Baseball has been over for a little over a month. Most kids are moving into football, soccer, hockey, swim, cross country, basketball tryouts just happened, and the school year has kicked off. Our players have shifted focus on to the new seasons and new challenges as we move into fall. What happens to baseball at this point?

I am a firm believer in multi-sport athletes, heck, the coaching staff of the 2026 team coach 3 different sports. There is no reason in my opinion for kids to solely focus on just one sport all year round unless of course they truly only love that one. I am referring more to the kids that are giving up other sports they enjoy to play because they think they are going to the MLB. Kids need cross-functional training, the mental stimulation, and challenges that other sports present, and the experience of the new teammates that comes with it. With any select level sport, this doesn't mean, however, that there isn't some sort of maintenance mode that needs to be followed. We all want to see our players develop, to be afforded more and new opportunities in the upcoming season.

There is a question that begs to be answered with the start of each new season. What has each player done to position themselves for a new opportunity? We all focus on the competition between our teams on the field with our opponents, but what we many times miss is the healthy competition between teammates for opportunities. Perhaps your son wants more innings on the mound, in the infield, or moving a few spots up in the batting order. The question then becomes, what work has been done in the off-season to get better? Have they invested the time and effort in themselves to improve their skills?

We have a great coaching staff that covers all age levels in our organization. The club has made substantial investments in indoor facilities including improvements at “The Clubhouse”, extra camps, and updated equipment. Coaches are putting in a tremendous amount of time with players from winter workouts throughout the season. The next step in the progression is to add some accountability to the players for their personal development.

I want to take a page from the Jr. Chargers Basketball Club and their 10,000 Make Club. Those of you in the basketball program know that this is a voluntary program that is offered. If achieved, the player is honored at halftime of a varsity basketball game. Players track the number of made shots over the off-season. The program highlights different drills for them to work on to get the shots up. Players go to work trying to get to 10,000 makes. This gives them a roadmap to developing the skills needed to grow as a player. The players track what camps the players attended, what offseason activities they participated in, and whether or not they played summer league or AAU. Basically, what investment did the player make to continue to be a better player, teammate, and Jr. Charger overall?

Over the next few months, I will be working with the board to craft and finalize a program that will bring this same personal development strategy to our baseball program. I understand that the southeastern Wisconsin weather brings some unique challenges to this. We will make sure to provide a roadmap to personal development that is viable for anyone to execute with minimal resources.

If we provide a roadmap and the players honestly follow it, invest in themselves, we will not only see tremendous growth in those individual players, but also each team and our Club as a whole.

Stay tuned for the launch of the Jr. Chargers 5 Tool Player Off-Season Club.

Coach Arnold