Cal C.

My experience coaching athletes began at 16 years old helping my father coach my sister's 7th and 8th grade travel basketball teams. I then began working under my personal pitching coach and former professional, Marc Deschenes, out of his indoor baseball facility which was then called "Future Stars". As I got older I gave individual and group lessons on my own for both pitching and hitting. Marc also hired me to assist his 13 and under AAU team, then the New England Diamond Dawgs, now the Lowell Jr. Spinners. While playing three sports in high school I also volunteered my time to help out with the Methuen Pop Warner football program that I grew up playing in. I started as a helper with all of the teams, and had a lot of success with the young kids, so I was asked to become a permanent coach and call the offensive plays for the D-team (8-10 year olds) and the A-team (13-15 year olds).

As a three-sport athlete throughout high school, I earned 11 varsity letters. As one of the most storied high school football players in the Merrimack Valley area, I rushed for 1,000 yards, and threw for 1,000 yards in back to back seasons playing quarterback for Methuen High School in my Junior and Senior years. As a junior I scored 15 rushing touchdowns and 11 passing while earning 1st-team All-Conference honors in my first year at starting quarterback. As a senior I threw 22 touchdown passes and rushed for 20 touchdowns, earning All-conference rights again, along with the league's Most Valuable Player award, and Boston Globe/Boston Herald All-Scholastic honors. I also played in the Shriners All-star game and Gillette Stadium and engineered the game winning drive in the fourth quarter. As a starter on the varsity baseball games for four years I played in more varsity games in high school than any other player to come out of Methuen High School. Earning All-Conference awards as a Sophomore, Junior, and Senior, I won the school's pitchers award in honor of former MLB player Steve Bedroision. In basketball I was brought up to the varsity team as a Freshman, and was a starter for the next three years to come. In the Spring of 2011 I was named Eagle Tribune Newspaper Male Athlete of the Year out of the 26 schools the newspaper covered. Post high-school I was offered scholarships to play both Football and Baseball to a number of Division 2 and 3 schools, and received letters of interest from a small number of Division 1 football schools in the Northeast. I chose to pursue a career in baseball and accepted a scholarship at Stonehill College in Easton, Ma. After one year of playing outfield and limited playing time, I transferred to Suffolk University in Boston. As a Sophomore, I set the school record for appearances in a season with 18, and had an ERA of under 3 in over 30 innings pitched. Shortly after that season in the summer, I injured my ulnar collateral ligament, needing Tommy John surgery causing me to miss the 2014 season.

In a typical session I bring a ton of positive energy to the table. In whatever sport I am training I will always go through a dynamic stretch before getting into actual drills and the teaching part of the lesson. I like to pick apart what athletes are best at, and fine-tune there mechanics at that particular trait to bring out the most in what they are the best at. The things kids need help with, I try to polish their mechanics in a way that is proportionate to the rest of their mechanics and their body's in the sport they are playing.
With Quarterbacks I will work on tons of footwork (quickstep, 1 step, 3 step) that help with short throw accuracy and timing. Being a dual-threat quarterback myself, I'll also throw in a drill to demonstrate the zone-read option that I ran in high school. I will work on body language and assertiveness on the field and being loud when dealing with stressful moments that take a lot of mental ability to overcome. Throwing on the run, and throwing fade routes into a barrel in the corner of the endzone are two other parts of the game I like to work on. Also use video to capture mechanics and break down what needs to be altered and adjusted in mechanics.
Pitching lessons are my favorite to do. After a dynamic stretch I start with 4-seam grip flips to get the rotation of the ball down from 10 feet away. Casually get loose from 45 feet, back to 60, then to 90, and to 120 depending on the age of the athlete in order to build arm strength. From there we work our way in to 60 feet and work balance, momentum, and leg-power drills before getting into actual bullpen sessions. The amount of pitches thrown in bullpen sessions depend on the time of year and how far along the athletes are.