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Camps & Tournaments
Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation
Ironclad Authentics
Aberdeen IronBirds
Augusta GreenJackets

Myrtle Beach Tournaments and Aberdeen Camps Going Fast
 

Summer tournament sales for The Ripken Experience - Myrtle Beach are well ahead of last year's pace. All spots in 13u tournaments are completely sold out, and other spots are going fast. For more information or to see the complete tournament schedule, please go to www.RipkenTournaments.com. Spots in summer baseball camps at the Ripken Academy in Aberdeen, MD, also are selling quickly. Don't miss out on an opportunity to have your child attend America's most talked-about baseball camps. Go to www.RipkenCamps.com to find out more or sign up.
 

Hey Parents ... Ask Cal!
 

Cal Ripken, Jr. offers advice to parents of young athletes each week in the Baltimore Sun. If you don't live in Baltimore, don't worry, you can access the column at www.baltimoresun.com/askcal. If you'd like to send a question of your own to Cal, please email it to askcal@baltimoresun.com .
 

Looking for a Sports Medicine Tip?
 

 If you have a question about a sports-related injury, a rehabilitation program or proper training techniques, please visit the website of our partner, Union Memorial Hospital Sports Medicine/MedStar Health. Submit a question directly to an athletic trainer or call 1-888-44-SPORT to speak directly with a sports medicine professtional.

Early Season Rules to Live By

By Cal and Bill Ripken
This time of year is like Christmas for youth baseball coaches.

At the high school and older travel levels, many of your players have been going through off-season workouts, and you’re excited to see the gains they’ve made. Coaches of younger players have been waiting patiently through soccer and basketball seasons and are itching to get to the field. Their players are going to be naturally bigger, stronger and faster, so from a coaching perspective they should be able to absorb more and try new things.

Just like kids who rush down the steps to see what’s under the tree, baseball coaches are itching to get on the field and see their new “toys.” It’s a great time of year for baseball players and coaches.
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Building Blocks for Infield Play

By Cal and Bill Ripken with Scott Lowe
The following drills, which can be found in our new book, Coaching Youth Baseball the Ripken Way, will help your players develop the simple fundamental building blocks necessary for infielders to execute more difficult and complicated plays during the course of the season.

Instead of introducing more difficult skills early in the season, spend several days or more on defensive drills such as these to get your players used to being outside, playing on fields that are in less-than-perfect condition and making the throws required by their positions and the fields on which they play. These drills will help their muscles remember the demands placed on them by the game of baseball and will help the players develop the muscle memory required to make the routine plays and to adapt to unusual situations.
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Parentally Speaking April 2007

By Cal Ripken, Jr.
This space is dedicated to the many sports parenting issues that are presented to me on an almost daily basis. Much of this information is useful for parents and coaches alike. I hope that you find it useful and entertaining.

Can kids who don’t play travel baseball develop into good players, and is it fair for coaches of travel teams to expect their players to concentrate only on that one sport – or to make that sport the top priority – throughout the year?
As I’ve stated here many times before, we recommend that young athletes not specialize in one sport until they are old enough to make that kind of a decision on their own. Playing multiple sports promotes overall athleticism, which is never going to be detrimental to a player’s development in one particular sport. So, I do believe that young athletes who do not play travel baseball can develop into fine players. If you find that your child’s participation in baseball at the recreational or in-house level isn’t helping him or her progress adequately, there are plenty of coaches out there who can work with him or her one-on-one at times that fit into your family’s schedule.
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Ripken Happenings: Cal and Bill Get New Time Slot on XM!

Ripken Baseball on MLB Homeplate has returned to XM Satellite Radio in a new time slot. Tune in to XM channel 175 every Saturday between 10 a.m. and noon Eastern time to hear Cal Ripken, Jr. and Bill Ripken discuss the game that they loved playing and enjoy teaching.

New to this year’s show is a weekly segment just for you, the youth baseball coaches of America. Coach’s Clipboard will feature questions from our Parent and Coach Clipboard subscribers. For now all you have to do is send your question for Cal and/or Bill to newsletter@RipkenBaseball.com with the subject line: XM RADIO QUESTION. Each week Cal and Bill will pick several questions to answer on the air. In the near future, a Podcast of each week’s Coach’s Clipboard segment will be available on a special XM Radio page within the Parent and Coach Clipboard website at www.RipkenBaseball.com/cc. Soon you also will be able to submit your questions there as well via an easy-to-use submission form.
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