Hello everyone and welcome to the 2023 Spring Baseball Season! My name is Brian Russo, and as the manager of the Majors Red Wings, I selected your son to play on the Red Wings this season.
Just a tad about me and our Assistant Coach, Tim Albers… I've now been coaching in HRYB for 13 seasons, and have a passion for positively developing youth skills that will serve them on and off the field. Coach Tim has been involved in HRYB since 2013… Our boys have played together and with many of your sons since kindergarten!
Our focus will be on player development and having a lot of fun at it. We expect to build a team that celebrates everyone’s successes and picks each other up when needed. I do believe that discipline and responsibility are important to the development of both players and young men. I will expect the players to arrive on time with their gear, ready to play, and be focused on baseball for the short time periods we spend together.
The most effective practices are those where we’re able to break the players into small groups to increase supervised repetitions. To that point, we very much welcome assistance from parents on the field during practice and games – please feel free to let me know if you are willing to help out – no experience required! I’d love to add about two additional coaches to our roster.
The complete schedule has not yet been posted, but generally we will practice on Tuesdays and play games on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Our first game will be on April 1st, and then games will resume following Spring Break on April 12th.
We will be traveling to Alexandria to play against Pioneer Cal Ripken league once during the season. We will also be hosting them once, and will also host games with teams out of the St. James sports program in Springfield.
Pre-Season practice schedule:
Tuesday, March 21st, 7:00-8:45, Herndon Middle School field 2
Saturday, March 25th, 4:00-6:00, Herndon Middle School field 2 - We'll have a short parent's meeting at the beginning of this practice, so I'd appreciate at least one participant per family.
Tuesday, March 28th, 7:00-8:45 Herndon Middle School field 2
Regular practices will also be on Tuesdays, 7:00-8:45 at Herndon Middle School field 2. The Town of Herndon is doing a complete overhaul of Bready Field this spring, and once complete we will shift there for practices – probably around May 1st.
Equipment:
Players should arrive for practice and games in baseball cleats (rubber not metal spikes), baseball pants, athletic protectors, water, and baseball gloves. If you are considering buying anything else, recommend starting first with a batting helmet. There will be plenty of bats to use, but I encourage less sharing with helmets. I will have a couple for those that do not have them. Batting helmets will need to be fitted with some sort of cheek/jaw protection (c-flap) or a full face cage. Bats must have a USA Baseball Stamp. NOT USSSA.
Tim and I are looking forward to working with each of your young men and are excited for the season. If you wish to assist in any way, let me know. If you have any questions please let me know!
Cheers, Brian
