In a family of coaches, Foster showing the way for Cascade Cadets

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Ty Foster’s father taught him much about baseball.

Rick Foster coached baseball at Danville (Ind.) Community High School for more than 35 years and passed along what he knew about the game to sons Ryne (Danville Class of 2004) and Ty (Class of 2007).

“He knows so much,” says Ty of his father, who he now counts as an assistant as he heads into his fourth season as head coach at Cascade High School in Clayton, Ind., in 2019. “He dives into the rules and the minor details of coaching.”

“He also makes it enjoyable. You can have a good time (playing baseball). It’s great having him around everyday.”

Ty says his coaching approach is a mix of his former coaches.

Besides his father, there’s Danville basketball coach Brian Barber, Manchester College (now Manchester University) baseball coach Rick Espeset and Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter baseball coach Dave Scott.

Barber has won 375 career games, including 336 in 19 seasons at Danville.

Espeset has led the Manchester Spartans for than two decades and a couple of NCAA Division III World Series appearances.

“He was not a big yeller,” says Foster of Espeset. “He would use charisma. There were little tics that you’ll never forget.”

Foster was a first baseman and designated hitter during his college days and was invited to spring training with the independent Traverse City (Mich.) Beach Bums.

Scott took Ritter to an IHSAA Class 2A state title in 2017. Foster was on his Raiders staff for two seasons before taking over the reins at Cascade.

Besides Rick Foster, Ty’s Cadets coaching staff includes Aaron Clark, Tim Horning, Corey Clark, Todd Blackburn, Mitch Duncan and Griffin Miller.

Aaron Clark is a former Danville coach. Horning works with Cascade’s pitchers. Corey Clark is Aaron’s son. Duncan played shortstop for Ty Foster at Cascade. Miller played for him at Ritter.

Rick Foster is still an industrial technology teacher and a head boys tennis coach and a boys basketball assistant at Danville.

Ty has watched older brother Ryne “fill up his resume” as a coach. He recently became an assistant at St. Charles Community College in Cottleville, Mo., after serving as a volunteer assistant at Bowling Green (Ohio) State University.

Ryne Foster has also been an assistant at Cleveland (Tenn.) State Community College, Georgia Southwestern State University and Concordia Colllege in Ann Arbor, Mich. He was head coach of the Boonville, N.Y.-based Adirondack Trail Blazers in the New York Collegiate Baseball League and Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League.

Cousin Reed Foxworthy is the head baseball coach at Seeger High School in West Lebanon, Ind. He is one of three triplets and is a son to a brother of Ty’s mother, Alice Foster.

Ty is grateful for the support of his mother.

“My mom is my biggest fan and has always been there,” says Ty Foster. “She never missed a game through high school and taking me to watch my dad coach after Little :eague games.

“She’s traveled far and wide when I was in college to see me play whenever she could. She’s helped me with my hitting when my dad wasn’t available and always been her kids’ biggest supporter. I wouldn’t of got to where I am with her being there.”

There is extra excitement around Cascade because a new turf baseball field is nearing completion.

The school will become the first in Hendricks County to put turf on the entire baseball field this fall (Danville has a turf infield and grass outfield). Cadet softball will also play on the carpet.

“We’ll be able to get in more games and practices,” says Ty Foster of the advantages of turf. “We can get out there and long toss instead of going to the auxiliary gym.”

Turf also means a smoother surface.

No more “The Cade claimed another victim today” or “The Cade’s not happy today.”

Ty, who spends his days doing housing inspections for a company in Carmel, Ind., is married to a kindergarten teacher. Katie (Hall) Foster teaches at Mill Creek East Elementary in Clayton. She played softball at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Ind., and was head softball coach at Cascade.

Ty and Katie celebrated their second wedding anniversary in September.

Though plans call for a move to the Indiana Crossroads Conference in 2019-20, Cascade is now in the Western Indiana Conference.

The WIC is separated into divisions — Cascade, Brown County, Cloverdale, Edgewood, Indian Creek and Owen Valley in the East and Greencastle, North Putnam, Northview, South Putnam, Sullivan and West Vigo in the West.

WIC teams play within their division then play crossover playoff games (No. 1 in the East takes on No. 1 in the West etc.).

An IHSAA Class 2A school of about 450, Cascade is in a sectional grouping with Covenant Christian, Indianapolis Arlington, Indianapolis Washington, Indianapolis Shortridge, Park Tudor and Speedway.

The Cadets last won a sectional crown in 2005.

Cascade is on a balanced school calendar, meaning the Cadets get two weeks of spring break. Baseball games are not played until after the break.

By district rule, student-athletes can’t be be forced to miss vacation trips the first week, though Foster holds practices for those who don’t leave town.

Typically, the Cadets have a couple of weeks of preseason baseball practice.

The new IHSAA rule that allows coaches to work with their teams for two hours two days a week during a fall window, which closes Oct. 12 and re-opens the first week of December.

“The spirit of the rule is great,” says Foster. “We can actually get kids going and learn things.”

Cascade Middle School and Cascade Youth League (located in Amo) are feeders for the high school baseball program.

Former long-time Danville (Ind.) Community High School baseball coach Rick Foster (left) is now on the Cascade High School coaching staff led by youngest son Ty Foster (left). Rick and Alice Foster’s oldest son, Ryne, coaches in college.

Cascade High School head baseball coach Ty Foster (left) celebrates with Cadet Dylan Kottkamp during the 2018 season. The 2019 campaign will be Foster’s fourth leading the program.

 

It’s been a groundbreaking year for the mental game at Wright State, but Raiders are not done yet

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

The 2018 NCAA Division I baseball season has been groundbreaking for the field of mental skills.

For the first time ever, a D-I baseball program — Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio — has brought on a full-time mental skills coordinator.

WSU head coach Jeff Mercer (a graduate of Franklin Community High School in Indiana) brought Diamyn Hall in to help his players with this sometimes-overlooked aspect of athletics.

Hall spoke to IndianaRBI.com about the subject at the American Baseball Coaches Association Convention in January.

“My goal is to continue to push the field of mental conditioning to a point where every college baseball program eventually has a mental skills coach, a mental skills coordinator or something along those lines,” says Hall. “Because it is one of the most important facets of the game.

“There has been a lot of success, a lot of growth and a lot of development but we still have a lot to do to reach our ultimate goal of reaching a championship.

“Players are always looking for ways to get better. That comes from the types of players that Mercer recruits.”

Hall, who was born in Dayton and went to Centerville High School, explains why the plan has worked and continues to work.

“We’ve gone about implementing the mental game in a multitude of innovative ways,” says Hall. “We have provided systematic approaches for each individual player to continue to grow and unlock their potential through their minds.

“Our players have taken persistent accountability in improving their mental game and using it to their advantage on and off the field.”

Hall says that having all Wright State coaches — Mercer, Nate Metzger, Matt Talarico, Alex Sogard and volunteer Jacob Burk — on-board truly creates a dynamic learning experience and reinforces the importance of the mental game within the culture of the baseball program.

Mental skills training is extremely valuable whether a player is red-hot or in an 0-for-the-month slump.

“The mental game has the ability to enhance your performance no matter where you are at that point in time,” says Hall. “The preconceived notion that most people have about the mental game is that it’s only needed when you’re struggling. That’s false.

“The goal should be to continuously work your mind as much as you work your body.

“Having intentional focuses on an individual basis with each player who does want to get better at that point in time. That’s the key.”

The roster that Mercer has created calls for every player to be ready to play every single day.

“Our guys who are not playing everyday, we still want them prepared when their name is called,” says Hall. “If you’re a guy who is not playing everyday we still want to have you focusing on a certain set of things that allow you to be ready when you do get your opportunity. One thing I say a lot to these guys is: ‘be prepared before your name is called.’

“Stay ready so you don’t have to get ready.”

A big part of the mental game is maintaining laser focus.

“Therefore, all of our players need to be focused every single day,” says Hall.

How do you stay ready?

“You have to make sure you’re taking quality and mindful repetitions in whatever it is you’re working on,” says Hall. “Make sure you’re doing everything on-purpose with purpose.”

Hall notes that the baseball season is long and it’s easy to catch yourself going through the motions.

“It’s a matter of minimizing those times you go through the motions, making sure everything is intentional and with a purpose,” says Hall. “We want the guys who are not playing game-ready every single day.”

Hall breaks down the WSU team into three groups of players: superstars, stars and X-factors. He says most teams have stars, X-factors, role players and guys who have no chance of getting in the game.

“Every guy on our roster has a chance to get in the game,” says Hall. “This is the beauty of our roster. I’ve never seen a roster so stacked from head-to-toe.

“That’s the true definition of depth.

“It’s being focused at all times regardless of the situation. In my opinion, we have two full Division I teams within one team. Any of our guys who are not everyday guys could go to another Division I baseball program and start right now.”

Hall, just a few years ago, was playing against elite level competition such as LSU, Ole Miss, Oregon State, Arkansas and more.

Just three three years ago, he went 5-for-5 on MLB Network with a home run shy of a cycle. It was the day before he tore his ACL.

Hall stepped off the field last spring. In his last three college season, he played two at Grambling State University (2015-16) and one at Georgia Southwestern State University (2017).

Hall sees the merits of having a mental skills coordinator for an entire athletic department, but the numbers are more favorable if they integrated into a particular program.

“If a school has a mental skills person who works with every team they can be successful, but mental skills are so important that they need to be integrated on each staff — in my personal opinion,” says Hall. “It’s a manageable ratio. I can be more impactful with 35 people than I can with 300.

“I can build true relationships with 35 players versus building true relationships with 300 players.”

He has been kept busy being wherever players are working on their baseball skills as much as possible.

Hall also makes himself available to them 24/7. He is just a call or text away.

“These guys are learners so they’re using these opportunities to the best of their abilities,” says Hall.

By building relationships, Hall can know how best to get his message across.

“Every guy learns at a different rate,” says Hall. “Every guy takes in information a different way.

“I have to understand that. How do I deliver this to him to make it impactful?”

Hall is always striving to answer these questions: How can I be the most efficient? How can I be the most effective?

He also doesn’t want to engage in information overload.

“I believe it’s more effective to give a little information at a time while giving them the best information that I know from my experience,” says Hall. “I strive to give them the best information so they will remember it and it will stick.

“It’s about effective information implementation.”

So far, so good in this groundbreaking year.

“But we still have a lot more progress to make in striving to reach the ultimate goal of reaching a championship,” says Hall.

For more of Diamyn’s stories and podcasts, click here.

Diamyn Hall is the mental skills coordinator for the baseball team at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.