How to be athletic, submit and be humble

My coaching philosophy is that practice prepares you to perform and performance prepares you to practice. My four phase development strategy starts in August each year with a commitment to assessment to determine what does not work and what does work for three months.

This is how I do things and it works for me—those who I instruct to coach and the boys who are coached by my coaches.

I was on vacation with my family in July in Jamaica, where you have to drive on the left side of the road. That can be crazy.

It’s about what’s right in addition to who’s right.

It was my first time experiencing this and I was a bit uneasy. I had to trust the experience and expertise of the other driver. I had to submit and humble myself.

In our Assessment Phase for L.E.A.D. Center For Youth, we don’t teach; we use contests and competition to lead the learning for our players.

Being athletic is about being able to think critically at a high level to get things down that you’ve never done before or have little experience doing. I am convinced that coaches coach greatness out of our players more than we do to bring it out by spending too much time talking rather than allowing our players to figure things out.

Kinesthetic learners love the Assessment Phase because they are hands on. Visual and auditory learners struggle during this time but their dominant learning style is elevated during our Engagement Phase (November-January) when it is time to build habits and strength based on what works.

We do a lot of teaching during this time now that I have seen what they can and cannot do for three months.

This fall, I ask my players to do three things: be athletic, submit and be humble.

  1. Athletic – being able to think critically at a high level to get things down that you’ve never done before or have little experience doing
  2. Submit – yield to the authority or the will of another person
  3. Humility – not thinking less than of myself but thinking of others more than myself

I want my players to get the best:

  • College baseball offers
  • MLB Signing Bonuses
  • NIL Deals in high school and college
  • Post athletic career transition

For more information, visit L.E.A.D. Center for Youth today. Also, check out our Digital Magazine.

C.J. Stewart has built a reputation as one of the leading professional hitting instructors in the country. He is a former professional baseball player in the Chicago Cubs organization and has also served as an associate scout for the Cincinnati Reds. As founder and CEO of Diamond Directors Player Development, C.J. has more than 22 years of player development experience and has built an impressive list of clients, including some of the top young prospects in baseball today. If your desire is to change your game for the better, C.J. Stewart has a proven system of development and a track record of success that can work for you.

Why—and how—ASSESS-ing is the way forward

Assessment before teaching is like a baby learning to walk before running. With more than 25 years of experience developing some of baseball’s top players, I have learned a lot of great lessons the hard way.

I’ve wasted time throwing batting practice to hitters who couldn’t take two consecutive good swings using a tee.

I’ve talked too much to hitters who are dominant visual learners.

I have operated my business on the trite “hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard” mantra because I didn’t have a proven coaching philosophy or methodology.

I am no longer that rookie “faking it until I make it coach.”

My coaching philosophy is that practice prepares you for performance and performance prepares you for practice. My time tested and true A.T.B.A.T.S. Methodology starts with a thorough assessment of my hitters ensuring that I tap into their mind, body and soul.

As I was recently on a flight at 30,000 feet, I started thinking about the word assess. The word has been on my mind because L.E.A.D. Center For Youth is now partnering with Minority Baseball Prospects (MBP), which will help us win championships on the diamond and continue helping our boys win at the game of life.

On Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023, LEAD is sponsoring 100 slots for baseball players in Atlanta Public Schools (2024-2028 classes) to get evaluated by MBP’s proprietary, signature Swaggy Chain rating system. Select baseball players will be invited to join LEAD’s Ambassador Program which includes year round baseball training, development and competition as well as college and career support, all at no-cost to families.

I struggle with ADHD and I am high functioning. Because of this, acronyms are a Godsend for me.

A – Adaptable
S – Sluggish
S – Safe
E – Energetic
S – Stress-conqueror
S – Skilled

“Success is not for those who want it, nor those who need it, but for those who are utterly determined to seize it–whatever it takes.” — Darren Hardy

People that want to become Major League Citizens in Atlanta and/or Major League Baseball Players must be adaptable rather than being sluggish and playing it safe. Their energy needs to be on 100% especially when there is stress because skills pay the bills.

“Words are potent weapons for all causes, good or bad.” — Manly Hall

  • adaptable – The ability to adjust to new conditions.
  • sluggish – Slow moving oftentimes as a result of lack confidence in your ability to do something.
  • “playing it safe” – To be careful and not take risks to avoid failure.
  • energy – The strength required for sustained physical, emotional and/or mental activity.
  • stress – There are two types of stress, eustress and distress. Eustress is moderate or normal psychological stress and interpreted as being beneficial. Distress is extreme anxiety, sorrow, or pain and is interpreted as being detrimental.
  • skills – Talent is what you do well and habits are things that you do well repeatedly without thought. Skills are things that you do well repeatedly without thought while under stress.

For more information, visit L.E.A.D. Center for Youth today. Also, check out our Digital Magazine.

C.J. Stewart has built a reputation as one of the leading professional hitting instructors in the country. He is a former professional baseball player in the Chicago Cubs organization and has also served as an associate scout for the Cincinnati Reds. As founder and CEO of Diamond Directors Player Development, C.J. has more than 22 years of player development experience and has built an impressive list of clients, including some of the top young prospects in baseball today. If your desire is to change your game for the better, C.J. Stewart has a proven system of development and a track record of success that can work for you.

Being and building the best ‘you’

Photo by Steve West

As Jay-Z once said, “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man.”

August is “National Black Business Month.” My wife, Kelli, and I have been business owners in the baseball industry for over 25 years. We are innovators and trendsetters taking seriously the calling that God has for our lives.

We have helped develop hundreds of players who have excelled at all levels of baseball, including the Major Leagues. For two years, we even represented 10 clients in the MLB Draft—six of whom reached the Majors.

We did this through our for-profit, Diamond Directors, while at the same time establishing our award-winning, sports-based youth development organization, L.E.A.D. Center For Youth.

Being a Black business owner is not easy because oftentimes, we do not receive the benefit of the doubt, respect or trust from varying races of people.

My success as a coach is rooted in my spiritual gifts, life experiences, my partnership with Kelli, my core values, my mentors and coaches.

Having these six things protects me from wearing myself out. I am not trying to be 10 times better than others.

Speaking of the number 10, I have a list of 10 Black owned businesses who have inspired me to be my best self.

Know Your Truth? 
iSmooth Media 
Humble Beginnings 
Cruvie Clothing 
Minority Baseball Prospects (MBP)
The Players Alliance 
Rodney Scott’s BBQ 
Slim + Husky’s Pizza
Be the Bridge
404 Coffee 

For more information, visit L.E.A.D. Center for Youth today. Also, check out our Digital Magazine.

C.J. Stewart has built a reputation as one of the leading professional hitting instructors in the country. He is a former professional baseball player in the Chicago Cubs organization and has also served as an associate scout for the Cincinnati Reds. As founder and CEO of Diamond Directors Player Development, C.J. has more than 22 years of player development experience and has built an impressive list of clients, including some of the top young prospects in baseball today. If your desire is to change your game for the better, C.J. Stewart has a proven system of development and a track record of success that can work for you.

 

Why L.E.A.D.’s partnership with Minority Baseball Prospects matters to you

#earntheA is a part of the rebranding of L.E.A.D. Center For Youth, a sports based development organization that uses the sport of baseball to help Black boys overcome three curve balls that threaten their success: crime, poverty and racism.

When L.E.A.D. started in 2007, we served Black boys citywide, attracting some of the top players from Dekalb, Rockdale and Fulton counties to play baseball for us proudly wearing the Ambassador “A” on their jersey and hat. They put into action our core values of excellence, humility, integrity, loyalty, stewardship and teamwork on and off the field. They weren’t perfect but they were our L.E.A.D. Ambassadors and we protected them and their need to dream.

In 2010, we committed to exclusively serving Black boys, grades 6-12, from Atlanta Public Schools where I received my foundational education. We continued to have success on the baseball field competing in national tournaments.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused the quality of our play on the field to suffer. The boys in our program possessed the spirit of competition, but lost the opportunity to receive thousands of reps and hundreds of in-game at-bats needed to compete at the national level.

L.E.A.D. now is partnering with Minority Baseball Prospects (MBP) to help us win championships on the diamond and continue helping our boys win at the game of life.

On Sunday, August 20, 2023, L.E.A.D. will sponsor MBP signature evaluations for 100 high school baseball players attending Atlanta Public Schools.

Using MBP’s proprietary, signature Swaggy Chain rating system, select players will be invited to join L.E.A.D.’s Ambassador Program which includes year-round baseball training, development and competition, as well as college and career support, all at no-cost to families.

Quincy Carter is a friend of mine and former teammate in the Chicago Cubs Minor Leagues. In high school, he was the top quarterback in the country but delayed getting on the football field because he was our second round draft pick for the Cubs. He later went on to be QB1 at the University of Georgia and the first Black quarterback to start for the Dallas Cowboys. I remember talking to him one night after he had a long day of Cowboys Training Camp. He told me that he was working really hard to earn his Cowboys Star.

I was confused–he was their second round pick and the heir apparent to the recently retired Hall-of-Famer, Troy Aikman. Well, apparently, the Cowboys didn’t just give you a Star because you were on the team.

Starting this year, the Ambassador “A” will be earned in a new way.

August through October, our boys will compete in baseball games and national tournaments for L.E.A.D. wearing our signature red jersey and hat with a number on the back. However, the front of the jersey and their hat will be blank until our 2023-24 Ambassadors are announced in November.

At that time they will have worked to #EarnTheA.

For more information, visit L.E.A.D. Center for Youth today. Also, check out our Digital Magazine.

C.J. Stewart has built a reputation as one of the leading professional hitting instructors in the country. He is a former professional baseball player in the Chicago Cubs organization and has also served as an associate scout for the Cincinnati Reds. As founder and CEO of Diamond Directors Player Development, C.J. has more than 22 years of player development experience and has built an impressive list of clients, including some of the top young prospects in baseball today. If your desire is to change your game for the better, C.J. Stewart has a proven system of development and a track record of success that can work for you.

9 skills you need to win at baseball—and life

I was recently in Jamaica for a vacation with my wife and two daughters. I was able to work out and read every day. I also was able to swim in the pool and/or the ocean every day.

As a child, I learned how to swim at the Adams Park Summer Camp byway of Atlanta Parks and Recreation. As an adult, I have not had much time to swim, but swimming in Jamaica made me feel like a kid again.

I have never used a float device until Jamaica. I had to laugh at myself because I have a hard time trusting people, and there I was trusting this float to keep me up. The float was longer than my 6-foot 2-inch body, but it couldn’t have weighed less than 5 pounds.

I saw other people floating, but I was trying to figure out how this thing was going to hold up my 235 pound body.

I finally got relaxed and I was able to enjoy it for over 15 minutes until my ADHD took over and I needed to do something more stimulating.

But while I was floating, I began to think about coaching. Coaches can be the ones who help a player get from one place to the other. Yet, there are some players who have too much weight for any float or coach to handle.

I have been coaching professionally for more than 25 years. I am a thought leader when it comes to sports-based youth development (SBYD), which is a theory and practice model for direct youth service.

According to CASEL, Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process by which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.

Some of the SEL capacities people need in order to live a good life as a citizen, but definitely required to be an elite baseball player include:

  1. Contribution
  2. Goal orientation
  3. Positive identity
  4. Self-confidence
  5. Self-efficacy
  6. Self-management
  7. Social capital
  8. Social connections
  9. Social skills

I have coached hundreds of baseball players. Lots of them begin lacking most and sometimes all of these SEL capacities.

Angela Duckworth said it best, “Mindlessly ‘going through the motions’ without improvement can be its own form of suffering.”

Like trying to win at the game of life, baseball is a complex sport that requires strategy and skill. I define talent as what you do well, while skills are what you do well repeatedly without thought while under stress.

May God bless those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn because in the age of artificial intelligence (AI), the unskilled will suffer.

How good do you want to be in baseball? What support do you need that you don’t have that will help you be the best baseball player you can become?

Do you have mental, emotional and/or physical issues that make it difficult for you to be properly coached?

They are important questions to ask.

For more information, visit L.E.A.D. Center for Youth today. Also, check out our Digital Magazine.

C.J. Stewart has built a reputation as one of the leading professional hitting instructors in the country. He is a former professional baseball player in the Chicago Cubs organization and has also served as an associate scout for the Cincinnati Reds. As founder and CEO of Diamond Directors Player Development, C.J. has more than 22 years of player development experience and has built an impressive list of clients, including some of the top young prospects in baseball today. If your desire is to change your game for the better, C.J. Stewart has a proven system of development and a track record of success that can work for you.