Hasper sharing love of baseball at Indianapolis Metropolitan

BY STEVE KRAH
http://www.IndianaRBI.com

At 51, Roger Hasper still plays the game.
He’s also sharing his love of baseball with youngsters — many who are experiencing it for first time.
Hasper plays in the Indianapolis Baseball League and has competed in 25-and-over, 35-and-over and 45-and-over leagues. He came back to the diamond as a player at 41 after a two-decade absence. He has been a second baseman and third baseman and in his 35-and-over league, made the all-star team as a pitcher.
“I throw a change-up and off-speed — 75 (mph) at the most,” says Hasper. “I use (hitters’) aggressiveness to my advantage.”
IBL games are played at a variety of high schools with more than half at Grand Park in Westfield.
Hasper is also the head baseball coach at Indianapolis Metropolitan High School and an English Language Acquisition Paraprofessional at the Goodwill-affiliated institution with an enrollment of about 275 about 1.5 miles northwest of Victory Field that caters to “students with barriers.”
“We’ll get kids as juniors and seniors who are credit-deficient,” says Hasper. “We don’t get many freshmen.”
Hasper started the program in February 2020 — a few weeks before the COVID-19 shutdown took away that season. The revamped revamped Pumas debuted in 2021 as a club team and finished the season with 10 athletes. Only one had played baseball before.
“We have really good athletes here,” says Hasper. “It’s just changing their mind from basketball and football to baseball.
“We had a really fun year last year.”
Hasper, who was the lone coach last year, says there’s been a groundswell of baseball interest at the school.
“I’m looking at 20 or 30 kids,” says Hasper. “If that’s the case I’ll definitely need some (coaching) help.”
In 2022, Indianapolis Metropolitan will a bona fide IHSAA team with orange, blue and white uniforms.
Metropolitan is a member of the Greater Indianapolis Athletic Conference (with Crispus Attucks, Eminence, Indianapolis Washington, Irvington Preparatory Academy, Purdue Polytechnic, Tindley and Victory College Preparatory).
Last year, Metropolitan played two games against Purdue Polytechnic — one at Howe. Next spring, Hasper hopes the Pumas will be able to play and practice at either Howe or Rhoadius Park.
Hasper got his coaching start at Herron High School in Indianapolis where he assisted Rusty Hughes for five seasons (2015-19).
As a high school player and student, he attended what is now Prosser Career Academy in Chicago into the start of his junior year before moving to California and finishing at Los Angeles Baptist. He then went to College of the Canyons, a junior college in Santa Clarita, Calif. Decades later, he’s been taking two courses a semester at Ivy Tech in Indianapolis to finish his degree.
Hasper says he plans to give many of his players a chance to pitch in order to cover the pitch county requirement and because of lack of stamina for those just learning mound skills.
“I wouldn’t want to hurt anybody,” says Hasper. “Give me a good two (innings) and we’re good.”
Hasper also sees baseball as a leverage tool.
“You’ve got to get the grades to make the team,” says Hasper. “It’s bigger than baseball.”

Roger Hasper swings the bat.

Roger Hasper.

Roger Hasper.

Coach Roger Hasper and the 2021 Indianapolis Metropolitan High School baseball team.

Advertisement

Carlisle meeting ‘city’ coaching challenges at Indianapolis Washington

By STEVE KRAH
http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Baseball players at George Washington High School in Indianapolis are analyzing data in an attempt to get better.
Coach Kyle Carlisle’s Continentals have been going through individualized player development this fall and are crunching the numbers and studying the video.
They are looking at on-base percentage, quality at-bats, batting average and more to improve the offensive side of the game. 
GameChanger clips are being used to change hitting mechanics, plate approach, defensive tendencies, etc.
Indianapolis Washington is even doing a little scouting for the 2022 season. This effort is player-led. Carlisle provides the means and lets the athletes take it from there.

Carlisle is heading into his third season (second on the field since the COVID-19 pandemic took away the 2020 campaign).

Indianapolis Washington (enrollment around 750) is a member of the Greater Indianapolis Athletic Conference (with Crispus Attucks, Eminence, Indianapolis Metropolitan, Irvington Preparatory Academy, Purdue Polytechnic, Tindley and Victory College Preparatory). The GIAC had four baseball schools in 2021 — Washington, Eminence, Purdue Polytechnic and Tindley. In its first year back, the Continentals made it to the four-team conference tournament, losing to Eminence in the final.

The Continentals made great strides during the 2021 season, with four players earning First-Team All-GIAC honors. Senior Alfonso Gonzalez was an all-conference catcher and Indianapolis Washington’s 2021 Male Athlete of the Year.
Junior outfielder Isaac Kolela earned First-Team honors, boasting a .333 batting average, and .500 OBP.
Sophomore standout Frank Amador earned First-Team honors by posting a win vs. Purdue Poly on the mound in the conference tournament, pitching five innings, with 11 strikeouts and only three walks.
Sophomore third baseman Darnell Stewart earned First-Team with a .400 batting average, and .600 OBP. His biggest moment was the walk-off single to send the Continentals to the GIAC Tournament Championship game.
Carlisle teaches fourth grade at Phalen Leadership Academy 93. He also runs Carlisle Baseball Academy and gives lessons all over the city and consults for travel and youth teams.

“It almost doesn’t feel like work for me,” says Carlisle of coaching baseball. “I love doing it.”

Scott Hicks, George Washington’s athletic director and former Indianapolis Cathedral High School and University of Notre Dame basketball player and longtime Cathedral varsity basketball coach is in Carlisle’s words, “Is our biggest supporter.”
Carlisle went on to say, “Scott has done an amazing job in being a mentor to my development as a varsity coach.”

In 2021, Washington was part of an IHSAA Class 3A baseball sectional grouping with Beech Grove, Herron, Indianapolis Bishop Chatard and Indianapolis Shortridge. The Continentals have won two sectional titles — 1969 and 1978.

There are challenges in every program and Carlisle and assistant coach James Tradup have their own unique obstacles.
Indianapolis Washington went 11 years without baseball prior to Carlisle taking his first varsity head coaching job to reboot Continentals’ baseball.Washington’s “home” diamond is at Indy Sports Park, which is about 10 miles south of campus.
The teams’ practices on-campus on a converted softball field and roll in portable mounds.

Indianapolis Public Schools are a “school of choice” – which essentially means that students living in Indianapolis, that attend public schools, can choose where they go to High School. No specific middle schools feed Washington.

“Coaching in the city is the hardest thing in the world to do,” says Carlisle. “We have to build relationships with families whose students play middle school baseball and/or travel ball in the city to commit to George Washington.
“And based on proximity to where those families live, can be a hard sell. We hope to build a reputation that does recruiting for us soon.

”While there have been no commitments yet, Carlisle notes that he sees potential college players throughout his team.

A recent graduate received college baseball offers but opted to join the U.S. Army.
Coach Carlisle is a 2007 graduate of Flint (Mich.) Kearsley High School. Carlisle was a pitcher for two seasons each at Olivet Nazarene University (Bourbonnais, Ill.) and Grace College (Winona Lake, Ind.). His head coaches were Todd Reid at ONU and Josh Bailey at Grace. Carlisle earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education from Grace in 2012 and holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership (2015) and a Master’s Degree in Psychology/Life Coaching (2017) from Grand Canyon University (Phoenix).
Kyle married his wife, Valerie, in 2013. They reside in Speedway, Ind.

.

Alfonso Gonzalez and Kyle Carlisle.