"Baseball gives every American boy a chance to excel, not just to be as good as someone else but to be better than someone else.  This is the nature of man and the name of the game."  Ted Williams

 

 

 

 

On Deck Baseball/Softball Skill Development Academy is a Charlotte based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose purpose is to take talented and motivated teenagers and develop positive life skills through learning to play the game of baseball at its highest and most competitive levels.  Our goal is to make this program available to all qualified players irrespective of financial condition or need.

Ideally, a player will enter the Baseball/Softball Skill Development Academy at the age of 14 and participate in the program through the end of high school.  During that time, each player will develop a strong work ethic; a sense of citizenship and community; build self-esteem; learn how to work, and sacrifice, as a part of a team; and develop positive skills to deal with both success and failure.

Players are required to spend substantial amounts of time developing both athletic and baseball skills while constantly maintaining acceptable levels of academic performance.  Members of the Academy are also required to give back to the community of which they are a part by providing services to those who are needy and less fortunate.

Baseball/Softball is a tool that can be used to teach lessons about life’s experiences in a positive way.  A baseball player in this program will develop a better understanding of how education, skill, luck, work, individual achievement, team performance, sacrifice, confrontation, judgment, choice… all things in which experience brings enormous value… can effect and impact their lives and the lives of others.  We believe that players who finish the Academy’s program, irrespective of when they stop playing competitive baseball, will be productive people with a strong since of self-worth, work ethic and community service.

The year-round commitment of time and attention that this program requires is an obvious positive alternative to the many negative temptations that surround young men and women at this critical transitional period in their lives. It is an ideal fourth priority after faith, family, and school.