LOXLEY — With the ever-changing recruiting scene only making it more challenging for families to comfortably make the best next step for their athletes, Coastal Sports Academy attempted to bridge the gap.

The baseball and softball training outfit helped debut its new Loxley facility with a Q&A session for parents to learn more about how to help their children get the most out of their experience on the diamond. From how to get their high school players recruited to college, to how younger players can keep having fun through a potential year-long schedule, owners Matt and Jen Pockrus tried to cover all the bases.

“Parents have a job, high school and travel ball coaches have a job, and they should be in unity,” Matt said in a Feb. 7 interview. “Then the players have a job to do. So, it takes a village to help one player, but everyone has a job to do to help that player live their dream.”

The Pockruses started their training efforts in north Alabama before their first Baldwin County stop led them to Spanish Fort. With the most recent round of signing day ceremonies, nearly 300 high school student-athletes who trained with them have ascended to the next level.

Their next step toward giving back to the community was assembling the panel that tried to hit all the crucial parts parents need to know about before, during and after games.

Longtime Major League scouts Dan Jennings and Dave Jennings both brought over 30 years of experience to the panel alongside Matt on the baseball side. Jen was joined by United States Sports Academy head softball coach Morgan Cinello, a former assistant coach at her alma mater Alabama, to talk about the softball side while Danny Robertson, a strength and conditioning coach at West Florida, was the physical health representative.

The ever-changing recruiting roller coaster

With new rules floated regarding college eligibility and roster sizes, the recruiting line of questioning has been a fluid discussion.

“What recruiting was five years ago, three years ago, even two years ago, is not what it is today. It's constantly changing with new NCAA rules,” Matt said. “Matter of fact, I was talking to Tennessee's assistant recruiting coordinator yesterday (Thursday), we have a zoom set up but he wanted to wait until the NCAA passed these new rules so he knew how to answer my questions that I had already sent him.”

While those answers remain a moving target, something seen more consistently has been the pressure for families to have their athletes playing constantly so they don’t fall behind on the recruiting trail. However, Matt said that may not always be the best route for developing skills.

“Being competitive is being competitive. We all get that. But there's a mindset of, if I don't do this, I'll fall behind others. Players can still train in the offseason, which they need that, so maybe they don't need to play all the time,” Matt said. “And then we also fight this thing here, and softball does too in our area, where it's play, play, play, play. But when do they practice? And when do they train? You may have played a whole tournament and get one ground ball hit to you. Did you get better defensively? Not in that tournament.”

Keeping fun in the game that feels like a job

While the games do need to be played at some point, one of the more frequently asked questions revolved around how much is too much for young bodies.

“Parents asked about signs of burnout. How often should these kids be playing. How do you keep them playing, but also having fun at the same time,” Jen posed. “I do think they were very experienced people up there, and they were talking about that they're learning more, and they're reading these great books, and we should all read these books and get smarter and better.”

As Yogi Berra said, “Baseball is 90% mental. The other half is physical,” so both Jen and Matt talked about how a positive headspace is another important piece of the developmental picture.

“They also said the teamwork as far as, what if one kid performs well, but doesn't work very hard, or what if one kid works really hard, but still struggles,” Jen said. “They said to give them roles and give them some leadership roles and I think that helped a lot of the parents to think, ‘Okay, this makes sense.’”

“You want to teach and to ensure you can be structured and be organized. That's great and awesome. But also understand that they're still kids at the end of the day,” Matt said. “Don't get me wrong, older kids still need some fun too even though it's like a job but we’ve got to know when to mix that in.”

Initial reaction to new digs

The open floor session was a fun way to help settle into Coastal Sports Academy’s new facility on County Road 64 in Loxley which was moved into only a couple of months ago.

The training facility expanded to five fully-loaded batting cages — with portable mounds available — on pullies that can be moved to reveal a full infield while it retained the same weight training and recovery items it had in the Spanish Fort location. Plus, with more geography around their new building, outfield drills and long toss can now happen outside.

“This is awesome. We didn't know this existed, or didn't know you guys moved,” Matt said of many first reactions. “A lot of people think it's private only, but just the lessons are. Anybody can stop by anytime and look at it or ask questions or go to the website.”

“When you only have a certain amount of space, you have to limit yourself and limit your business, and we didn't want to have to put a limit on it,” Jen said. “We weren't able to give back to the public like we would want to, because the cages were always consistently used for lessons. So it felt like it wasn't a place for the public to come use. But here, where we have the larger space … and all the things that we felt like we needed in order to do what we needed to do in the best way.”

Money quote

“We're always working on things behind the scenes. What can we do for youth now that no one's ever done,” Matt said. “And then, what can we continue to do for our older players that no one's doing besides us, what can we do more? That's kind of our motto is ‘What can we do more for our kids and families.’”