Coaching Youth Baseball the Ripken Way Cal Ripken Jr.: More than 50 Drills Covering Defense, Hitting

Ripken has made a tremendous impact on the sport and on fans everywhere. In 1999, Babe Ruth League, Inc., changed the name of its largest division (5- to 12-year-olds) from Bambino to Cal Ripken Baseball. Currently, more than 700,000 youths play Cal Ripken Baseball worldwide. He is using the platform that baseball has provided him to construct a baseball complex in his hometown of Aberdeen, Maryland. The one-of-a-kind facility consists of Ripken Stadium, a state-of-the-art 6,000-seat minor league ballpark that is home to the hugely successful Class A Aberdeen IronBirds. Adjacent to the minor league ballpark is the Ripken Youth Baseball Academy, consisting of eight youth fields, including a youth-sized replica of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, a synthetic training infield, a bullpen area, and batting cages.

Coaching Youth Baseball the Ripken Way Cal Ripken Jr.

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Bill Ripken, a 12-year Major League veteran, began his career with the Baltimore Orioles in 1987 under the direction of his father, Cal Ripken, Sr., and alongside brother Cal Ripken, Jr. This was the first and remains the only time in Major League Baseball history that a father simultaneously managed two of his sons. After five and a half seasons with the Orioles, Ripken, who would later return to Baltimore for a year, played for Texas, Cleveland, and Detroit. In 1988, he was second among American League second basemen in double plays turned (100). At the plate, Ripken led the Baltimore Orioles in hitting with a .291 average and 28 doubles in 1990. Ripken, a second baseman by trade, had a fielding percentage of .9927 in 1992, the best of any Major League second baseman that season, and his career fielding percentage at second base (.987) ranks among baseball's all-time leaders. Ripken was voted by his peers as one of the players most likely to manage a big league team. Ripken is the co-owner and executive vice president of Ripken Baseball Inc., a baseball sales and marketing company founded in 1999 and based in Baltimore. Ripken is involved in all aspects of the business and regularly instructs at youth camps and coaching clinics. Through his work with these programs, he has become recognized as one of America's premiere baseball instructors. Ripken also is involved in the continued development of the Ripken Academy in Aberdeen, Maryland, and the management of Ripken Baseball's minor league teams in Aberdeen and Augusta, Georgia.

Scott Lowe joined Ripken Baseball in 1999 after eight years working in college sports publicity. Lowe initially served as the general manager of the company's camps and clinics division, developing Ripken Baseball's youth camps, coaching clinics, and other instructional programs. Presently he writes and designs Ripken Baseball's Coach's Clipboard e-newsletter, which is distributed to amateur baseball coaches around the world on a monthly basis. He also oversees the creation and distribution off Ripken Baseball instructional products and is involved in the development and implementation of the company's coaching education and other baseball instructional programs.

Ripken was born in Havre de Grace, Maryland, the son of Violet Roberta "Vi" Ripken (née Gross) and Cal Ripken Sr. He has German, English, and Irish ancestry.[5][6] Though the Ripkens called Aberdeen, Maryland, their home, they were often on the move because of Cal Sr.'s coaching duties with the Baltimore Orioles organization.[7] Cal Sr., in fact, was in Topeka, Kansas, with one of his teams when his son was born.[8] Cal Jr. grew up around baseball and got started in it at a very young age.[1] He was able to receive instruction from players on his father's teams, notably Doug DeCinces.[9] He also got advice from his father, who once remarked to his mother that his questions were better than the ones reporters had.[10] At the age of three, Ripken knew he wanted to be a ballplayer, and at the age of 10, Ripken "knew the game inside and out".[10][11] Ripken and his brother Billy attended Aberdeen High School.[12] They both played baseball there; Cal also played soccer.[13] He has two other siblings, Ellen and Fred.[14]

Ripken has made donations to many various charitable causes, including donations supporting research on Lou Gehrig's disease. After he broke Gehrig's record, the Orioles, along with private donors, created the Cal Ripken/Lou Gehrig Fund for Neuromuscular Research at Johns Hopkins University.[143] Along with his brother Billy, he formed the Cal Ripken Sr., Foundation in 2001 to give underprivileged children the opportunity to attend baseball camps around the country and learn the game. The Foundation is a branch of Ripken Baseball.[144] In addition to controlling these camps and Ripken's minor league teams, Ripken Baseball operates for-profit camps and designs ballfields for youth, college, and professional teams.[145] He gives speeches about his time in baseball and some of the lessons he has learned. Between 2001 and 2004, inclusive, Ripken served as commissioner of the White House Tee Ball Initiative of President George W. Bush, in which capacity he worked to promote the value of teamwork amongst players and volunteership amongst the public and helped to teach tee ball fundamentals to teams of children at the White House.[146]

On August 13, 2007, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced that Ripken had been named Special Sports Envoy for the US State Department and that he would be going to China in October: "... we're just delighted that somebody of Cal Ripken's stature is going to be someone who will go out and represent America so well and represent what we consider to be American values, but universal values; that hard work and diligence and the willingness to really put it all on the line every day is something that kids need to learn", said Rice.[149][150] "A Shortstop in China" premiered on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network on May 8, 2009, chronicling Ripken's trip to China to share the game of baseball with youth and coaches while nurturing American-Chinese diplomacy.[151] The documentary included footage from the 11 clinics Cal and former Oriole B. J. Surhoff held from Beijing to Guangzhou.[152] The documentary also showed Ripken accepting his appointment from Rice and featured a variety of interviews, from Ripken's wife Kelly to former Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Karen Hughes.[151]

Ripken has written nearly thirty books.[183] After the 1996 season, he released an autobiography titled The Only Way I Know, co-written with Mike Bryan, which was a New York Times Best Seller.[184][185] Following his retirement, he wrote several more, including Play Baseball the Ripken Way: The Complete Illustrated Guide to the Fundamentals, also written by his brother Billy and co-authored by Larry Burke, in 2005. He released the book Parenting Young Athletes the Ripken Way, co-written with Rick Wolff, in 2006 after seeing too many young athletes who he felt were being pressured unnecessarily by their parents. He said, "I was thinking, 'This just creates too much pressure on kids.' They need to find an environment in which they can explore their game ... without all these kinds of pressures being brought to bear. Once I started thinking about it, I saw we had more than enough to fill a book."[186] Then in 2007, he released three books, starting with Coaching Youth Baseball the Ripken Way, also written by his brother Billy and co-authored by Scott Lowe, which highlights 50 practice drills, topics include coaching responsibly, goal setting for youth, and effective practice planning.[187] Later, in April of that year, he released two more books: Get in the Game: 8 Elements of Perseverance That Make the Difference, co-written with Donald T. Phillips, described as a motivational guide to success; and The Longest Season, co-written with Ron Mazellan, a children's book about the Orioles' 1988 season.[188] In 2011, he released Hothead, a children's fiction book co-written with Kevin Cowherd which was also a New York Times bestseller.[189] In addition, he has been writing a weekly youth sports advice newspaper column in the Baltimore Sun since 2005.[190]

With this in mind, the Babe Ruth League/Ripken Baseball Coaching Certification Program was developed. Under the program, which took effect at the start of the 2008 season, all baseball and softball coaches must complete coaching education and certification.

With this in mind, the Babe Ruth League/Ripken Baseball Coaching Certification Program was developed. Under the program, all rostered baseball and softball coaches and managers must complete coaching education before the beginning of the season.

The numbers the foundation has racked up since its founding are as impressive as the two MVPs, 19 All-Star Game appearances, 431 home runs, 3,184 hits, and 2,632 consecutive games played that Cal amassed during his 20 seasons with the Orioles. Over the course of its two decades, the foundation has affected more than 10 million children in all 50 states through its programs, constructed 137 STEM centers in elementary and middle schools nationwide, and spent $113 million to build the youth development parks, most of which can be used for baseball plus other sports.

This month I was given the opportunity to chat with both Hall of Fame Major League Baseball player, Cal Ripken, Jr., and his Emmy-nominated broadcasting brother Bill Ripken. We talked about playing baseball together as well as the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation they started in honor of their father. In addition to them sharing their baseball experience, they share some of the best lessons they learned from their dad/coach, as well as their best advice for sports parents and youth coaches today. You can watch a video of the interview below. Enjoy!

Josh Harris and David Blitzer have become majority investors in the deal announced Wednesday that merged two of the leading youth baseball brands that combined to host more 15,000 teams and 250,000 participants last year. The Ripken Experience operates in Maryland, South Carolina and Tennessee and plans to open a location in 2023 in Kentucky. The All-Star Village, based in Oneonta, New York, hosts more than 10,000 players ages 10 to 12 each summer. 2ff7e9595c