Baseball / HF Weekly Updates

HF Weekly Updates

Date:  Source: Headfirst Baseball Academy
WEEKLY UPDATE #3 (7/8)
 
HF players have been "en fuego" (on fire) in terms of development and we are thrilled by the advances and LEAPS in development that are taking place with training.  All we are missing are the live tourney games where we can combine those advances with competition!
 
1 - COMPELLING VIDEO CLIPS
College recruiting has changed along with almost every other part of our lives.  The connections with trustworthy sources and relying on verified numbers has become the clear early steps in the recruiting process.  HF players have benefitted from the information and videos we have shared as many are now "follows" that were not on the radar even a month ago!  Colleges have contacted us about our players based on HF Twitter feeds alone.  We look forward to exploring media and how to post compelling performances so recruiters can easily follow our players.  
 
2 - BASEBALL ANALYTICS & DATA
This is the new direction of baseball and HF wants our players to gain insight about the metrics being used to measure development in today's game.  We often explore velocity to measure arm speed (for pitchers and fielders) as well as exit speed for batters.  Only a few years ago it was unknown what good speeds were at any of the ages under 18.  HF has helped to pioneer those metrics for young players and now we will be doing the same with one of the most important measurements in baseball - SPIN RATE.  This has not been done with younger players but HF has the volume at each level to explore spin rate across age groups and over time.  Stay tuned for more information.
 
3 - HF VERIFICATION EVENT
HF typically does College Showcase Camps to help connect our players with college recruiters.  Since that is not possible right now, we have looked for creative ways to provide "college exposure" to many of our players in a relevant way during the COVID 19 pandemic.  We are looking to create the "HF Verification Event" as a way to gather and share analytics on our players in different ways that measure batting, pitching, fielding, running, etc.  We would share this information with players who attend (so they have reliable, verified numbers to share with schools) and also with over 50 colleges.  This will be yet another way that HF is creatively and proactively connecting our players with college programs, even in a time when colleges can't go out and recruit.  The plan is also to create a similar event for younger teams in order to quantify and measure each player's numerical data to promote hard work to increase those numbers over time.  Stay tuned for more information on HF Verification Events.  
 
HF WEEKLY UPDATE #2 (7/1)
 
We have received very positive feedback about Headfirst's effort to communicate, schedule and adjust in order to deliver baseball training to our players.  We are grateful for your support and hope we can ride this wave of optimism into tournament play very soon!
 
1 - JULY
We are in July now and training hard within our teams to prepare for a return to game play.  It looks like July will be characterized by more "training" than actual "playing" due to current COVID 19 conditions.  The good news is that we have some more time to get back into baseball shape and will be more than ready to go when we are able to play again!  Team schedules are on their respective "team pages" and updates will be made to adjust the schedules as events get postponed.  The good news is that we have been able to rent a field and also get to work at the HF Academy.  After months of planning for recommended health requirements (hand sanitizing, masks, number restrictions, flow of traffic, temperature checks, etc) the HF Academy is operational and ready to welcome our players back to develop in the most efficient way!
 
2 - EVENT UPDATES
If you are like us, you are hearing about all kinds of baseball being played.  However, you probably don't hear the whole story.  Here are a few examples to show that we are not as close to tourneys as what you hear...  Reno (and the state of Nevada) was an area that we hoped would reopen last month but they have already cancelled all of the month of July!  A tourney (softball) began last weekend in Modesto but officials learned about it and shut down the whole tourney after about 10% of the games had been played, a position we do not want to put families in.  In Arizona they actually sent helicopters to the back fields at several locations to identify and halt the events that were taking place on those fields.  Again, we are not in the clear yet in terms of C-19 restrictions or permission to play.  
 
3 - AUGUST PLANNING
The month of August typically does not include tournaments for Headfirst (The Upper Division is usually off and the Lower Division trains for that month in order to create Fall rosters).  With the cancellations of events in June (and also July) we will be adjusting in order to make August a heavy tournament month for BOTH and Upper and Lower Divisions.  We know you want to play baseball and we do too!  
 
HF WEEKLY UPDATE #1 (6/24)
 
1 - PRACTICES
In the month of June, after a few months of rest, every HF team started practicing!  Fields have not been rentable yet but that is changing (with heavy restrictions which is just the new norm).  We also have gained access to the HF Academy for practices, which we consider a huge advantage in terms of baseball development and an important aspect of the HF experience.  
 
2 - TOURNAMENTS
No sanctioned tourneys were played in June.  A tourney or two were played without permission and were condemned for disobeying protocol.  As we enter July, we DO have tourneys scheduled.  We just gained knowledge the the first week of July (in Reno) has been cancelled, which is expected with rising rates of C-19 (but still disappointing for those who were scheduled to play).  The "HF Team Pages" have been updated with the tourney schedules.  Keep in mind that the changes to tourneys is very fluid and HF has to continually redo the schedules based on the latest cancellations of tourneys (which is also the new norm with other early July tourneys being cancelled as well).
 
3 - COST PRORATE
We want to assure you that HF is NOT out to make a "quick buck."  We have been around for over 20 years and aim to be around going forward, meaning the highest assurance of quality, reliability and fairness.  This is particularly true in light of the unpredictability of our current pandemic.  We are keeping record of what each team has been offered and we will adjust the cost prorate accordingly if we are unable to provide all of the Summer practices, tourneys, etc. The bottom line is that you will not "lose" your money or pay for anything that you will not receive. 
 
4 - MASKS
The apparent direction of things is one that includes wearing masks at every turn.  We are observing what is "required" as well as what is "suggested" and we understand this is a sensitive topic in general.  The bottom line is that wearing masks seems to be more and more a part of our lives as opposed to less and less.  We encourage players to become accustomed to wearing a mask in case the "new norm" of baseball includes wearing a mask.  The baseball precedent from 1918 (the Spanish Flu) had players, umpires, coaches, fans and more wearing masks and it appears to be gong in the same direction here in 2020.
 
5 - INACCURATE & MISLEADING INFORMATION
You may be hearing of tourneys, games and more BUT you are probably not hearing the complete story.  Most (if not all) of the events you have heard about actually end the same way - authorities shut down the event or are in the process of hunting down the perpetrators in order to shut them down!  The bottom line, whether we like it or not (or even agree) is that we are in a pandemic and almost everything is shut down (including the collegiate and professional levels).  The private sector has been trying to sneak in tourneys here or there to test the waters and has been called out on it!  A localized viewpoint may not see this and that is why we are communicating on a macro level - we are not quite back to "business as usual" and need to continue to take safe STEPS in that direction without taking risky LEAPS.