Friday, March 5, 2010
Thornydale Little League a class act
My grandson is in good hands as he starts his sixth season in the Thornydale Little League organization.
I must say the organization is one of the top, if not the top, youth baseball organizations in the city. My grandson, Jadon Price, is now 10 years old and his skills and knowledge of the game has progressed rapidly over the last few years to the point he's being noticed more and more and may be a force to be reckoned with in the years to come. The Thornydale LL officials and coaches see to it that the players are brought a long slowly, allowing the young player plenty of time to bloom.
Thornydale LL, which is located just a few blocks south of Mountain View High School in Marana, sees to it that the coaches also get top-notched instruction as well. Case in point, last night a hands-on, coaches clinic was held at Sportspark and the Thornydale coaches received expert advice from former major-leaguer Jason Hardtke. Hardtke is the current hitting coach for the Missoula Osprey, the Class A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Hardtke played parts of three seasons in the major leagues, playing a total of 67 games for the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs. A career .231 hitter, primarily used as a pinch-hitter, Hardtke had a career-best .268 batting average in 56 at-bats with the Mets in 2007, with two home runs and eight RBIs.
Hardtke was drafted in the third round by the Cleveland Indians in the 1990 amateur draft. He played parts of 10 seasons in the minor leagues with seven different organizations, and hit .291 for his minor-league career. His best season came in 1999, when he hit .328 with 12 home runs and 61 RBIs for Triple-A Indianapolis.
With the help of the Thornydale LL, I fully expect to see my grandson playing shortstop for Mountain View High School by the year 2016. Hats off to the Thornydale Little League.
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Class act? I guess if you are part of the "in" crowd at Thornydale, but to most people who have participated in this league, the common perception is that it's a clique operated by the same people only out to promote their kid.
ReplyDeleteNot so sure about that "in" or "click". If at all it is usually the few rather than the many...my first hand experience over the last six years for TLL is they promote total player development....sorry you don't see that...but then again I guess that's why your anonymous....
ReplyDeleteClick. I don t know about that. We enjoyed the whole atmosphere..Last season my boys had a great time playing in the American league... and by the way their team won the championship. Guess if you choose to be unfriendly, sure you won t fit in..
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I think TLL is an awesome organization and I hope it continues.
The board has turned into nothing but the showcase my kid as they break many rules so that board members can get there kids in the all stars and they can coach them too. They even go as far as having the president run the all start team when it is against the rules when others want to do it and are more capable. They need to get rid of all the board and start out again or get Bill L back in there cause since he left it has gone DOWN HILL!!!!!
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