches. For that reason alone, I think it’s something that can work in this area without a doubt in my mind.”
Under the format, each child is assured a minimal of three at-bats a sport and each pitcher will face a minimal of six batters. Donato thinks that is greater than adequate for a participant to showcase his expertise in entrance of a bevy of coaches from the likes of Harvard, Dartmouth, Boston College, Northeastern, Bryant in addition to Saint Anselm and the NESCAC.
“I’ve coached for 25 years and I just want to do anything possible to help kids get to the next level whatever it happens to be for them.” Donato mentioned. “The goal is to provide something for a local kid to get noticed and I think this is it.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com