FAQ

U.S. Baseball Academy hires and trains high school and/or college coaches from your local area. That’s the biggest advantage of the program. While most local youth and travel team coaches have some knowledge of baseball, this is a chance for young players to be get four or six weeks of instruction by professionally trained and experienced coaches who do this for a living. We maintain quality control by providing each location with our weekly program and the necessary equipment to run it, and training the staff.

Having a major league player come to sign autographs for an hour can cost several thousand dollars. While those guys are the best players in the world, most can’t teach someone else to do it. Hiring a major league player for the day could require doubling our fees, and we don’t want to waste your money. We hire people who can teach your son or daughter how to play. If your youngster needed help with algebra, would you hire a nuclear physicist or a high school math teacher?

While our programs can attract around 200 players at some locations, that is spread over a four and a half or five-hour period. We take a maximum of about 30 players per hour for the hitting camps and between 12 and 14 pitchers per hour, depending on the size of the facility. The important thing to remember is that we provide a low player-coach ratio. If we add players, we add coaches. We have had waiting lists as long as 100 at a particular location. We will not overbook and compromise our instruction.

Not at all. Our prices are lower than indoor baseball facilities because we don’t have the overhead. Building an indoor baseball facility is expensive, and the year-round costs have to be recovered during peak usage seasons of winter and spring. Because we’re contracting with the local site director to use a high school or college in your area for only 4 or 6 days, we don’t have to support year-round rental and utility costs.

Each session lasts for 55 minutes (6 week camps) or 85 minutes (4 week camps). Players are in small groups of 6 to 7 kids who are of a similar age or ability level. During the session, they work through a concentrated circuit of drills that teach specific areas of hitting or pitching. Each station they go to has an instructor, and most also have an assistant coach to help get them more repetitions. We don’t have them sit and listen to someone talk for 15 minutes. They’re moving and active the whole time. Sessions are cumulative, so that over the four or six-week period we cover all aspects of the registered skill.

Yes. Sessions are staggered by age group to allow players to hit and pitch in consecutive sessions. They go right from one to the other. There is a multi-session discount.

Registration forms for each location are on the website. Find your camp, select your skill sessions (most players attend two different skills), enter your player information, and then complete payment.

Because we have the facility reserved for only those days, there are no makeup sessions. However, most people still find it a good value to get even two or three lessons. While the sessions are cumulative, players who miss a week are not “lost” when they return. During the course of the program, many players miss a week due to conflicts with another sport, a family vacation, or illness.

While the stations are consistent for all the players in a particular age group, the way we run the drills varies according to the ability level of each player. We stress to our coaches the importance of coaching each player at her own level. Older and more experienced players work on more advanced concepts as the weeks progress. The level of instruction changes throughout the day and throughout the program.

There is a small age range within each session, but players are broken into small groups with six to seven players. There may be 5 year olds and 7 year olds in the facility at the same time, but we create small groups based on the players’ age. The 7 year olds are grouped with other 7 year olds, and the 5 year olds with 5 year olds.

No. Although the two hitting sessions are at the same time, players will be divided into hitting stations based on their age. A 6th grader may be at another station but that will not interfere with your son’s training. This goes for the other skills as well.

We want each player to bring a bat because there are times when everyone in a group will be performing a drill at the same time, so it’s not ideal to borrow a bat from someone else in the camp. They might try borrowing a bat from a teammate not in the program, or from their coach.

In the pitching program, players are all performing the drills at the same time, and each player needs a catcher. If one player in a session catches for another, each will only receive half as much instruction. A catcher can be a parent, sibling, or friend. Youth players serving as catchers should bring a catcher’s mask to wear.

Most activities are indoors so wear tennis shoes; shorts, sweat pants or softball pants, and a T-shirt. Where available, instruction may take place outdoors. You will be notified if your camp is outdoors and we always instruct players to be prepared to go outdoors if weather permits.

We hold baseball camps and offer baseball lessons all over the country. We are currently in 42 states with more than 230 locations nationwide. Select Find A Camp now to locate the closest location to you.