The Illinois Premier Philosophy
TEAM INSTRUCTION & INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT
All members of the Illinois Premier Baseball Program will be fundamentally sound in the basic skills and techniques of the game, understand and execute the team offensive and defensive strategies, understand the rules of the game, and be well-disciplined in their conduct, both on and off the field. It is also imperative that all players understand their role in the program and on the team. Team will always come before the individual. Working for and accomplishing common goals will be the ultimate gratification that anyone can get from participating in a team activity. All the players and coaches within the Illinois Premier Baseball Program understand that they are part of something special. All players and coaches will be held to high standards and expectations that will make each player a proud representative of their family, school, and community.
The development of the student-athletes as people will be first and foremost. The baseball environment will be a fun and enjoyable experience. Life-long skills are gained through participating in baseball. Players and coaches will learn to handle adversity, success, set goals, make sacrifices, understanding role on team, loyalty to the team/program, perseverance, responsibility, time management, positive attitude, and work collectively and individually to improve the team. These skills are just a tip of the iceberg that the players will experience in baseball and life.
Practice organization is critical to team development and success. We expect every player to arrive at baseball with a plan and ready to compete. Our daily goal is to be great today and better tomorrow. The coaches will help the players by stressing and teaching the importance of goal-setting and organizing practices that will prepare the players for games. The thought will be 1% better each day!
Individual player development is data driven! At Illinois Premier we embrace the technological advances that aid individual development. Each player will be given the opportunity to participate in data metrics gathering in order to provide data driven feedback on performance and their overall development as a player.
Play the Game One Pitch at a Time! Controlling this will enable all the players to be successful. All the players will be expected to be prepared for every situation that arises on the field. In order to be prepared, we must only concern ourselves with the play at hand and understand what we have control over. The program will focus on process goals first and outcome goals second.
The PREMIER Bond
Understand that every time we practice or play a game we will do so with confidence! Each and every one of us will carry a positive attitude both on and off the field. Hard work and confidence at practice will translate into having fun during the game. We will play the game with a sense of toughness in that we will never play against another team or the scoreboard because we understand that the real opponent is ourselves. We will play the game in a manner that is selfless, and understand the meaning of, we before me.
