Richmond City Baseball didn’t have to look far to find the ideal candidate for the association’s first-ever Director of Player Development.
David Van Ostrand not only has the qualifications but came through Richmond Baseball himself before playing collegiately in the U.S. The 28-year-old officially began the position last month and is currently overseeing a six week winter program — the first of two sessions before preparations for the 2016 season take flight.
On this night, Van Ostrand is running a hitting session for younger players at the Blundell Cage covered practice facility.
“It’s good to get back here and see these little guys running around,” smiled the one-time New York Yankees draft pick who played college ball at Allan Hancock and Cal Poly. “After finishing up as a player I was lucky enough to get in contact with local people, including some of the coaches I had on the way up and are still doing great work for the association. I had to get back into it.
“(When I was a kid) we had some good things here and there like the Ball Park (a private training centre) but nothing like (the Blundell Cage). It’s great to see things getting bigger and better around Richmond baseball and even Canadian baseball in general.”
Van Ostrand and his brother Jimmy, who also enjoyed an outstanding career, idolized the Toronto Blue Jays during their back-to-back World Series wins in the early 1990s. Now, today’s players have been captivated by the Jays’ first appearance in the post-season in over 20 years.
“My brother even went as (Jays catcher) Pat Borders for Halloween one year,” laughed David. “It’s nice to see the next generation getting a little bit of that fever too.”
Hiring a Director of Player Development has been on Richmond Baseball’s wish list for about a year. There was a similar volunteer position before that required finding and bringing in instructors to run various camps.
“It really had become a lot of work and we thought maybe we should hire someone,” said president John Braaten.”We had a few applicants but David was a great choice given he had come through the minor system and gone on to play college ball too.
“Everything is scheduled with the focus being on general skills and hitting. Our main target group is eight to 11 years-old which represents 40 percent of our entire registration. We will do part two (of winter training in January) then David will start working with teams and players, touching all of them through the year. The main thing is we want one voice, one message and one style.”
The winter sessions rotate between the Blundell Cage and a couple of elementary school gyms.
The executive is thrilled with the initial response, despite very short notice, with 70 percent of the program already full and more parents coming forward to sign-up their child. The sessions are well-staggered to ensure they don’t interfere with other sports or activities.
“We have made a concerted effort to follow (Canadian Sport For Life’s) Long Term Athlete Development model, where we are training these kids to become athletes who want to play baseball,” explained Richmond City vice-president Dan Marriott.
“It’s not about only teaching baseball. We encourage our kids to go play soccer or hockey. That’s why we are reaching out to those groups too. We don’t want our kids throwing for three months in the winter. It’s more like stop, go play another sport and come back and see us again.”
Van Ostrand will also provide his expertise towards coaching development. In fact, coaches are encouraged to attend the winter training sessions to get a better understanding of what the kids are being taught and pick up on some practice ideas too.
“We have a coaching development plan and a mentorship plan where someone else comes in you to work with out coaches,” added Marriott. “You need a common knowledge. Every coach on the same page, speaking the same language. Now we have David entering the mix too.”
