Author: IAMJOHNBLUE

It’s been a while since I’ve checked in, and I want to thank everyone for the remarkable participation in practices and our first tournament. Great job Guys!

TURKEY BASH REVIEW

The boys exceeded expectations in their debut tournament, earning a Gold Bracket placement and a strong state ranking.

As coaches, we gained valuable insights into the USSSA process, rules, and future planning.

Everyone got a solid introduction to “travel ball life,” and based on the post-game chatter, there’s plenty of enthusiasm for more tournaments soon.

I’ll post a “Save the Date” interest check in GameChanger for the Snowball Classic, December 13-14. If we can get a viable team, lets do it!

RSVP if you can join—most importantly, reply if your family can’t make it.

PRACTICE REVIEW

TUESDAYS: Main practice at Dover Field continues indefinitely.

THURSDAYS: Unofficially, I’ve heard the boys are gathering at Dover for extra reps—keep it up!

FRIDAYS: Alternating between Dodgers Training Academy (DTA) and D-Bat. I was really impressed with DTA, so I propose securing bi-weekly sessions every other Friday through spring. It’ll cost $25 per player per session (plus occasional fees for guest instructors). This gives us a reliable, rain-proof venue for quality practices, keeps the team together, and locks in our DTA slot starting now.

Committing to DTA means upfront monthly payments—no “a la carte” options. I don’t want to chase payments after each practice, so Adam will collect funds early in the month.

STRATEGIC PLANNING

After our first tournament, it’s evident we have a competitive squad that can hold its own against top teams. That said, we’ll focus on building pitching, defense, hitting, and baserunning skills.

I saw a noticeable skill bump with Gold Brackets top teams—it’ll require honest assessments and dedicated work to claim a gold bracket ring. We’ve shown the organizers we can compete, so expect tougher pool play matchups next time; they won’t make it easy for us.

ULTRA-COMPETITIVE VS. DEVELOPING: MANAGING EXPECTATIONS

Traveling light clearly helped—key hitters rotated in quickly, with little bench time. Honestly, for maximum competitiveness, we should aim for 10 or 11 players.

Do we need to go ultra-competitive every time? No, but managing expectations upfront is key. With 12 kids, Silver Bracket is a realistic target. I am personally not opposed to this; I’m happy to get reps however they come. When its time to tighten up, we tighten up.

I spoke with other coaches and researched—it’s common to use Saturdays (pool play) for development, then shift to ultra-competitive on Sundays (elimination). It’s not required, but an option worth considering, Coaches will discuss how we should approach this.

We will define goals before each tournament. Our aim is to develop more than 10 players overall, so let’s build a strategy that supports that, and allows us to compete at the highest levels when wanted.

One key takeaway: At this level, players must produce at the plate. Opposing pitching is a step up from rec-ball. We need to cultivate a hitting culture and avoid relying on walks. Travel ball kids stand out by hitting harder and more often than in Little League. The defense was better but not drastically so compared to All-Stars. The best thing families can do is encourage hitting practice at home or in cages.

SOMETHING FUN

Let’s surprise the kids with something fun very soon, maybe an impromptu ice cream party at a practice and/or a kickball game.

Thank you again. I am very optimistic about this team and all of the kids involved.

WORD ON THE STREET

I ran into a Rattlesnakes parent at Trader Joes yesterday “Your team is very very good, to come out and do what you guys did, against us and Bolt is unbelievable! you should be really proud of those kids… You guys already made a name for yourselves.”

Thank you, Parents and Kids, you all did what you had to do.

Johnny.

Managing Expectations and Building a Team

Hello Families,

Many of you received our earlier invitation to join or start the Conejo Valley Kings baseball team. (Newsletter 1 and 2). It took a lot of brainstorming, and the interest was truly remarkable. I want to thank every one of you for participating in these initial steps to get the team off the ground.

Today we’ve “closed the books” for the time being. The interest in joining already exceeds normal baseball team limits and I want to take a moment to be completely frank and solidify what we are doing, how we are going to do it, and why.

Here are the priorities for the team as I see them:

• Continue Practice. The main objective: give the kids a cool, fun place to practice alongside like-minded, similarly skilled teammates. We’ll develop a fundamentals-focused approach where we focus on specific skills that help them succeed as young athletes.
  
• Build Chemistry. Let the boys develop clear roles and positions that will transfer into next year’s all-star teams. We’ll continue teaching all positions while giving each player a sense of personal responsibility to the team—using their individual strengths to let them build something greater than themselves.
  
• Accelerated Development. “Travel Ball” is an enticing option for many of the best players in our league. Every year, as kids get older, the league loses some of its top talent to more intensive programs where  players develop at a faster pace. Our intention is to provide that accelerated pace to these players right here “at home.”
  
• Compete. Lastly, but for some families, most importantly, we want to compete against other teams. We need to do this to  accurately assess our overall strength as a team  by playing in the same arena as Encino etc. . Although this is arguably the least important factor for development, we have to respect the families for whom competition play is the primary driver. We have to do this by fielding the most appropriate team to succeed at the level we have chosen to play.
  

Competition:
Until we understand the strength of our rivals, the team culture will be to field the most strategic 11 players in any given  travel-ball competition tournament. In these early stages I wholeheartedly believe it’s the best path for long-term success and sustainability for everyone. We simply won’t last long as a team  unless we prove we can compete. For the first tournament, this is non-negotiable—we are going in blind against teams that have been playing at the travel-ball level for years. We have to test the waters and understand the competition and we have to do it with the most experienced players we have. We can use the knowledge we gain to help the less experienced members of the team get “up to speed” and ready for this heightened competition.

SCRIMMAGE DAYS!
In order to keep things fun and give players more in-game experience we will implement regular scrimmage days. Everyone had a ton of fun scrimmaging the 9U squad, and we hope to host a bunch of these days throughout the winter, we will seek out and challenge local teams in a relaxed atmosphere. 

Thoughts on Depth:
One area we need to improve is depth. We had an awesome all-star season with a rock-solid core and players locked into key positions, but whenever we switched things up or someone was absent, we underperformed. We’ll need to train players to be more dynamic and capable of playing multiple positions. Many of our key players will need to pitch, so we’ll build a rotation strategy with secondary positions. Given the off-season nature of this effort, we can’t expect perfect attendance, so we’ll prepare players to step into different roles as needed.

Pitching:
From what I’ve seen, at this level pitching is the single most crucial aspect of success for a young team. We seem strong right now, but I want to treat pitching as priority one. I’m urging all potential pitchers to seek outside instruction—it doesn’t have to be expensive; it could even be with family. It just has to be intentional. To pitch on this team, I want each player to report how he has been training outside our normal practices. We won’t have the time, nor do we have the staff, for intensive personal pitching instruction.

Hitting:
Much like pitching, we won’t have time for detailed personal hitting instruction. We urge every player to take lessons and/or  practice hitting at least once a week. Our players should be able to easily hit 40 mph in the batting cage, feel very comfortable at 45 mph, and be actively attempting  50 mph, I guarantee we will face pitchers in all of these ranges at 8u travel ball, We will have team cage days and we expect players to meet these benchmarks to participate in tournaments. 

——

As we move forward into Halloween break, and into our first practices in November, I want you to know that I fully believe in all of the kids on this team and in its periphery, I have no desire to be exclusionary, on the contrary, I hope we as a team act as a catalyst for more kids to want to join us to practice and grow, I hope for our kids to be a good example to their friends, showing them what hard work and friendship can provide. My experience with Sage, the older boys and the CVLL coaches has been exactly this, we have been grateful recipients to an inclusive culture. I hope to extend this inclusivity whenever appropriate to any CVLL family who loves the game and is willing to work. (We earned our way dragging the field) 

The ultimate honor would be that come next summer the interest in all-stars be so strong that it facilitates “silver” teams, this would strengthen our league and make better spring season competition for our kids for years to come. 

Newsletter 4 will be focused on practice plans, scrimmage days and participation while dealing with secondary sports. 

“Questions Answered”

Are other teams really doing this? Yes, CVLL 9u and 10u teams are doing this. They are all currently playing in the SoCal USSSA “Fall League.” They are all “moved up” a year from the All-Star division they played in. We belong in 8u. I have been able to find that Northridge 8u, Encino, and Sherman Oaks are all registered.

What’s the cost? Virtually nothing now. $25 player registration for USSSA good through 2026 season. There are a couple of tournaments we can enter before spring starts; they are about $600 a pop, similar in function to All-Stars. We could probably get a jersey-hat combo for $50 a pop. I have a dream that we get the team fully or partially sponsored—there’s a shot it happens.

Who’s on the team? As of now, Ciccone, Deleon, Rosales, Dishell, Ross, Marcozzi, and Hernandez have expressed interest. Just informed Yoder (surprise!).

Who else is eligible to be on this team?Any kids who are in the Little League age bracket for 8u, but definitely for our purposes, only CVLL kids who will be 8u (little league) regular players next spring season.

Is this team affiliated with CVLL? No, this would not be an official CVLL team. My understanding is that the league supports these supplemental teams, but for all intents and purposes, they are completely separate.

Does joining this team guarantee next year’s All-Stars? No, the All-Star selection process for CVLL 8u is a strict democratic process where the six regular-season coaches nominate and vote on the 10 players they think deserve to be on the All-Star team. Playing on or practicing with this team will have no bearing on how that process plays out.

Practice the same as fall ball? No, not quite. I really want to step up the practice to a more fundamentals-based approach with outside coaches providing detailed instruction (Uncle Harold has agreed, and the sky is the limit if we can secure sponsorship). I still want to keep it to 1 day a week for now, but I want that day to be effective. We should establish a regimen for our pitching/hitting, encouraging outside pitching coaches and hitting training on off time.

Do you think we can be competitive?Yes, I think we could be competitive at the 8u level playing our best team. Even if we get whooped, it would still be a learning experience for everyone, but honestly, I think we would do alright at the 8u level.

Do you really want to play travel ball?Not really, no. I actually am trying to avoid taking Sage to play travel ball. I love CVLL, but after playing with and watching the older teams go through this last All-Stars and now participating in the travel fall league, I know what’s coming. I also know that Pony-ball and travel ball are enticing. There are cool programs that are attractive to the more hardcore baseball families, and I think something like this is the perfect solution to keep our Little League interesting and competitive.

What’s the ultimate goal? Winning the Little League World Series when the kids are 12u.

Why USSSA? I think in order for this venture to be effective, we need a goal. Here are the upcoming tournaments, and even having just 1 goal tournament before the year ends gives us a reason to start and will give us and the kids valuable information for next year.

Upcoming Tournaments (Fall/Winter 2025)

• Halloweekend: October 25-26, 2025, with events in Camarillo/Simi Valley.
• Veterans Day Super NIT: November 7-9, 2025, in Camarillo.
• Turkey Bash: November 29-30, 2025, with locations in Moorpark/Simi Valley.
• Toys for Tots: December 6-7, 2025, in Camarillo/Simi Valley.
• Snowball Classic: December 13-14, 2025, in Moorpark/Simi Valley.
• Winter Classic: December 20-21, 2025, in Moorpark/Simi Valley.

What’s next?

• Finish up fall ball
• Name the team
• Start practices
• Secure sponsorship
• Get hats and jerseys
• Pick a date

Can you coach? Yes, I have begun the paperwork process and am registered as a manager at USSSA. From here, I need a team name, and we can start registering players/coaches. It’s a simple online background check—nothing at all like what we do for CVLL. It’s pay $15 and run the background check. It’s a bit different than All-Stars; they seem to only allow 3 on-field coaches during games, b

“AFTER FALL BALL”

Thank you for an outstanding year of baseball. It’s been a privilege working together to provide our boys with an exceptional experience. I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome for all-stars or fall ball.

The CVLL 7U squad has had a storybook start, and it would be a shame not to capitalize on our team’s success by staying cohesive and competitive next year.

I’ve learned from older all-star team coaches, who kindly let me observe how they formed a “travel team”. At the start of the fall season, they asked if I wanted to do this with the 7U team, I declined because I felt we needed to focus on pitching development. I believed our regular CVLL fall program was ideal for trying out new pitchers. Now, I’m confident that there IS a good reason to keep the boys together and form a USSSA team.

I propose practicing over the winter break on a relaxed schedule, focusing on fundamentals. We all deserve a break, but teams we’ll face next year (Encino, Sherman Oaks, northridge , etc.) are keeping their kids together with travel teams or select programs.

I believe the best path is to stay the course. Our 2025 summer season was the perfect start for a successful, lasting team. Next year, the CVLL 8U all-star team (mostly our core) will likely be forced to transition to the fall “travel-ball” league  after the all-star season, following our predecessors’ precedent. 

Instead of waiting until after all-star season and being caught off guard, let’s start now, post-fall, keeping the kids together and practicing comfortably through the next few months. 

It’s critical to develop our kids through the spring season to ensure they return as all-stars next year. The CVLL 2026 Field 3 regular season has a strict draft process to form balanced teams. Our team will split up for the spring season at CVLL. Some will have great coaching, others may not. Forming a supplemental travel team will help keep the core together and secure nominations for our kids next year.  I’m confident our kids will earn nominations, but it’s not guaranteed. All-star selection for 8u is a political process.  

I propose we continue practicing, form the USSSA team now, and complete the paperwork. If possible, we might enter local tournaments. I’m participating with the 9U team currently and learning the process. In my observation, USSSA is not much different from all-stars in process. It’s not expensive to register a team or player with USSSA. The only  costs  arise if we opt to enter tournaments, then we would need to get uniforms. 

Fortunately, there are many local tournaments, looks like once a month there are reasonable options We don’t have to feel pressured to participate, but we’ll be ready if we choose to.

During the regular CVLL season, we’ll try to maintain weekly or bi-weekly supplemental practice. By next all-star season, we can have a battle-hardened, travel-ready team, also eligible for  local USSSA tournaments or, at minimum, the local fall-ball  “travel” league, where competition is much tougher than CVLL’s fall league. This is what our all-star competitors and CVLL’s older teams are doing. I don’t want to wait or lose players to other programs thinking the grass is greener. From what I’ve seen, it doesn’t get better than what we have. Chemistry is key. Let’s do this ourselves; we have great coaches, and the kids already love each other.

Here’s the plan: finish fall ball, relax, but keep practicing at least once a week, no pressure, let’s brainstorm, and when the opportunity arises, let’s go play ball…

Please consider joining. it’s not overwhelming. We can be as relaxed as we want, but I’m convinced starting now is best for the kids who want to remain at CVLL and continue crushing into next years all stars. 

Feel free to reach out, anytime if you have questions, practice can remain Fridays directly after fall ball. I am sending this initially to the core and coaching staff  and I will follow with a bullet point list of what we hope to do differently and some exciting things to look forward to.