"Really, what we're doing here is helping these kids stack blocks," Big Fish coach Weston Lombard said this last week.

"Stacking blocks? What?" I asked. "Sounds cool but tell me what that means." This was one of these stages of life situations. For Weston, a younger guy, on the cutting edge of athlete development, a phrase like that is just about athletic development. For me, turning 43 in a month, it brought me right back about 7-8 years ago, to my kids stacking Duplos as tall as they could reach.

Here's my paraphrase, but I wasn't actually too far off. Think about building a tower, he said.

Each week the kids come in for their Big Fish session is a block. What each of those kids gets as their specific block, each week, is going to be a little different. Our coaches are hands on - this athlete needs this adjustment, this athlete needs that adjustment - rather than just supervisors of drills. For our drill work, one athlete will really remember and connect with one drill and skill, another athlete remembers that other drill and skill.

I walked away from our quick conversation thinking about what a great analogy that is, stacking blocks. If you think of training for athletes as different blocks, you can really see training for youth athletes as different intersecting towers too. The blocks our kids are stacking at hockey, basketball, volleyball, or wrestling practice this winter too... those are going to help them next summer in baseball and softball. Strength blocks, agility blocks, competition blocks.

We can't promise that all our athletes will jump 5 miles an hour in exit velocity or throwing velocity in a single two month span. Some mechanical adjustments make a big difference, so yes, some of them will. (Anyone out there promising this... make sure you ask them some good questions!) But gains in consistency and understanding, and especially for kids coming in with some solid mechanics, that won't always show up on a radar gun.

What we can promise for all of our athletes is that our focus is on long-lasting routines and understanding. As we help them build their towers, the job of coaches is to give them the individual feedback - that's like the cement mortar - to keep those blocks together.

It turns out that people who are 25 and 43 - they aren't that far apart!

​-Josh

We are so grateful for the opportunity to work with your sons and daughters this winter!

Today our winter registration opened up at 9:00am. 90% of the spots were filled by 10:30am. We were completely full by 3:30pm. We had a feeling the need was there in our community. But we are just so humbled to provide this opportunity to our first group of Big Fishers.

A special thank you to our pilot group for September and October. This group has given us a chance to refine our processes, figure out what works best in our allotted time and space, and be prepared to really deliver a great experience for athletes and families the rest of the year.

We know the limited space and training spots are an issue you may hear about. We are trying hard not be an exclusive group while still protecting the time of our coaches and their families. We have some ideas in the works for future years, as well as starting to plan for summer programming. Stay tuned - exciting times ahead for Big Fish and helping coach up our local athletes.

A big part of what we'll be asking for this year is feedback. Our model is truly service and athlete focused rather than profit. We know, everyone probably says that. But truly our goal here is to bring something locally to River Falls to fill a need. There are great programs around us - the folks at Great Lakes in Woodbury and up at ISA West in Somerset include friends of ours and we know they do a great job. So, in order to provide your athlete the best service we can, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. We plan to send mid-session and end-of-session feedback surveys. Your honest feedback, no matter how critical, is really important to us.

Again, thank you so much for joining us this winter!

-Josh, Brian, and Weston