Sandy Ogg is the CEO of Curve Sports, a company partnering with elite youth baseball organizations to help them scale through capital, operational support, and shared best practices. Before launching Curve Sports, Sandy spent decades leading and advising some of the world's most influential organizations, serving as an Operating Partner at Blackstone, Chief Human Resources Officer at Unilever, and Chairman of Nord Anglia Education, one of the largest premium education groups globally. Rather than acquiring and rebranding youth sports organizations, Curve Sports partners with club owners, allowing them to retain their identity while gaining access to capital, operational expertise, and a nationwide network of elite operators. The company's long-term vision is to build a connected ecosystem of premier baseball organizations that creates better opportunities for athletes, families, and club leaders alike.

In this conversation, Sandy shares why youth sports represents one of the biggest untapped investment opportunities in sports, how Curve Sports is building a new model for consolidating travel baseball, why leadership matters more than financial engineering, and how the intersection of education, athletics, and long-term athlete development is shaping the future of youth sports.

Welcome back everyone to another episode of ProFluence Sports. Exciting one today, a lot of buzz always around youth sports, around consolidation, around roll-ups and M&A, and this one fits right in the center of it all. So from Curve Sports, we have Sandy.

So Sandy, appreciate you hopping on today. Excited for this conversation. Well, I so appreciate the invite and I'm excited to be with you today.

Appreciate it. Of course. And we like to start here.

You know, people will post your background. You've done a lot of cool things. We don't need to go into all the nitty gritty of that, but I spent a lot of your time.

We were talking about, you know, you were at Blackstone before and the beast that is, we ran an event with Blackstone a few weeks ago or I guess a few months ago now in New York City. And so it's cool to see them enter sports even. But, you know, you spent a lot of time across leadership and scaling large businesses.

Curious, like what made you jump into youth sports and ultimately be like, hey, I'm going to be the CEO of Curve Sports. Like what attracted you to the space, to the opportunity and what you guys are doing? Yeah, you know, it's a really, really good and important question. Funnily enough, it started for me because of my kids.

You know, my kids started to participate. We were just moving back. I had a role before in Europe.

We were just moving back to the States. My kids wanted to get into American sports from having been in Europe for a number of years. And baseball was high on the agenda.

And so we started playing baseball and we were living in the town of Rye, New York. I was working at Blackstone at the time. And, you know, if you know Rye, New York is sitting in the middle of Westchester County, it's a bunch of privileged people.

You know, I know a little bit too much about Rye. I've actually spent too much time there. So we, Westchester Soccer Club, the USL team, were owners in that.

So I know a little bit too much about Rye. But anyway, I know the ins and outs and I'd say that's a really good way to put it. But anyway, yeah, yeah.

I mean, nice people, but a lot of privilege. And so, you know, we came up through the Rye Little League and we had a local travel baseball team and it was made up of Rye kids. And we thought because, you know, the kids were good in Rye Little League, they were going to be really good in the broader travel ecosystem.

And then we met a little bit of reality. But the other thing that happened is one weekend, a bunch of our families were going off on holiday and we didn't have enough kids to play on the weekend tournament. And it was one of those tournaments that extended, started on like Thursday and went through to Tuesday.

So we had a bunch of games in a short period of time. Turns out our coach was a guy from the Bronx, ex-big league guy, great guy. So he goes, we were six kids short.

He goes and finds six kids, but they're from the Bronx and from Queens. And so he brings these six kids in. And I would say here's where underprivileged meets overprivileged.

And there are problems with both underprivileged kids and overprivileged kids. And for the weekend, we put these two together. And the first thing you could see is these six kids were different.

You know, they were a little bit more gritty. They were a little bit more hungry. And man, they could play.

But when you put them together, it was quite an interesting combination. And then the other kids came back and, you know, we were good. I mean, this combination was really good.

The other kids came back like, who are these dudes? And, you know, why are they playing in my position? Parents got upset of those kids. We got kicked off the rye fields. And so, you know, we decided to create our own team made up of this combination.

And we ran into a problem. My goodness. You know, like two of these kids lived with their family in a room in someone else's apartment.

So they couldn't afford travel, sports. Come on. You know, I mean, there was no way they could spend the money.

So my wife and I decided to, at that point, we started something called the New York Youth Baseball Foundation. And we just set it up so that we could help these kids. And so we did.

And one team became two, two became four, four became eight. And baseball became softball. And then I realized, you know, after doing this, that I could only go to my friends at Blackstone so often and say, give me my money so I can help these kids.

So we needed a business to do well in order to be able to do good. And you get a virtual circle going. And I start to then stumble into this youth sports ecosystem.

And I go, wow, this is really interesting. You know, 97% of the college roster spots are filled with kids who play travel sports. If you don't have money, you can't play travel sports.

You're shut out. And so, you know, the foundation is still an important part of what we're doing, underpinning Curve Sports, is if you're a kid and you're good enough and you're disciplined enough and so on, then, you know, we're going to provide resources. But we expect the family to pay something.

If you can afford a dollar, pay a dollar, pay something. Well, that led to, you know, we began to do some experimentation with something called the Diamond Allegiance. And we started doing curve testing.

And then we realized that the missing ingredient is capital. Missing ingredient was capital. You have these great clubs that are doing wonderful things with kids and so on and so forth.

But they just don't have the capital to be able to grow. And a lot of the capital was going to places like, hey, let's build big tournament machines and let's build software all over the place. By the way, that nobody can, that the clubs can't actually afford because the economics of the clubs are sort of upside down.

And, you know, and I had this parallel experience where I'm the chairman of a roll-up of prep schools called Nord Anglia Education, which is an EQT portfolio company. Okay, we started with four schools. Today, we have more than 90.

And this is a business, by the way, that just traded for $14.5 billion 20 years later. And when you look at the essence of a prep school, it's a teacher, it's a student, it's a parent. A youth sports club is a coach, a teacher, and a parent.

Oh, those are kind of similar. And here, the essence of youth sports is the club. It's the club because that's where the coaches are.

It's where the parents are. It's where the players are. And when those three things combine in unique ways, just like in a prep school, magic happens.

Great outcomes occur and the whole thing. So I started to say, wait a second. I'm sitting as the chairman of the board of Nord Anglia and I'm watching this amazing roll-up of prep schools.

And I said, gee, we should be doing the same thing. So I went to Drew Weatherford and I said, hey, Drew, what we're missing here is capital. Why don't we partner together? We started Curve Sports and Drew's famous for saying, hey, let's go buy some baseball clubs.

And we're not actually buying them. What we're doing is partnering with them. So we meet a, you know, there are, we did our work, 2,600 sort of so-called elite travel baseball clubs in the country.

And of that pool of 2,600, I think with a hundred and actually if you get the right 25, you're off to the races. So we started in November and we started not buying but partnering with. So if somebody wants to sell their club, they're looking for a buyout.

They're looking for a payday. That's not us. We're looking for someone who wants a ticket to the big game.

And the big game is like the game at Nord Anglia where we invest in their business. We like to invest to get to a control position of their business so we can consolidate the earnings. And then we want them to roll in with us for the ticket to the dance.

And then we begin down the road of we're now partners. You become an employee, you become our partner. And so we're partnering.

And the thing I look for first is the quality of the leader. I'm hunting for, I'm trying to build a major league roster, 25 to 30 of the best club owners from a leadership point of view in the country. And we got three so far.

We've got another three that we're very close to finalizing. We've got another five that we're well down the road. And as a result of the first three and some of the word getting around, we have like an avalanche of inbound interest.

And our biggest problem is can we work through them fast enough to meet the demand of the situation? And I just couldn't be more excited about it because to me, it goes right back to if we can make a difference in young people's lives. And I'll tell you a short story. I'm sitting at my house right here.

I'm sitting right now in Bedford, New York. I'd split my time between Bedford and Tampa. Love Tampa, by the way.

Not in the summer though, right? Yeah. Yeah, today it's only 80 here. It's a little bit warmer than that in Tampa.

But I'm sitting right here and someone knocks on the door from that original team that we started in Rye, New York. From that original team with those other six kids that were coming from the inner city of New York. We had nine Division I baseball players, nine from one team.

One of those kids who was not Division I, he was Division III. He knocks on my door and he has now gone to college. He has graduated from college and he knocks on my door and he's standing there with his jersey on.

And I wanna say he played at SUNY Cobbleskill. But by the way, he was the first person in the history of his family to ever go to college. He graduated and he got a job working in finance.

And he just stands there and he goes like this, I did it. But without you, I would have never made it. And I said, well, I thought that I was doing something good for other people.

And I realized at that moment, this was actually very important to me, that it's meaningful. This is really meaningful stuff that we're working on. And you ask why youth sports? I'm just absolutely hooked on it.

And I'm not hooked on it just on a, I'm doing a good thing. I'm hooked on it from the point of view that it is an amazing, amazing business opportunity. Because we took Nord Anglia, which most prep schools, anybody who sends their kids to prep school, they get tired of being asked for donations to keep the prep school alive.

We run really, really good prep schools. And it is a big, important business. We just traded it for 14 and a half billion.

So there's, this is a real business, but it also can make a difference in people's lives and make a difference in the world. Yep, yep. And I got a lot of different calls on that, but I always appreciate it, Sandy, when the podcast guest goes through half of the things that I'm thinking of during it.

I'm like, all right, I was gonna go on there. You went to that about youth sports. You went to youth baseball and how many clubs are there and what are their percentages.

And then there's questions of like, you tell the story really well, right? Which is a key component for I think anyone in business. So that's interesting. I think that's something we might come back to here in a bit, but something I wanna go first, right? We're seeing a lot of consolidation across sports as a whole, right? And we've seen some of the club and youth sports stuff before, but not really so much in baseball.

We've seen it in basketball and lacrosse and some of these other ones. But when you come into an org and you talked a little bit about your structure, so we don't have to go over that again. Like you guys partner up, you know, day one, like what's the rollout? Like what's your plan? How do you go into these? How do you approach them? How do you clean them up? How do you set the vision? How do you tell the story? I'm curious, you've done a lot of this for a large part of your career.

And I think this is where a lot of where sports is going. And so in general, I'm just curious, what's your rollout plan once you're in and how do you integrate and take these things forward? Yeah, it's such a good and important question. I think the first where it all starts is in the conversation in the beginning, where, first of all, I'm looking, as I said before, for that leader.

And I'm looking for somebody who wants to make a difference. And then we ask them early on, are you looking to sell out? Or are you looking to kind of earn in, have a real ticket to what the future can be? And we've lived it and we've seen it. And so we know what it can be.

If you're up for that, let's go. Because the process of selling, some of these businesses are pretty substantial. The process of selling a business is not easy.

And so the first part is, am I ready for the whole process that I'm gonna go through here of, in the first instance, working your way up to getting an offer. And then once there's an offer, then all of the quality of earnings investigation needs to happen. And then the preparation of the documents.

And I feel like, am I really trusted in this? And then we consummate a deal and that goes over several months. It feels like, geez, this is complicated. And so on.

But then we're explaining, if we actually wanna build something of scale, it needs to be built on a rock solid foundation. If you want serious investors to come into it, then we're gonna have to do this work together. And if we learn about being partners by doing the work together.

So it all starts before it starts. Now we're on day one. And I think that we see the value creation approach for this is gonna evolve over three or four steps.

The first step is just partnering with the right clubs, the right leaders, the right markets. And we look for three things in a market. Number one is a certain level of affluence.

Then we look for baseball obsession. Is there a lot of baseball in that market? And then we look for college jersey density because a great outcome from these clubs is not winning tournaments. It's a college jersey.

Someone who has the opportunity to, because we believe that the scholar athlete is a national treasure. This is where the leaders come from. We're building leaders for our country, building leaders for the world.

And so we're looking for that college destination. And so we expect people to look after their grades and so on so they can earn a college roster spot. And so then once we say, okay, we're gonna make an investment in this club, then what we wanna do is we wanna buy the right, invest in the right clubs and in the right people.

And then we start down the path of value creation, which is the first thing is, can we assemble around that club more roster spots? And meaning there may be, let's say we invest in a club that has a thousand families in it now. There are many small teams, collections of teams. Maybe there's 10 teams over here.

There's 10 teams over there. Can we attract them to what we're doing? So more roster spots. And the second thing is more revenue per roster spot while reducing the overall investment by the parents potentially, because the parents are spending a lot.

They're spending on all kinds of things for their young athlete. And so by adding more services to what we can provide from the club, we have a performance flywheel, test, train, compete, recruit. Test, train, compete, recruit.

So we have a testing service. We have a training. We have competition.

So going to tournaments or what have you, and then recruiting, the actual process of getting people recruited. Some of the clubs have, are really good and major in training. Some of the clubs are really good and major in competition, going to tournaments and things like that.

Most of them are pretty good at recruiting because it's important to the parents and not so good at testing. And so we kind of help them to add what they don't have and find ways to take their, and here's the important part. They run their business.

We don't change their brand. They keep their brand because that brand is known in the market. So we want that operator to be our partner and continue running it, but now let's run it.

And then we have a sort of round table and every club that joins, they get a seat at the round table and we share ideas and best practices every Monday. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Hey, I see that you're not doing training, but hey, look this person over here, they're really good at training.

Maybe you could get some ideas. Hey, these guys have a uniform deal that's out of this world. They're generating this kind of money.

These people are occupying really young athletes really well. Maybe you're not so much. And so we do a lot of that sharing back and forth, club owner to club owner, sharing ideas of how we can run these businesses better.

We don't tend to go after simple back office, cost reduction, fire your people. You can do it. We don't do any of that in the beginning.

If they discover by looking at the way, hey, look, this published a league table of who's got the best margins. Yours are kind of at the bottom. Look, this person's at the top.

Maybe you should go talk to them about how to improve the margins. So we go from that, let's get ourselves integrated and started. And then we, so more roster spots, more revenue per roster spot.

And organically now the clubs are getting bigger. Then we look for people they could partner with in a particular market, where if we can have three substantial clubs in a market, then we can create a super club. And why would you want to have a super club? Well, you may have three clubs that are in a particular market that have been competing with each other like crazy.

We want them to continue to do that. But what could we, what are the few things we could work together on? Like, could we run our own tournaments in the market and not have to travel away to all these different things? But we go off to a few special ones. And now it's more local.

The parents can be more involved. They don't have to travel as much. So if we can reduce the travel, because that's an expense that does not make a better baseball player.

Some travel is fun, but that does not necessarily make you a better baseball player. So that's kind of the second step there. Then we look for a facilities moat.

And can we, because you don't need to own the facility, but you need to control it. And then finally, we want to be able to put an academy, a True Cut Scholar Athlete Academy. And that's where our emerging partnership with IMG and the build out of IMG Local becomes really important.

It makes sense. And it's fascinating. I've had some experience in this space over the last couple of years on the sports side and not in sports as well, just as medical things get rolled up.

And you talked about how this looks. And I'm curious, and you can go into as much detail or as little detail as you want, but you get North Anglica to 70 prep schools, right? You're at three. We'll call it, hey, hopefully by end of next year, you'll be at like 10 or whatever.

What is the path to look like to get this to there? Do you see it as a bigger opportunity? Do you see it as sort of equal? Do you see it as like, hey, this will eventually become part of that because education's changing in the US. And so the model's changing a little bit as well. There's a lot of other macro factors going on just with AI and how education's shifting.

That's piece one. And then number two, like for the early believers, like do you do this on like recaps? And so people like, as you said, you're earning in. And so now you're better to be the fifth club in than the 50th club in.

Like I'm curious a little bit on some of that stuff. Yeah, yeah. You know, when we first started, we thought that, you know, we would, you know, we had a kind of a slogan, which was 30 clubs in 30 months.

And let's say that they have half a million of EBITDA at the start. And if we can grow them from half a million to a million, 30 clubs at a million of EBITDA each, you've got a 30 million EBITDA business. And, you know, by instead of having one club, which may trade at four or five times EBITDA, you've now got 30 that'll trade at 12, 12 to even 15 times EBITDA and by working together.

So now, you know, you've created a pretty significant amount of, because if you've got 30 million of EBITDA and you sell it, make the math simple, you sell it at 10 times or you sell it at 15 times, you've created some real value there. And so what we're seeing now though, is that when we've got so much inbound interest, what if we had 30 super clubs that we began to get them to work together in a particular market. So instead of 30, you're probably talking more like a hundred clubs, but built around 30 hub like locations.

And that a club, instead of being a hundred, a million of EBITDA, what if it was two or three or four? So now you're starting to talk about a business that is very substantial. And we don't know yet. One thing we're pretty sure of is, it's gonna be more than 30 and it's gonna be more than a million per.

So it's more than 30 and it's more than a million. And so this can be, and if you have 2,600 clubs in the country, and if you go softball, baseball, and then softball, we just focus, which is our focus on diamond sports. Now you can have a business that is very, very substantial.

And if you say, well, what we, cause I believe people always overestimate what you can do in one year. But they underestimate what you can do in three. And so I think by year three, by the end of year one, we'll be running up to something close, I think to, cause we're picking up the speed of our M&A activity because of all the demand.

By the end of the first year, we will be probably in the neighborhood of a run rate of 10 clubs. And so, and we will move faster from there. And I don't know where we'll be in the first five years, but I know we'll be further than we thought we would.

Yeah, yeah, no, that's helpful. And I think it's a good call out. I mean, just even on the Pro Fluence side, we're two and a half years in, and the first year, like you said, I think it's just a compounding value.

Like that just starts to accrue across everything and you can get the speed going a little bit faster. Now I wanna go here, just, we've covered a lot of topics. We try to keep these around 30 minutes.

We're edging up on that. We can go a little over, that's fine. But you've sat, this is just, this is part sports, part macro.

You sat on the education side, right? And you've seen what's happening there. Now you're sitting deeper in the sports side and what's happening there. I'm curious, like where you think this is gonna play out? Because I think it's even, I graduated high school over 10 years ago now.

And I played, I went through the travel to get the scholarship in college. Again, my parents spent a good bit of money, but it was a good ROI in terms of how it all worked out. But even the value of a college education seems to be changing.

And prep schools can be super valuable, like an IMG Academy. Again, I don't have a per se, like direct question on this. I'm just curious, like what you see is happening in education and sports and where you see mixed.

What do you think like is gonna change? College is changing a lot too with NIL. And I'm just curious any macro thoughts sort of around how does both spaces transform education and sports? Like it's, there's gonna be some interesting things that happen. Yeah, it's such a good question.

And one of the things we're emphasizing now at Nord Anglia in our prep schools is that we teach the skills that AI can't replace. So school is gonna be important. Sports is even more important because when you think about the skills, think about yourself.

I mean, the things that you have learned and the things you're doing now, I find that the scholar athlete is, they're just different. And you know it when you meet them. They're just different because there are a set of skills you can get by being a great student and engaging in the education process and so on and so forth.

There's a set of skills that those coaches, you know, and teachers and coaches, wow, and the skills that those coaches, you know, you think about, hey, I've got a teammate that's struggling there. I've learned how to, you know, go pick them up a little bit. What about that? And think about the number of decisions a shortstop has to make when the ball is hit to her or to him.

Think how many decisions they have to make in a split second about where am I gonna throw the ball? What's the situation? That, that, that, that. And thinking in real time and, you know, being, and they know what performance is and they know what winning is and losing and so on. You start to put this stuff together and that's why I think the scholar athlete and there will be, and of course we're already seeing it.

I mean, IMG is a special place. The kids that come out of there, you know, they, you know, and it's no longer they're building Maria Sharapova and Andre Agassi. You know, they are sending kids to the best schools in the country and in the world.

And then those kids are going and making a difference in the world. So I think this building of this cadre of scholar, and it's something, the scholar athlete is something that is in many ways unique to our country because we blend the two. And I think when you can create the right blend of sports and education, or in some cases it might be, I learned the arts and education, but let's just stick with sports and education.

I think these kinds of academies are gonna add more value. And I'm not one of these people who believes that AI is gonna take everybody's jobs. I think AI is gonna make everybody's jobs cooler, better, more fun, and so on.

But there are skills that AI can't replace. And that's what's happening. That's, and youth sports is gonna grow and it's gonna grow even faster because of the need.

All parents are worried. You know, kids are spending too much time sitting, looking at screens and stuff like that and not learning how to interact with other people and how to engage. And, you know, if you're on a team, you're engaging, you know, and AI can't hit the ball for you and it can't run to first base and it can't help the shortstop to decide because, you know, the AI isn't in their ear.

It's saying, hey, the ball's coming. You gotta figure out how to do that. And just think of yourself, you know, you're here, you're running this podcast and all the skills and things that you've learned about how to engage, how to design something like this, how to know that it should be 30 minutes and it should not be longer and, you know, all that.

I wonder where that came from. You know, where did you learn and the initiative to be able to do it and the confidence to know, hey, I could do this. You can really get me excited talking about this point here.

Yeah, it's a fascinating topic. And yeah, I just, I get enthralled into all of it of the future and where things can go and history and it all is just interesting to me. I just like to learn.

And so it's a cool perspective. It's gonna be more. There's gonna be more of these, you will see more of these academies emerge.

They will be more local in nature. And, you know, and they, in some cases, they'll be more specialized. In some cases, they'll be more integrated.

But there's definitely gonna be more of this. There already are baseball specific academies. Many of them are not quite good enough on the education side, but it's gonna, they're gonna get better.

That's gonna happen. I do. And so I think, you know, the future is actually quite exciting.

And I know myself every day, I'm in it with all of the different and interesting things that I've been privileged enough to work on. This youth sports venture is the most exciting thing I've ever worked on. Yeah, that's cool to hear.

I have one more. I would cut it off now, but I have one more question. I just want your perspective on it.

Sort of came top of mind as you were talking about that. So we talk about schools and academies and how this is gonna change and the specialization. I'm curious, you've sat on private equity for a large part of your life and rolling things up.

And, you know, sports traditionally has been very mom and pop ownership across, you know, whether it's professional teams, whether it's youth clubs. And now it's starting to get, you know, merged together through private equity as more groups, right? And, you know, the long tail of it is eventually there probably won't be as many single owners. There'll be just a lot of groups that own these things.

I'm curious how you think about that. Good, bad, you know, just because even five, six years ago, a lot of the professional teams didn't. They were owned by, you know, families that owned them for 40 years.

And now you're getting the Blackstones owning pieces of them. And now you're getting to youth sports and, you know, like what you guys are doing and the other, like, how do you see all that playing out as, you know, you call it sort of the professionalization of sports and the ownership from, you know, asset managers that weren't typically interested are now starting to, you know, jump on the industry. Yeah, I think, you know, it goes back to when you look at a, you know, and I've worked on roll-ups of dentists, veterinarians, HVAC companies, prep schools, quarries.

I've worked on a bunch of roll-ups in the time that I've been working in and around. And the one thing I, if I look, if I take education as an example, many of the prep schools are barely hanging on because they need capital. And you can only go to the parents so often and ask them to donate in order to prop up and build capital projects.

And these schools are amazing. What the teachers do, the quality of the teachers and all that stuff, but they're starved for capital. And then you have people that, and private capital is a really good thing.

And when you can bring capital into a situation that is going to improve the experience for, it's going to improve the experience for the teacher. It's going to improve the experience for the student. It's going to improve the experience.

When these experiences get better. and capital helps that to happen. And so I think the capital is necessary.

I don't think, it isn't private equity that is the problem. And private equity is improving a lot of things. And so I'm really bullish on the positive impact that this capital can have.

And if you are one of those club owners who is actually working with that player, with that parent and with that coach in order to make something happen, you're really wanting, and you can't do as good a job as you might do because your facilities aren't quite up to scratch. And you don't quite have enough to, and the way the parent has to interact with the thing, well, I don't really have the capital to be able to do that. When that capital becomes available, now we can improve the experience for the parent, improve the experience and the outcomes for the player.

You need capital to do that. And does the capital need returns? Of course it does. And so we have to run these as good businesses.

But I see the, I'll tell you, this professionalization is better for the system. And I've watched it. I've seen it.

And it's not this ugly sucking the life out of, you know, that people want to blow it all up into something terrible. It's just not. Yeah.

And I appreciate that perspective. That's why I ask, and I'm a family member, part of a roll-up in the medical space, sort of similar to the dentist one. And, you know, I'd say that the experience has been positive from the standpoint of, you know, the family members spent 30 years building the business, took all the risk and then had a nice, you know, partial liquidity.

They still, again, similar to your structure, like they have more to like work towards and get the rest of, but also right away, day one, they came in and all the people working for the business got higher salaries. Right. And they didn't cut anyone out and, you know, they can share services.

So they're getting discounts on what they would normally pay for anesthesia is cheaper. Right. So anyway, I appreciate you.

You see a lot of negative in the news around it. And so I'm never tied to one side, right? I always try to stay in the middle and form an own judgment. And so anyway, it's a, it's a really good perspective.

And so thanks for sharing that. But yeah, overall, Sandy, this has been amazing. Incredible conversation.

One of the more enjoyable ones for me. I think these things are fascinating and they're very multi, you know, instead of a singular, when we have podcast guests, nothing against them, they're still interesting. But when they're building just a singular betting product versus something like this, these ones obviously are a little more interesting to me.

So thanks for coming on. And where can people learn more about Curve and what you guys are doing and check out some of the cool stuff you got going? Yeah. Well, I want to thank you for having me be a part of this.

I think that you're doing a better job with your podcast than I'm doing with mine. And I learned some things from you today. So I really appreciate, I appreciate that and appreciate being a part of it.

And, you know, Curve Sports, you know, you can follow us on, you know, we're on all of the major social platforms. And, you know, we just announced club number three. We're very excited about that.

And you'll see the velocity of our announcements will happen faster because we're picking up steam. And of course, we have websites and all of that. So I hope that if someone has an interest in youth sports, I hope they find this useful.

Kyle Scott sits down with CURVE Sports CEO Sandy Ogg to discuss the vision for building a national network of 30 youth baseball Super Clubs over the next decade. Sandy shares how CURVE combines capital, technology, data and operational support while empowering clubs to retain their local brands, leadership and identities:

Welcome back to Buying Sandlot. I'm Kyle Scott, founder of Buying Sandlot. We have a really good one today with one of my favorite people in the space, one of my favorite guests at the summit, Sandy Ogg, the managing partner and CEO of Curve Sports.

They're the youth baseball platform that partners with leading clubs through capital technology and operational support while allowing them to retain their local brands and leadership. Sandy has a really impressive background. He also serves as the chairman of Nord Anglia Education, one of the world's largest international school operators, is a board member of IMG Academy, and is chairman of Prometric, the global testing and credentialing company.

Before entering youth sports, Ogg spent decades advising some of the world's largest organizations. He was chief human resources officer at Unilever, then an operating partner at Blackstone, where he worked with nearly 100 portfolio companies on leadership and value creation. He is also the founder of CEO.Works, a leadership advisory firm, and serves as the senior advisor of EQT.

He's a graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy with an MBA from Northwestern Kellogg. Ogg began his career as a Coast Guard officer before moving into corporate leadership. It's an excellent, wide-ranging conversation around what Curve is doing, particularly in baseball and softball clubs, his views and the opportunities around the intersection of sports and education through the scholar athlete, and the commercial opportunity that exists today around rolling up and forming a network of 30 super clubs across the U.S., which is Curve's goal over the next five to 10 years.

But before we get to that, I want to take a second to thank our sponsor, EventConnect. If you're an operator or tournament director like Perfect Game, you know tournament weekends have become many supply chains. Teams register, rosters change, schedules shift, hotels fill, and parents scramble.

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Learn more about how EventConnect can help power your tournament at eventconnectsports.com We thank EventConnect for being a trusted partner and allowing us to do what we do on the podcast and the newsletter. On to the interview with Sandy. All right, Sandy.

First off, I want to tell you that you were one of my favorite summit panelists we had in Philly in April. And your clip about the intersection of how you were running as fast as you can at the intersection of sports and education, I think was my favorite social clip we got out of the event. So I just wanted to lead with that and welcome to the show.

Well, that's very kind of you, Kyle. I want you to know that all of us at Curve Sports, but me particularly, we have a lot of appreciation for buying Sandlot and what you're doing in terms of the speed and effectiveness of the communication about what's going on in the space. And I thought the summit was just terrific.

And the fact that you were able to pull 500 people together like that in that short of a timeframe and be sold out, it was a privilege to be a part of it. So thank you. Awesome.

No, we were glad to have you there. Appreciate the kind words. We're running it back next year, working on dates now, roughly same timeframe.

So we hope to have you and your team back. And it went well, our first one. I'm just worried about like, all right, I don't want to screw up the second one now.

We had low expectations and we were able to clear them, thankfully, but now the expectations are higher, which is tougher. Anyway. All right.

So you're overseeing Curve Sports. For those in our audience who don't know, why don't you give the overview of Curve Sports? You guys are investing in the clubs, particularly in baseball. Give us the overview.

What is it? What are you guys trying to do? Yeah. So Curve Sports, we are building a business in youth sports focused very specifically on baseball and softball. So diamond sports, if you will.

And we are interested in what most people would consider a traditional roll-up where you're buying ownership of the clubs. We're actually not interested in ownership per se. We're interested in partnership.

So if someone wants to sell their club and leave, that's not the club we're interested in. We're interested in someone who wants to be our partner, stay and operate their brand in their market that they have built over, in many cases, decades and partner with us. We can bring things like capital that can really help accelerate the experience for the families and so forth.

So I would say that first and foremost, we are a partnership model, not an ownership model. And so that leads to our kind of the number one thing we look for in a partner is the quality of leadership. Of course, we would like to partner with clubs that are financially sound and that are in good markets.

And by a good market, I mean that there's baseball obsession and some reasonable college jersey density there so that we can produce outcomes that the families are looking for. But first and foremost for me is the leader and the depth of leadership in the club. And because if you're on a partnership model, those become your partners and they have to run, grow, develop, change the business as we partner together.

So what we're trying to do, Kyle, is our original thesis was we want to partner with 30 clubs in 30 months. And now we're kind of thinking that it is going to be 30 super clubs in 30 months. And so that means we will probably end up partnering with about 100.

I don't know that we'll get... Describe what you mean by super club and how you kind of define that. Yeah, it's a it's a great question. And thank you.

Thank you for that. But by super club, what I mean is, you know, we have learned if we go into a particular market, you know, let's take Minneapolis for as an example. And we have a great club in Pitch to Pitch that's run by CJ Woodrow there.

He's our partner. And we can see that there are several other large participants in that market that have built great brands. And if we can create cooperation between those three clubs and that there are things that they do independently, but then there are things that they do together that, you know, that gives us the opportunity to bring more people together.

And so, for example, one of our themes is train more and play local. Train more and play local. And in order to really support great local competition, you know, you need several participants in it.

And we would like to bring those participants together. And, you know, they then have some shared economics, but they are also building their strong, independent, competitive brands themselves, but then bringing those brands together interdependently. And then when you think about something like, you know, it's this intersection between education and sports, the sports academy, if you will, if you have a sports academy that draws from several strong clubs, and these are clubs making each other stronger in the market, now you have a super club that we can support local competition.

We can support a local academy. And we think that, and by academy, we mean a scholar-athlete academy. So, I don't know, Kyle, if that was a good enough definition of what we mean by super club.

No, it was perfect. One question on that, and then I, you touched on a lot of the things I went ahead, scholar-athlete, local, certainly the intersection of academics and athletics. But real quick, when you kind of think about these super clubs, it sounds to me like you're talking about a local platform.

You find the big one that can, and then, you know, kind of the satellite programs that can kind of feed into that. Are you also making investments into those smaller localized programs? So you have pitch-to-pitch as, you know, as a portfolio, piece of the portfolio. Are you also making investments into those other local clubs that help form the super club? Yes.

Yeah. Okay. Yes.

Okay, good. All right. So I want to get into all this.

Maybe it's before, just I'll wind back a sec. Why don't you just give your background briefly? You have a pretty substantial and impressive background. So I think it's worth calling out, but also you could do many things, right? And you're putting your time and effort into youth sports and this opportunity, particularly around Diamond Sports Clubs.

So give your background and then talk about why you're so attracted to the opportunity at hand. And then we'll kind of go through kind of each of those broader categories individually. Yeah.

Well, thank you. Thank you, Kyle. So, you know, I have now, you know, I'm coming up on my 50th reunion of graduating from the United States Coast Guard Academy.

And, you know, the first 10 years of my professional life were in the United States Coast Guard. And I worked in different parts of the country, doing rescue work on ships. And I loved every second of it.

And when I was at the academy, you know, I was fortunate enough, I, you know, I played baseball and I played football. So I was able to play two sports in college. And, you know, that was really fun.

And sports, very important part of my own development. And I'll come back to that. And from there, I went to work in, because my last job in the Coast Guard, I helped one of the people who start and an early operator of the Coast Guard Leadership School in Yorktown, Virginia at the time.

And then I resigned my commission and I went to work for a leadership think tank out in California. And then I had three successive corporate jobs. I went to work for one of my clients who at the time was Motorola.

And so I worked in Motorola. And then I got recruited away to be the global head of human resources at Unilever. And for those people who don't know Unilever per se, the brand, Unilever is a collection of consumer products, brands like Dove soap and Ben and Jerry's ice cream and ragu pasta sauce and, you know, all kinds of stuff.

And, you know, it was a firm of, you know, maybe 300,000 people at the time and 50 or so billion of sales. So I was blessed, you know, to be the head of human resources for that firm for 10 years globally. And then I was hired, you know, I left Unilever because my family wanted to come back and my kids actually wanted to play American sports.

I was living in Europe at the time. And I was hired by Blackstone. And I worked in private equity, and in private capital working on both, you know, on the real estate side, as well as the private equity side.

And what I kind of became known for was connecting talent to value. And as it relates to the transformation of these assets. And then I left Blackstone, about 10 years ago, started my own firm called CEO Works and basically did what I was doing at Blackstone.

And, you know, and I still do work for, you know, EQT, for example. And also, I did some work last year, believe it or not, for the United States Coast Guard, as part of a transformation there. And so, and I think the thing that's probably noteworthy is for EQT, I, you know, they appointed me as the chairman, you know, back in 2019 of two of their portfolio companies.

One of them is a schools business. So we, you know, we're investing in prep schools. And, you know, it started with four prep schools.

And ironically, Kyle, a prep school is about the same size student wise as a good size baseball club. So about 1000 students in these, in these, and about 1000 families in these clubs. And, and what I learned there, you know, and being the chairman of the board, we went from four schools to more than 90 schools, and 100,000 students involved.

And I have watched how that develops. Now, what's interesting at the heart of a prep school is what what I would call the golden triangle, the student, the parent, and the teacher that's housed within a prep school, but the heart, the beating heart of it is that triangle. If you look at a baseball club, or a softball club, the beating heart of that, and the beating heart of youth sports is the player, the parent and the coach.

These are two education systems that have at their heart and what and the club is, is the house of the golden triangle. That's where all the action happens. And, and so watching it happen in education, and now having the opportunity to do it in sports, something I love, since I'm nine years old, I love baseball.

And it changed everything for me. Because I grew up in a family that was not sporting. I mean, my dad was a physics professor.

And, you know, we used to do math problems at dinner. But our neighbors were sporty. And, you know, they took me off to try out for the for the baseball team when I was nine years old.

And that and that changed everything. And even though my family wasn't sporty, I discovered I was 40 and ended up, you know, playing all the way through college. So the thing that is the reason this is so important to me is, you know, working outside the United States for for more than 10 years and living abroad.

You know, I discovered something in that, you know, at Unilever, we were hiring 1000 college graduates every year from all over the world. Chinese, Indian, Turkish, Brazilian, I mean, we were hiring 1000 of them. And we would look, you know, we would look 25 years later, at who was actually running the firm.

And what was ironic was it was these scholar athletes. And by the way, the true scholar athlete model is a it is something that is unique to this country, to our country. And I believe the scholar athlete is a national treasure.

And so that's precious. It's precious to the leadership development of our country and the world, by the way. And so being able to be an active part of that, it's important to me.

So it sounds like a great, great background, by the way. And you're describing the private school as Nord Anglia, correct? A private school network. That's right.

Are you still you're still the chair? Or you were the chair? I still am. Still the chair? Yeah. That was traded for for billions of dollars, correct? Yeah.

14.5 billion. Wow. So are you seeing what you saw in education sort of play out that this playbook maybe start a decade or two earlier in education, kind of this consolidation, you said it went from 40 to 90 schools and traded a 14.5 billion dollars.

Are you seeing that sports and sports clubs, the similarities are obvious. And I think you do such an eloquent, eloquent job of describing them, the three pieces of the triangle, and then the house that they sit within. Are you seeing that sports is maybe kind of 10 years behind or following that exact same path, but on a delayed schedule a little bit? I think that I think it's it's it's a good insight, Kyle.

And that is exactly what I believe is that, you know, when I look at at at youth sports, it's so important. It's so important. I mean, the scholar athlete is important.

And I think when it and when and I don't know the the ecosystem of soccer, and I don't know the ecosystem of lacrosse and, and so on. But I do start to understand the ecosystem of youth baseball. And, and it, you know, it has grown the way it has grown, but it is sort of inverted, you know, in education, that, you know, the value gets created in the in the school, it gets created there.

And in, in, in youth, in travel baseball, travel baseball, you know, had had, or has become a showcase driven. So these clubs are kind of forced to build showcase level brands. And so they have scout teams and national teams, and, you know, that kind of stuff.

And it's play, it's play more, and maybe not even train. And the best players go and compete in these giant tournaments for exposure. Well, that is the opposite of what happens in, in a school, you know, in a school, the heartbeat, the beating heart of it is the parent, the teacher and, and the student, that's the beating heart.

And by the way, we are rediscovering the beating heart of, of youth baseball, by getting back to and inverting, you know, the reason that we want to invest in these clubs is because what I saw was the missing ingredient is capital. Because the club owners, when you look at the, at the, their expense lines, you know, they're spending a lot on uniforms, they're spending a lot on travel, they're spending a lot on having their coaches travel to run the games. And they're, they're not, you know, really doing what I think is, is really important is test, train, compete, recruit.

These are core services that you see in every school. You know, test, train, compete, recruit, and, and what kind of outcomes are, are, are going to be had. So what school am I going to go to? And, you know, am I competitive? What did my test scores say? And so on.

And I think the data is going to, it's not about going to an event and being showcased. What if I'm not ready to be showcased? Or what if I'm, you know, I'm not someone who's going to be seen at one of those things. I may be there, but I won't be seen.

And so how do I, how does my information get to the right people and so on and so forth? And, and that's the reason why I'm really pushing for train more, play local, train more, play local. And our parents are going, thank you. Well, I always, there's a couple of things that I want to pull on.

So I always talk to my kids, they're 10 and seven, both boys, both play sports, both really into baseball. Not quite at the travel circuit club circuit yet, but it's probably coming within the next year or two. And I always say to them, you know, they love seeing the flashy stuff on TV, the perfect game guys, the YouTubers.

And I always say that I describe it as a circle. I'm like, what you see is the outer edge of the circle. But for those guys to do the bat flip on the home run, or to play at that showcase or be in the MLB all-star game, which I took them to here in Philly, there's all this work that happens on the inside of the circle.

And you don't see that you don't see, you know, Kyle Schwarber up at 6.00 AM in the cages. You don't see them in the weight room, right? You see the home run derby, but that is like 2% of their effort, right? The rest of the effort is the stuff that nobody sees. And that's the inside the circle stuff.

And what you're describing kind of around local sports and this beating heartbeat, you know, it sounds a lot like the analogy I give to my kids. And one of the things we write about a lot, write a lot about, this is why I was so excited to have you on today, is because we reference you guys a lot in our writing, because I talk to parents, I see it in the surveys we put out, and lots of people and parents are like, the travel is, A, it's driving more cost, which is kind of a separate conversation going on in youth sports. You know, and the athletes and parents don't want to travel that much.

How can we reinvest in local? And to me, that feels like not only is it great for athlete development, but it's also great for allowing more kids to play, because travel is such a big part of the cost. So you guys are investing in these clubs, and the coaches and the training methods. And it's, you know, to me, it seems like you guys have really are proving a model for how from a business perspective, and an athlete development perspective, those two things can go hand in hand without relying on the travel.

I guess I really don't have a question there. But is that an accurate summary, I guess? Yeah, I mean, and I love what you're saying to your boys. I love that.

And that's what we're seeing is inside of that circle. There are a lot of kids that are being left behind. Part of it is they can't afford it.

Because that travel is expensive. And then the other part of it is the family does not want to invest the time. And you have siblings, and so on and so forth.

And there are lots of activities that families want to be involved in. Do we really have time to go on, you know, to be traveling every weekend for the whole summer, and set aside the cost for a second. And then in terms of the effectiveness, you know, what I want the parent to know, just like the same thing we say at the school, I want you as a parent to know that your son or daughter is getting better.

You know, just because you went to the game, and you got a couple of hits, it doesn't mean that you're actually getting better. Are you getting better? I mean, and you look at the work that Kyle Schwarber actually does, the work that he actually does. And he is measuring what he's doing.

And he needs to be assured that he is getting better based upon the things that he's working on. And I think every parent has the right to know. And I think every kid has the right to know.

And every coach needs to feel responsible for producing actual improvement. And so competition is just like taking an exam. You know, I mean, I take the exam to learn what do I need to work on.

And unfortunately, competition becomes a showcase that I'm, you know, and I do the bat flip and, you know, somebody posted on social media, and gee, wasn't that cool. But am I actually getting better? Yeah, and that's where the testing piece comes in. All right.

So we've discovered, we've talked about, you know, the big picture and the world in which this opportunity exists. So now let's kind of go through the model and, you know, just the business opportunity here. Let's go back to the operator, the owner of the local club, you talked about how important they are, you know, call it the key man, right or key woman.

We've surveyed hundreds of operators and about their capital needs. And one of the things that's like very clear in that data is that the most of the people and owners and operators of these clubs who are looking for money, I think there's this outside view that hey, everyone just wants to sell their business and get rich. It's not that like 90% of the result is I want a strategic partner, because I've developed a really good system.

But I need to be able to scale and I need capital to do that. And it certainly sounds like you're describing that. So talk about what you're seeing that operators want and need, how you guys can be helpful in investing and partnering with them.

And if you're willing to share to some extent, what that, you know, kind of the model looks like, how much ownership are they retaining? Is there a key man risk for you if that person eventually leaves? How do you guys think about all those things around the operator, the coach, the owner who are often one and the same person? Yeah, yeah. And you know, Kyle, our experience is exactly the same. The best operators are in this for the right reasons.

They are interested in the development of that young scholar athlete. They are interested in that. And they have been investing themselves in it.

And so they are looking for a strategic partner. And we can't run those clubs, just like we can't run the schools better than the educators. We can't run the club better than these people who have been developing and putting players in college and putting players on high school teams, and even professional teams.

It would be arrogant to think that we could do that. But what we can do is help them to build a value agenda. And understanding that if my business is here, and I want to scale it to here, then what are the things that I can do that are going to help me scale it? And how do I mobilize it? Because the failure point often is thinking big, but then starting big.

And as a result, moving slow. Because you only have so much capacity, either capital or energy, time, resources to actually grow.

And one of the biggest benefits we're getting is as we have a round table meeting every week, where we're inviting each club that we invest in, we invite the leader to the round table. And then we start sharing ideas. Hey, wait a second.

Up here in the North, we do a lot of training and we have facilities and we do a lot of indoor stuff because it's cold. In the South, we don't do so much indoor training. In fact, we don't do so much training.

We play a lot. Well, is the better model to train more indoors or is it to play more outdoors? Well, the answer is yes. And you should be kind of doing both.

And we discover it and everybody goes, well, gee, actually we do evaluations and tryouts and showcases, all of which are really testing. They are really one form or other of a test to get a baseline. Where do I stand? How am I doing? And so on.

And they want the parent. But what is the model for it? So you start seeing these best practices flying around and then it comes to, well, we need to invest in order to make that happen. I'm in the South.

I don't have a training facility. Okay, let's put together some capital and let's go make that happen. And we also discover, Kyle, that most of them have built their primary brand during this era of large tournament, travel, showcase and so on.

Play in the big tournament, win the big tournament, build your brand, that thing. But this thing is turning back local. And so what we're working on is a secondary brand.

It's not a secondary brand, which is built around train more and play local. And so you have your primary brand because that's not gonna go away quickly, but that secondary brand, and we actually wanna be the leader in that brand. And man, the parents are grabbing at that opportunity because of your outer ring of the circle, the real circle, because that's where the action actually happens.

And so when we look to partner with a club, we like to have a majority ownership. So our sort of working framework is 70-30, but we're happy with 80-20, we're happy with 60-40. And we would like for that owner to be our partner.

So we would like for them to retain a significant part of that. And by working together and creating something that is actually scaled, they have an opportunity to earn off the first tee as we invest in. So now they have some personal wealth.

And then as we're developing it, there's an opportunity to, cause like with Nord Anglia, for example, I mean, it has traded four times. And each time, the people who have been involved and who chose to roll in, and now you have people who are really wealthy as a result of it. And by the way, if you are the person who is managing the heartbeat of this thing, you should get wealthy.

Because this is an important service that the people are providing. This all comes back to the idea of youth sports need capital. I think you said it earlier, you said it at our summit.

I think we've clipped it up a couple of times. There's lots going on now. There's still proposals out there that are seeking to ban private equity from youth sports.

And there's just kind of this general sentiment against private capital in youth sports. But what you're talking about is the exact reason why capital can be, is not only necessary, but can be helpful. And in some ways, relocalize things and make things more accessible in the longterm.

So maybe kind of just give your stance on general on capital and youth sports and maybe expand upon how it can do some good. Because I don't think that's a narrative that the industry is really telling. And it's kind of like losing the public war of words on that, so to speak.

Yeah, I think this is really important discussion. And does that impact your investing decisions at all? I'll kind of add that on to the question. Like all this stuff going on, does that impact how you value things and introduce a risk for you? Yeah, I have so much conviction around the impact of private capital on youth sports because what I've seen in the education space.

North Anglia is the largest private cohort of students in the world. And we are learning every day about what is going on with education and so forth. And I look at what is happening to student outcomes in those schools and it's spectacular.

I mean, it's just amazing. And I see the experience that these kids are getting and the care for safeguarding and all the things that go into when you have those, the right kind of blend and investment. And I think that because some of the proposals I've seen is that, well, let's turn it back to the public and let's have the government put up the money for one thing or the other and maybe even operate these things.

And I actually think that public capital and public funds are great. And in fact, a lot of youth sports is public private partnerships that how do we bring the capital together in order because there isn't enough public capital to be able to devote to it. There are a lot of issues and problems.

So public private partnership is a great thing. And I also think, this is a generous country. We have more philanthropy in this country than virtually anywhere else in the world.

And one of the things that we're doing in order to reduce the cost is if there is a kid that wants to play on a curve sports club but they can't afford it, we are raising money every day to be able to close the gap for that kid because no one should be left behind. And we are all about it. And our clubs are all about it.

And so philanthropy, generous people, putting their hard earned money in public funds. I'm telling you Kyle, we need all of it. If we're gonna do the best job possible for the most precious resource we have.

I mean, think about those two boys of yours. Those are precious and they are the most precious thing we have. And we need to ensure that we are investing properly as a society in the development of our young people.

I mean, that's our future. And we want them to have a better future than what we had. So, I know I'm getting a little bit philosophical about the whole thing, but I think public funds are not enough.

Private funds are not enough. Philanthropic funds are not enough, but if they come together, wow, we can do really, really cool stuff. That was awesome.

We actually just had Jeremy Goldberg from League Apps and Fun play on earlier this week. And he talked about the role that philanthropy also has to play. And what you guys are building, you have the scale and resources to attack, I know attack is the wrong word, but like bring in those athletes who can't afford it at a local level.

And you guys can systematize that across your network of 30 super clubs to bring in those individual athletes. That's really, really interesting and great perspective. Let's go to the education piece.

The overlap, we've written about this before and I was trying to like sort of piece it all together. And I think we even did a diagram some months ago, but the overlap of you, IMG, Nord Anglia, EQT, Drew Weatherford, right? Like there's lots of cross-pollination here. And the common thread there is sports and education and how they come together.

So you've talked a lot about it here. Maybe talk about the sports academy model and opportunity. And I mentioned it earlier at our summit, you said, if I build a network of sports clubs, I'm paraphrasing, I could trade it for X. But when you marry kind of sports and education, the scholar athlete, the academy model, it's a much more interesting business.

So how everyone thinks of IMG when they think of sports and education and they're the best example of it. How is that trickling down to the club level? What will that look like? What opportunities are you guys attacking? And is there a world in which IMG is syndicating some of their content that begins to power sport academy, their curriculum, their education curriculum? Yeah, yeah. Man, Kyle, you're really hitting on the big ones.

I love the academy topic. We may do like a one-day event just around academies at some point because I think it's such an interesting discussion. I think, yeah.

And so if you take the academy, and I'll come on to the economics of it because the economics of it are very, very attractive. But if you look at it and you start with, the outcome is the scholar athlete and it's a national treasure and we should be doing what we can to get after it. And when you look at the day in the life of a parent, you know, a parent of, and you're smiling because you're living it.

The day in the life of a parent- You're right in the other room, you could probably hear. Yeah. A day in the life of a parent is, it never ends.

It starts early and if they're training in the morning, it starts before school. They go off to school and then the real fun starts because they have a lesson here, they have a lesson there, they have a lesson here, they have a lesson there. We've got a game on Friday, we've got travel to a tournament on Saturday, Sunday, and maybe Monday, and I've got to take time off of work and so on.

And think about the life of the parent and the family and that athlete. So school is one thing, sports are another thing, the lessons are another thing, it's all over the place. What's beautiful about a visit to Bradenton and IMG is, it's all there, it's packaged together, and it's designed for the scholar athlete.

It's designed for that. Their testing, their training, their competition, their recruiting, it's all in one place, it's all pulled together. And by the way, if it's local as opposed to in Bradenton, at Bradenton, I've got to make a decision to move there if I'm gonna be with my young person, or I've got to send them off.

And gee, that's heart-wrenching. But it's a great thing. But if it's local, so if you said IMG local, which when you, the reason I want super clubs is that you have enough mass of families that would actually like to, and we think that 10% of the families that participate in our clubs would be interested in one of these academies.

And if you have 3000 families that are in a market and 300 of them come together into a Diamond Sports local academy, powered by all the knowledge and experience of 40 years at IMG, of how do you chisel one of those days out? And by 4.30 or five o'clock, you're done. And you can do your homework. Or if it's a local academy and you're a parent, there it is, they go to school at 7.30 or eight o'clock in the morning, and by four o'clock, they're done.

Maybe they have a game once a week and I can go over and watch the game. But I don't have to travel all over the place for competition. I don't have to go there for lessons and this for this and that for that and so on and so forth.

And now the blend of my life as a student and my blend of a life as an athlete, they go together. And so it makes something a really attractive, interesting mix. And so I think that when I say IMG local, and we're interested in and we're spending time with the IMG team talking about how we can work together to bring the secret sauce to the local academy because we shouldn't reinvent that wheel.

They know how to do it. But if it's local, it's a different kind of proposition. And so if you think of the economics of a club, and what is it that a family is prepared to invest in their young athlete, as opposed to what they're ready to invest in their young student.

So now you have a student athlete. Now the revenue per student or the revenue per athlete in a blended model becomes something quite interesting. And your economics in terms of the multiple at which a business like that is gonna trade is a whole different ballgame.

And if you just look at the multiple at which IMG trades and the multiple at which Curve Sports on its own will trade, it's exciting. Yeah, and we've talked to some of the smaller academy folks, I think like Texas Sports Academy, TPH, Spire, kind of different levels. And then you have IMG sitting all the way up here.

And I mean, every time I have the conversation, like the parent demand is real. You're saying maybe 10% of the people in our clubs, but there is real demand for this, especially on the time commitments for parents and families. How much is, and it almost sounds like what you're describing is like inverting.

Today, private schools start with academics and my kids are at one and sports is very important there, right? But it's an academics first, sports 1A at most. You're talking about flipping that a little bit, lead with sports, make the academics, I don't wanna say secondary, but bring them in after the fact. And if you can leverage a trusted brand like IMG to power that, I imagine that reduces a little bit of the skepticism that maybe parents have around, how good, how much are my kids learning here? And I also imagine AI education, everyone I talk to brings that up about being able to power these and condense that academic day a little bit.

Yeah, yeah. And I think that when you bring the all, and we're already seeing it with IMG by having the same ownership of Nord Anglia and IMG. IMG is becoming a great academic institution in addition to a great athletic institution.

And of course, sports were always first there, but I think that what we're looking for is the outcome of the real scholar athlete experience. And what does that mean? And so we don't wanna subordinate one to the other, but we also, because you end up subordinating it with this wild way that we do it now, where it literally starts at seven in the morning and goes until 10 at night in the case of a really serious athlete, it's lasting that long. Is that right? What about rest? What about recovery? What about a little bit of extra time and reflection and so on and so forth? Just having a life, right? Just having a life.

And why not? Why not have one? Do I have to sacrifice my entire childhood and do things that other kids do because I wanna be? Maybe not. Maybe not. And I think IMG does a great job on their campus of creating space and rest, opportunities for rest in the midst of the whole thing.

So I think the academy, this academy thing is, well, I'm running after it. Like I said before, I'm running after this as fast as I can. Honestly, Kyle, and it's gonna take time to club, super club, be able to get the infrastructure right, put the academy there.

Then, but the thing I'm gonna resist the temptation to do is because everybody's gonna say, well, you need to go multi-sport in order to make the economics work. Not so sure. Not so sure because these academies are cropping up everywhere because the parents want them.

And unfortunately, we're sacrificing either the sport or the academics in many of those cases. And we're not gonna do that. The last, awesome stuff.

The last tenet of this is kind of the testing you talked about earlier. You guys are thinking you're calling it Curve Test Centers, partnered with the Futures app. What specifically does testing look like at Curve? How bullish are you on just the overall opportunity that technology and AI, I think, are enabling around testing and standardized testing and verified numbers, right? Lots of, we've heard lots of ideas around this, but I think you need to have a trusted brand behind it and enough scale that a college recruiter accepts that exit VLO or 40 time or whatever it is.

So talk about what you guys are doing in testing specifically. Yeah, yeah. It comes back to the parent has a right to know.

I'm investing heavily. I mean, significant part of family budgets and so forth, they're going, I have a right to know. And by the way, the kid has a right to know.

And that college recruiter has a right to know about the information. And so, ironically, Kyle, the other company that I'm the chairman of the board of is a testing company called Prometric. And so Prometric does SAT, GRE, LSAT, MCAT, all of those kind of high stakes tests that we all wanna make sure that the physician that is working on us has actually passed the test.

You know, and that they have not only the knowledge, but they have the skills to be able to do it. And I think that you take all of these things that we do now, evaluations, showcases, data days, those are all some form of testing. But back to the point, and we have a partnership with Prometric to design and verify and validate our, and ensure that we are reliably measuring.

So when you look at that, it's verified, verified information. You go into these recruiting websites and it's self-reported information. So therefore, the person who's looking at it says, well, wait a second, you know, that can't be right.

But if it has been verified and it has been measured, if the exit VLO has been measured on a TrackMan and you can see the TrackMan results. So when we do a tryout, a showcase, a day-to-day, an evaluation, that's testing. It's testing.

It's a baseline. It's a summary of how I'm doing so that when I go into the next season, you know, I have that information. And so we're measuring brain, body, ball and behaviors.

But everything is measured objectively. So if you're talking about exit VLO, it's on a TrackMan. If you're talking about a 40 time, it's with a timing gate.

If you're talking about grip strength, it's with a grip dynamometer. If you're talking about, you know, it's with a force plate. If you're looking for a rotational power, you know, it's a Proteus machine.

And if it's a behavior, an exam, it's done with an AI powered interactive simulation of the behavior. It's not like, oh, I talked to Kyle. I think he's a good guy.

You are a good guy. So this testing, we think it is essential. And when someone has, you know, if they have pitch-to-pitch on their jersey and they have a curve patch on their sleeve, I want that to mean something to those families.

These kids are tested. They know where they stand. You know, these coaches are certified.

They have been trained in order to be able to do these things. You know, every coach that is in the thing has had a background check. That curve sports patch means something.

That's important to me. How do you, on that front, and I imagine this is where kind of the operator and the person running the program is also important because I think you have to balance the risk of an athlete just training to hit a certain exit VLO. And it's gotta be like, how do these hard skills translate on field? So I imagine there's some balance there, particularly around the coaches and the training of the coaches as well.

Yeah, and you know, when we do a tryout at Power Baseball, we're measuring on the field. So does it translate onto the field? Do you actually get the translation? And you're so right. You know, you're wanting to know where you stand and we're not just like teaching the test and then figuring out how to get at it.

Does this combine into a person of character and so on? And I think one of the things that I haven't mentioned is the thing that's nice about a scholar athlete, both of those is we're teaching skills AI can't replace. A shortstop has 15 decisions to make when they field a ground ball and based upon their experience and so on, they're making a lot of choices in a split second. You know, where do I throw the ball? What, you know, should I go to my, you know, should I field it backhand or should, you know, what is the, there's like 15 decision choices and the same way, you know, a pitcher or a batter, there are a lot of decision making that happens.

And then what about my teammate, I go into the dugout and I can see that my teammate is struggling. How do I go over and, you know, pick them up? You know, those are not things that AI is gonna teach and not things that AI is gonna do. The skills that AI can't teach is what a scholar athlete academy does.

Because there's so many skills that are, you know, and brain, body, ball, behavior and opportunities to exercise and practice those things that you don't get elsewhere. Yeah, and we've written so much about how, you know, I think why so many people are bullish on sports and the opportunity in youth sports and even just investing in sports in general is it's one of the last things that keeps everybody human. And I think leisure and sports become more of our lives, not less over time.

Last one from me, you know, just big picture. What do things look like in five to 10 years, maybe at the intersection of sports and academics? You know, how will education change? How much of a role do athletics play in education in general? And where does curve sit in that world five to 10 years out? Ideal world. Yeah, yeah.

Well, you know, over the next five to 10 years, you know, I'm dreaming about a 30 market. And I'm not even dreaming at this point, Kyle, about outside the United States, but I'm thinking about a 30 market well-established super club network that there is a functioning academy in each of those markets. And that, you know, we see young people that are embracing and developing in this AI powered, more human kind of market that is emerging and they're thriving there.

We see these, and that we have that youth sports coaching is a profession. We have professional coaches that have real jobs. I'm all about cool jobs in baseball, cool jobs in softball, real professional people.

And they are there. So, you know, you've got the player, it's back to the player, the coach and the parent. And the parents have sort of recaptured their lives to a certain extent, because we've brought some sanity, you know, to this whole thing.

And they have that, their most precious, the most precious thing in their life. They feel like, hey, I can actually influence it and I can be an integral part of it. You know, I think it's, that's a 10 year proposition to kind of get that golden triangle functioning.

Because, you know, you look at it today, players are suffering. You know, we've got this rise in all this pressure and various kinds of mental challenges that people are facing as players. And then we have coaches that struggling financially and they have to teach, you know, and they can only do their coaching part-time.

And then the parents, you know, are making great sacrifices. Well, can we continue to work in a way to develop something that really satisfies the needs of those three and how they kind of harmonize together? And I think AI will play an important role in this and it will, and also being a human and becoming a better human is also gonna play a very important part of it. And so I'm seeing this 30 super club network that is really functioning.

And right now, you know, we're a construction site everywhere. Literally last one, it's gonna be short. Like just bring it back to the ground level business stuff.

We have lots of operators in our audience, you know, certainly in the baseball and softball space who may be listening and said, hey, I would love to be a part of this. How do you guys think about valuing these clubs? You know, they're generally, you know, one to $5 million businesses. And so how do you guys think about valuing these clubs?

Some smaller, some bigger, you know, they're kind of all over the place. How do you guys like what's your primary KPI when you value these things when you go in? Yeah, well, you know, as I said before, Kyle, the first thing for me is we're trying to put together a major league roster of leaders, 25 to 30. And we are going to be selective about those 30 leaders.

It all comes down to that. And then, you know, when it comes to the valuation, we are not looking to make a deal at the beginning. So we're not looking for someone who wants to sell their club and therefore make a deal.

We want to build a partnership. So as opposed to, you know, a lot of people go at it and say, well, how can I get this for as little as possible? We go at it and say, we would actually like the opposite of that. Can we help you discover the full value of your club? What is its real, true earning power? So we go in and we try to understand what is the true earning power of the club.

And that forms the initial, the basis of the initial valuation. And we do it in a disciplined way that when we five years from now have, do we have something that we can actually trade? So documentation and, you know, like things like cash to accrual and, you know, and deferred revenue and all the things that go in when you have been running the business as a lifestyle business in a lot of cases, and on a cash basis, it's hard to understand what is, what are we talking about here? But can we together discover the true earning power? We want to give you credit for every dollar that is there. And then, you know, and we establish the baseline.

And then from that baseline, can we really build value together so that we have the opportunity to, there's a payday at the beginning, a payday in a few years, a payday a few years after that, which is exactly the way that Nord Anglia developed. So I don't know if I'm answering your question, but that's the way we go about it. No, I think that was perfect.

And I think it will definitely speak to some people in our audience, you know, for those listening on the club operator and owner side, how can they get in touch with you or learn more if they think, hey, like we're, I'm a fit, I'm a fit for this. I want to talk to these guys. Yeah.

I mean, I think that, you know, we have a website for Curve Sports that has contact information on it. I'm happy, Kyle, to make my personal contact information available to people if they wanted to reach out. Awesome.

Yeah. I think they could find, I mean, certainly they could, they could ping us happy to make an introduction. Anyone who's listening to the full show.

Yeah. I mean, if someone wants to find me, you know, my numbers and email and stuff like that is, I don't keep it a secret. That's for sure.

And, you know, for people who actually are interested in that partnership and really building something together, those are the people that we want to talk to. If you're interested to just sell your club because you're tired of it and you want to move on with your life. And I respect that, but that's not, that's not our partner.

Yeah. No, it makes sense. Sandy, this was, this was awesome.

I really appreciate your time. I know we went longer maybe than we were anticipating or scheduled for, but this was one of my favorite conversations I've had with the guests. And like I said, you were one of our favorite panelists.

So we hope to have you back next year and we hope to have you back again and cover more of the news of what you guys are doing in the newsletter. So thanks. Thanks so much for joining.

Yeah. Yeah. And Kyle, I think you may know we're going to have our first Curve Summit at Steinbrenner down in Tampa in December.

And we have invited, you know, Buying Sandlot to be featured there. We've invited you and we think so much of you and what you're doing that we would like for you to be an important part of that. We're inviting clubs and partners and donors and all kinds of people to come.

And we're also going to have a leadership development workshop because we're not only looking for leaders, but we're developing leaders. Our rate limiting factor of growth is leaders.

The nationally recognized Louisiana-based organization joins the CURVE Sports platform, bringing its deep development network, recruiting expertise, and player-first culture into CURVE’s growing operator-led ecosystem.

CURVE Sports today announced that Knights Knation Baseball has joined the CURVE Sports platform, which we believe further strengthens the company’s ability to support long-term player development, club leadership, and sustainable growth across youth baseball.

Knights Knation, one of the premier development organizations in the country, will continue to operate under its existing brand and leadership while gaining access to CURVE Sports’ shared infrastructure, development systems, and technology platform.

Founded in 2007 by former Major League pitcher, longtime MLB scout, and current Los Angeles Dodgers National Pitching Crosschecker Jack Cressend, Knights Knation has built a nationally respected reputation centered around player development, recruiting support, relationships, and long-term athlete growth.

The alignment reflects CURVE Sports’ long-term strategy: building a baseball-first operating platform that supports great leaders, preserves local culture, and raises standards across development, operations, and the family experience—without centralized control.

“Jack and the Knights Knation leadership team have built one of the most respected development organizations in amateur baseball,” said Sandy Ogg, CEO of CURVE Sports. “Their experience, relationships, and commitment to doing things the right way align directly with how we believe the future of youth baseball should operate. This partnership is about supporting what they’ve built while giving them access to additional infrastructure, technology, and long-term platform support.”

Since its inception, Knights Knation has helped over 1,000 players continue their careers at the collegiate level, while also producing more than 100 MLB Draft selections and multiple Major League players. The organization operates a growing network of affiliate programs across the Southeast and beyond, with strong relationships throughout high school, collegiate, and professional baseball.

Through the alignment with CURVE Sports, Knights Knation will utilize the CURVE Sports platform, including:

• The Allegiance membership ecosystem

• The CURVE Test performance assessment platform

• Objective player development data and longitudinal tracking

• Expanded recruiting and player promotion support

• Operational infrastructure and administrative services

• Savings programs for travel, hotels, equipment, and family expenses

The partnership also reinforces CURVE Sports’ “Test. Train. Compete. Recruit.” development philosophy—connecting objective player evaluation, training systems, competition environments, and recruiting visibility into one integrated ecosystem.

For players and families, the partnership enhances access to:

• Clearer long-term development pathways

• Advanced performance testing and objective athlete data

• Expanded recruiting guidance and exposure opportunities

• Greater transparency throughout the development process

• A connected national network of aligned organizations and resources

Importantly, Knights Knation will remain led by its existing leadership team, with day-to-day operations, coaching philosophy, and culture unchanged.

“We built Knights Knation around relationships, development, and helping players maximize their opportunities both on and off the field,” said Jack Cressend, Founder and CEO of Knights Knation. “Joining CURVE Sports allows us to continue operating with the same vision and standards while gaining access to a broader platform that can enhance the experience for our players and families through technology, data, and expanded infrastructure.”

Knights Knation’s longstanding “#4L” philosophy — representing “Knights 4 Life” — has become a defining part of the organization’s identity, emphasizing lifelong relationships, accountability, development, and family culture throughout the program.

This announcement builds on the launch of CURVE Sports, which brings together Diamond Allegiance and CURVE Test Centers into a unified ecosystem. The launch of CURVE Sports is supported by a long-term partnership from Weatherford Capital, The Ogg Family, and Matthew Scattarella. Founded by Drew, Sam, and Will Weatherford, Weatherford Capital brings deep experience scaling mission-driven organizations, informed by a lifetime of competitive sports. Their relationship-driven approach—known as The Weatherford Way—prioritizes disciplined process, teamwork, learning, and long-term impact.

“Youth baseball is incredibly fragmented,” said Drew Weatherford, Founding Partner of Weatherford Capital. “Organizations like Knights Knation have been building real trust with families over decades through consistency, development, and leadership. CURVE Sports exists to support operators like Jack and his team with the infrastructure, systems, and long-term capital that can help them continue to scale their impact without compromising who they are.”

“This is how CURVE Sports grows,” Sandy Ogg added. “By partnering with experienced operators, supporting strong leadership, and expanding the platform in a way that strengthens the game, not fragments it.”

CURVE Sports plans to continue welcoming aligned organizations into its ecosystem as part of its mission to build a stronger, more sustainable future for youth baseball.

Stronger Together isn’t a slogan. It’s how the platform is built.

About CURVE Sports

CURVE Sports is a baseball and softball operating platform designed to strengthen clubs, support long-term player development, and improve the experience for families. By connecting Diamond Allegiance, CURVE Test Centers, and aligned baseball organizations, CURVE Sports provides shared infrastructure, development systems, and trusted data—while preserving leadership, independence, and culture. Visit www.curvesports.com 

About Knights Knation 

Founded in 2007 by former Major League pitcher and current Los Angeles Dodgers National Pitching Crosschecker Jack Cressend, Knights Knation Baseball is a nationally recognized development organization headquartered in Mandeville, Louisiana. Built on a foundation of player development, recruiting expertise, relationships, and long-term athlete growth, Knights Knation has helped more than 1,000 players continue their baseball careers at the collegiate level while producing over 100 MLB Draft selections and multiple Major League players. The organization operates a growing national network of affiliate programs and is widely respected for its experienced coaching staff, player-first culture, and “#4L” philosophy — Knights 4 Life. Visit www.knightsknation.com

About Weatherford Capital

Weatherford Capital is a private investment firm with over $1 billion in assets under management. Founded in 2015, the Firm aspires to partner with visionary founders and leaders to build enduring companies critical to the long-term growth of the economy, spanning technology, financial services, business services, sports, and public-sector markets. Through a relationship-driven approach rooted in long-term stewardship of capital and deep experience in public-private partnerships, Weatherford Capital seeks to empower organizations to create lasting value in sectors where regulation, governance, and public engagement shape how businesses and consumers operate. For more information, visit WeatherfordCapital.com.

Media Contact

Tom Judge
Chief Marketing Officer, CURVE Sports
tom.judge@curvesports.com
760.916.3828
www.curvesports.com

SOURCE CURVE Sports

In this CURVE Sports interview, we sit down with Brandon Johnson of KSA Bombers Baseball to learn more about the organization’s story, its player development philosophy, and where the program is headed next.

Brandon shares the history behind the Bombers, what the organization was built to represent, and how KSA continues to create opportunities for athletes to grow on and off the field.

From building a strong baseball culture to developing players, supporting families, and preparing athletes for the next level, this conversation gives an inside look at what makes the Bombers organization special — and what the future looks like as they continue to grow.

Hey everybody, I appreciate you joining me once again. My name is Matt Gerber, executive director for the Curve Sports Allegiance. I'm excited to welcome today, Brandon Johnson, founder and president of Bombers Baseball.

Originally started in Kentucky, but we'll get to that a little bit later on. Brandon, I appreciate you joining me, brother. Sure, thank you.

Awesome, man. So let's just jump right into it. Tell me about, you know, obviously you're running a travel baseball program, but how'd you fall in love with the game? Like, you know, what's your past growing up? You know, just give me the full story.

So just starting in Rec Ball, going first just Rec Ball to All-Stars and falling in love with it, just being around the coaches and just being a sponge and realizing at a young age that I wanted to coach just by being around them and seeing everything that they're doing, not only on the baseball side of things, but off the field as well. Just building off of that. And then going into All-Stars to high school with the same group of guys that I played All-Stars with all the way through high school, went to the final four of the state, thought baseball was done for me.

Should've went and played some first base and hit a little bit, but I was a pitcher. I knew my arm was done, so stepped away from baseball for two years or so. Moved down to Pensacola, Florida, where I was just going to school, just wanted to get out of the state.

Met a friend, Austin Lee, who was like, hey, you want to coach? It's like, let's do it. So started there with the Gulf Breeze Wave, then moved up to New York, just being a Yankee fan, wanted to go to New York. I was like, hey, let me find a coaching job up there.

Went up there, got an interview on my birthday. Got the job on my birthday and started there with the NYC Stars at the Baseball Center, NYC. Learned a ton from Lance Williams, who ran the NYC Stars until COVID.

And then COVID hit, had some family stuff going on. Grandparent passed away. I was like, hey, I need to move back home.

And then KSA came up for sale. They had a team, KVC, who was here, but they were going a different route. So the facility for sale, so no team, no bombers, anything like that.

So my dad was like, hey, let's start the bombers. So that's what got me back here. Started with no teams at first, just had teams practicing.

And then started with one team, to six teams, to 10, to 12, to now 14. So that's pretty much where we are now. Awesome, man.

So let's dive deep, a little bit deeper. Like, I love the story. I think you said it early.

Like, I knew I wanted to be a coach. And like, you hear that. I've heard that a couple of times.

And it's awesome. First of all, like, you know, you're probably a generation younger than me, right? That like, guys are kind of identifying earlier. Like, hey, I want to go be a coach.

And there's an opportunity to do that and to create something. So first of all, that's awesome. Are there any, if you look back, are there any specific coaches that maybe had an influence on you at the young age, high school age, where you were like, man, like, that person meant a lot to me? And tell me a little bit about that person and what they did for you.

Actually, a few. Tommy Parker, back in rakeball, Charles Ford, back to all-star days. You know, great baseball.

But the main thing I learned there was just hard work, toughness. You know, six-hour practices, two-a-days, all that stuff. And then Brian Wise, probably the best person I know on the planet, just from character to consistency to everything else, just can't thank him enough for not only the baseball side of things, but who I am as a person off the field and everything that he did.

And then moving back into the coaching world myself, learning from Lance Williams up in New York and just seeing the ins and outs of travel baseball and how he does things, how he is with the kids, the relationships that he has with the kids, the families, all that stuff. Just, I wouldn't be where I am without those guys. And then also my pitching coach, Steve Stimley, who played with the Royals in the big leagues, and he's turned into a great friend.

Still learning from him and all three of those, four of those other guys that I've talked about. Awesome. That's great.

So, you know, you kind of described, you bounced around, went and coached and, you know, the panhandle, then, awesome, right? The Yankees fan, young. I just want to go up to New York, find your way, find a, you know, get an interview and find a place to work, you know, somebody that can mentor you. When you came back home and you had the opportunity, you know, to purchase the facility and then start the teams, you know, was there something in your mind that you guys set out to say, like, we want to do, this is who we are and this is how we want to do it.

Kind of like what defines your guys' culture and what you're trying to accomplish? Mostly consistency, just day in, day out, realizing that, you know, things are going to go wrong, you're going to have adversity, but how are you going to overcome that? You know, you're going to have your slumps throughout the season, you're going to have bad games, whatever it may be, but the main thing, culture-wise, is just consistency. And then, you know, we started young. I had a non-U team, that was our first team and we literally had a month of practice before our first game, started super late.

None of those guys at that time should have been playing tribal baseball, but you could see the look in, you know, a handful of their eyes, like, hey, I want to do this, let's get after it. And then, you know, five years later down the road, those are guys that are still on my team that are doing their thing. Yeah.

So you kind of took maybe a different tack than some of the members of the Curve Sports Allegiance and really started in the youth market, right? And they're now kind of growing into the high school market. Tell me about some of the challenges you see in the youth market today and then give me some, you know, a lot of times people are, you know, online, they're, you know, they're screaming about everything bad. Tell me some of the good things that you see going on in the youth market today.

I think one thing is realizing that rec ball is going downhill everywhere, mostly because, you know, parents are like, my kid needs to be playing tribal baseball just to play with their friends or whatever it may be, but just trying to provide something better. But at the same time, I think it's also, tribal ball is in a really good spot when you're around the right people. And whether that's dad coaches or you've got ex-major leaguers, whatever it may be, tribal ball is in a really good spot, I think nationwide.

That just being able to provide more opportunities, more resources for the players that don't necessarily have that everywhere. Just trying to provide things for everybody. And I see a lot of organizations in my area, wherever else, whether they're a competitor or whatever it may be, there are a lot of good things going uphill for the youth baseball.

So you'd say the positives that you see is that, you know, even though the costs have gone up, right? And it costs more to play baseball that, you know, kids are getting, in your eyes, kids are getting, kids and families are getting more out of it. Because they've got people that are investing in it. Is that kind of what I hear you saying? Yeah, for the most part, I think obviously you've got the bad eggs that are in it for the money or for their son or whatever it may be.

But for the most part, I see a ton of commitment and investment from coaches and organizations. Yeah, I agree with you. I think a lot of times this world gets turned upside down by the charlatans or by the people that don't do it right.

And, you know, they get depressed. And, you know, when you get into it and you meet the people that are doing this every day, you realize that, you know, they're doing it because they've got a heart for kids and they, you know, want to train, whether it's young men in baseball, young women in softball, you know, they want to, you know, train the next generation of leaders. So when it comes to your guys' program with the Bombers, maybe you can tell us, tell us, you know, kind of the, first let's start with, you know, KSA versus the Bombers.

You know, what are the two entities? How do they work together? What does that look like for you guys? If I was a parent and I didn't know anything about you and I kind of heard about you and I called you for the first time, like, tell me about your program. So KSA is a facility. We've got five cages here, 7,000 square feet.

We have teams from all over the Lowell area and the San Diego, Mount Washington area, high schools, multiple high schools working out in your softball and baseball, middle schools, all that good stuff. And then the Bombers are travel baseball, travel softball, you know, player development. We're here to not just, hey, let's come practice, but trying to provide the resources, the tools, the membership, everything that we can to help your son or daughter get to where they need to be.

Okay, so I walk into the facility and I'm looking around like, what can I sign up for? What do I get? You know, how many practices do I do? Give me the full spiel. Yeah, so for the most part, most teams are in here twice a week and then they will go outside on their own. We also just got our own field.

So one team, a team may be in here once a week, they may be outside once a week. You know, they're going two times a week regardless. That being said, if the cage is open and a team wants to come in here, we're not charging you more to come practice.

Come get your work in. Even if another team's like, hey, let me pay. We're getting a Bombers team in here first.

Trying to provide a membership, 24 seven memberships with a key to get in if you want to come up here and hit it three in the morning. If you want to come hit it six in the morning before you're leaving to go to Florida, whatever it may be, you know, you've got a key to get in here and get your work in. That's awesome.

So let's talk about player development specifically. What would you say player development means to you? It's a word that's thrown out there a ton. You know, what would you define player development as? I think building a well-rounded athlete, a well-rounded baseball, softball player, you know, not making a PO at nine years old, allowing players to fail, you know, go make that Jeter jump throw, go practice that, you know, sports center top 10 play, but at the same time realizing, hey, we need to make 100% of the routine plays, getting the fundamentals down, but also letting, especially the younger kids, go try those things, go have fun, go be an athlete, go do the extraordinary play, but at the same time realizing, you know, let's get the consistent fundamentals down 100% of the time.

So one thing you just said to me, I just did an interview with one of our other new members, the Southern Squeeze down at Fort Myers, and he's got a big presence in the youth market and, you know, he also does high school as well, but one thing that you just said there was, you know, let them fail. And I think that there's a lot of people out there that don't have that mindset, right? They're trying to win the trophy at nine U, trying to win the trophy at 10 U, 11 U, even up to 17 U, right? At some point, you know, until you get to college or professional baseball, like this is a developmental pipeline, right? And I think the idea of letting the kid fail is so important. And I love to hear that from you guys, just kind of consistently now across the board.

Like you said, let them go make the Derek Jeter throw. He made the example, Brandon, of, you know, he had a shortstop that played with them since he was nine. You know, he couldn't figure out how to throw the ball, you know, from down here, would throw the ball all over the place, but consistently they did it, they did it, they did it.

And now this kid is going into his junior year, is going to be an SEC recruit, potential draft guy. And, you know, he said it was directly because they let him fail over and over again, right? So, you know, for the families, the parents, the coaches that are out there in youth ball right now, like as you're selecting your travel club to play for, I think, you know, I hear it a lot in my position, like what should we be looking for in a travel club? I think that that's a really good one to ask for, is do you let the kids fail, right? Yes, my philosophy there is, I'm going to be on you in practice. I'm going to be hard.

I'm going to challenge you. You know, obviously we're still going to have fun, but in game, if you strike out, you make an error, whatever it is, you lose the game, whatever it may be, I'm going to be the first one, you're good, let's move on. And I will take ownership for that, you know, at your next practice, we're going to work on that.

Yeah. So a couple more questions on player development. And obviously I think this area, this, you know, this world of youth sports is continuing to try to get better in this realm.

So if you don't have the answers, that's fine. But what do you guys do from a tracking standpoint? Is there any structure and accountability around your development? Are you guys presenting feedback to families? If so, what does that look like? If not, you know, do you have plans to kind of, you know, put that into your program going forward? Yeah, so we just got a wrap soda last year. We've had a hit tracks for the last four or five years.

Mostly it's on a team by team basis. With that being said, that's one of the main reasons I was excited to partner with you guys to see what you guys can provide, not only on the player development side of things itself, but also how we've relaying that information to the players, to the parents, having a plan to get to where they need to be. Love it.

So last question here on player development side. Walk me through, I'm playing on your team and I come to your practice. What does it feel like? Like, what am I going to get as a parent? What am I going to get as a player? A consistent routine.

I think that's the biggest thing. Players know what they need to do when they show up. The same warmups every day.

We want to constantly nail the same things down every day, but at the same time, I want them to learn something new every day. So I learn something new every day. I know you learn something new every day.

As soon as you think you know everything in baseball, you don't, you're wrong. Just being able to adapt, not only on the field, but off the field. Practice-wise though, doing the same things every day.

And then just being able to grow from that as well. So obviously the nine-year-olds aren't doing the same thing as the 14-year-olds, but start them young, get the fundamentals down. And then from there, doing new things every day, every year.

Keeping it exciting. Yep. Love it.

So let's talk about kind of growth and vision for your program. I know I started off by saying that you guys started obviously in Kentucky, but what are your plans and where do you want this club to be in three to five years? Yep. So back where I started my coaching journey down in Pensacola, we're starting the Do-Work Bombers.

With Do-Work, they're mainly basketball and football right now. Trying to get the right people involved to provide the right resources, the right tools, the right knowledge that we're providing up here. Consistently from Kentucky to Pensacola.

And keeping things consistent again. That's the big thing is this consistent. I don't want to just grow and have a Bombers team down in Florida.

I want to make sure that I'm providing everything that I can for the players and the parents to have a good experience, to make them want to play baseball the next year and have all the tools to get where they need to be. So my next question was going to be around sustainable growth, but it sounds like to me that you think sustainable growth is around, you know, structure and the right tools, essentially. Would that be correct? Being consistent, you know.

I don't want a Bombers team here wondering, hey, why are they doing that down there or vice versa, whatever it may be. Just making sure that our brand is our brand. We're doing things the right way, wherever it may be.

So if you could pick three words to describe your brand, what would those be? Prepared, consistent, respectful, and loyal. That's four, but I'll take it. Yeah, I'll just throw that in there.

So one more time for me. Prepare. Consistent.

Okay. Respectful and loyal. I love it, I love it.

And let's take that a step further on each of those. How, as the leader of the organization, obviously, you know, leadership is so important, right, in everything in life, but how would you say that you try to show by example, you know, being prepared, being consistent, being respectful, and showing loyalty? I think the main thing is just all the time that I put into it, I think we don't talk enough baseball. I think there's a lot of business.

Obviously, you've got to separate those two, but just not talking enough baseball with whether it's parents, players, coaches, especially, just there's too much of the outside things going on. I want to really hone in on being prepared on the baseball side of things, and then respectful, just respecting the facility, being respectful of a player that maybe they're good enough, but are they traveling two hours? Do they have another option that may be best for them? Obviously, we might want that player, but, you know, is it the right fit for them? I don't want to just pick a kid up and say, hey, yeah, we want you, but then they're turning their life around just to travel two hours a day, just to come practice. Loyal, just making sure that it's going both ways.

I'm an open book. If you want to call me, you want to talk to me, whatever it may be, but at the same time, let's make sure that you're doing the same thing back and returning that. Love it.

All right, we're going to kind of transition here to our last two phases of our conversation. First one, I'm going to start with some rapid-fire questions, right? One, you know, one sentence, one word answers, and then we'll talk a little bit about the Curve Sports Allegiance and, you know, why you chose to join. So first one for you is one trait you want every player in your program to have.

The ability to overcome adversity. Awesome. What's the biggest myth that parents get told in youth baseball? Already hit on this once earlier, but all parent coaches are bad.

If you had one piece of advice to give all the guys in your program, for the young athletes, what's that one piece of advice? It's a good one. Again, just it's repetitive, but be prepared. You know, I'm a big Derek Jeter fan.

He said the biggest fear in life is being unprepared. So whatever that might be, making sure that you've got your cleats on and you're ready to go at whatever time warmups are, you're not pulling in the parking lot or getting your cleats on, whatever it may be. And then also on the baseball side of things, are you prepared, ready to hit? Pitcher releases the ball.

Are you still standing still or are you ready to go? Love it. This is my favorite question. This one might take a little bit of time to think through, so if you need to pause, that's fine.

So imagine a world where all of travel baseball has come together and there's one governing body. You know, it's funny to think about that, but imagine there is, right? And you have recently been elected as the president of travel baseball, the president of amateur baseball. What's the first change you would make to the travel ball ecosystem? I would say getting rid of sanctions at the lower ages, letting players play with their friends, the right coach, it may be, you know, whatever it may be, not just looking, hey, my son's a AAA major player.

Obviously that wouldn't happen overnight, but if I could go back in time, getting rid of the sanctions and saying, hey, let's go play with your friends, whatever it may be and grow from the bottom, if it is, or you've got the group of studs that may be together instead of just, hey, let's go play on this major team, even though it might not be the right fit for your son or daughter. So would that be kind of your idea of kind of going back to the local roots more, right? Like, is that kind of what you're saying? Like make it easier to kind of be with your friends and to play with your friends as you kind of, in the youth ages, obviously as you get older, I think we could both agree as you get older specifically, not the youth ages, but as you get older, it's important to surround yourself with, you know, the same level players and to go seek out that good competition. But I think if I understand it right, it's like, at the young ages, like we're trying to teach the game, like let's not be so caught up in, am I on a major team? And if I'm a triple-A team, whatever it might be, let's just go compete and let's go learn the game together with good coaches.

Yep, and then also growing and having the ambitions of, hey, when you get to that high school level, are you going to be that player? Are you going to be that team? Instead of jumping on a team that's already established, grow as a team, you know. I think that's really important. Awesome.

All right, a couple of selfless plugs here for the Allegiance. What made you decide to join? So, as I told you before, just listen to the Buying St. Lot podcast. I heard about you guys, so I did my due diligence, looked down a little bit, got an interview with you.

Whenever you got on the Zoom call, I had no idea it was going to be you, and I've told you that I listened to your podcast that you had before about the Scorpions, all that stuff. So, that was a really big deal, this seeing yourself and everything that you stand for, everything that you do, you know about the game. That was a big thing, but then also, obviously, the player development side of things, how you're going to make things easier for my parents, for my families, make things seamless so that I can make myself available to the players more often.

Yeah, love it. Well, that's our goal, and we're absolutely looking forward to working with you, Brandon. Excited to have you on board, excited to help you guys grow and kind of take that next step.

Thanks for joining me today, and for all those currently in Pensacola or in Kentucky, you know, if you're looking for a great place to play. Where can they see you online, Brandon? Where do they go? KSABombers.com, Do Work Bombers on Facebook, or Bombers Baseball here in Kentucky. Awesome.

Brandon, really appreciate the time, brother. Yes, sir, thank you.

The new mobile platform will connect athletes, families, coaches, and organizations through a unified digital experience built for the future of youth sports.

 CURVE Sports today announced a strategic partnership with The Futures App to power the official CURVE Sports App, a new digital platform designed to connect and support athletes, families, coaches, and organizations across the growing CURVE Sports network.

Built in collaboration with The Futures App founder Jake Hirabayashi, the CURVE Sports App will serve as the centralized mobile experience for CURVE member organizations nationwide — delivering communication, schedules, development resources, player data, recruiting visibility, content, and organizational infrastructure directly into the hands of families and athletes.

The app is now available on the App Store and is already being implemented across organizations within the CURVE Sports ecosystem.

“This partnership is about building infrastructure for the future of youth sports,” said Sandy Ogg. “Great organizations need more than tournaments and uniforms — they need systems that help families stay connected, help coaches operate efficiently, and help athletes develop over time. The CURVE Sports App gives our organizations a modern platform to do exactly that while maintaining the identity and culture that makes each club special.”

The partnership represents another step in CURVE Sports’ mission to build an operator-led national ecosystem that empowers high-quality youth sports organizations through technology, leadership, data, and shared resources — without removing local leadership or autonomy.

The CURVE Sports App is designed to support organizations across baseball and beyond with features including:

• Team and organizational communication

• Scheduling and event management

• Player development and performance tracking

• Recruiting and exposure tools

• Media and content distribution

• Club-specific branding and experiences

• Longitudinal athlete engagement across the CURVE ecosystem

For The Futures App, the collaboration expands its mission of helping organizations create stronger athlete and family experiences through scalable technology.

“As someone who lived the athlete journey firsthand, I know how fragmented youth sports can feel for families and players,” said Hirabayashi. “CURVE Sports is building something different — a connected ecosystem focused on long-term development and real support for organizations. We’re excited to help power that experience through technology and create a platform that grows alongside the athletes and clubs inside the network.”

Organizations already utilizing the platform are seeing immediate operational and communication benefits.

“The CURVE Sports App has already helped us create a more connected experience for our families, coaches, and players,” said Eric Lassiter, founder of Power Baseball. “Communication, schedules, player development, and organizational updates are now all in one place. It gives our families a better experience while helping us operate more efficiently as an organization. That’s a huge win for clubs like ours.”

CURVE Sports continues to expand nationally through partnerships with development-first organizations that prioritize coaching, culture, player growth, and long-term athlete impact.

“Technology should support relationships — not replace them,” added Ogg. “This app helps bring our entire ecosystem closer together while creating a better experience for the people who matter most: the athletes, coaches, and families.”

For more information, visit CURVE Sports or download the CURVE Sports app on the App Store.

About CURVE Sports:

CURVE Sports is a baseball-first operating platform designed to strengthen clubs, support long-term player development, and improve the experience for families. By connecting Diamond Allegiance and CURVE Test Centers, CURVE Sports aligns coaching, development services, and trusted data into one integrated ecosystem—helping clubs operate more effectively while preserving independence and culture. For more information, visit www.curvesports.com

About The Futures App:

The Futures App is an all-in-one software platform for youth sports organizations, coaches, and training facilities. It combines player development tools with business operations features like scheduling, payments, communication, facility management, and website hosting. To learn more, visit www.thefuturesapp.com

Media Contact

Tom Judge
Chief Marketing Officer, CURVE Sports
tom.judge@curvesports.com
760.916.3828
www.curvesports.com

In this long-form conversation, CURVE Sports sits down with Artie Clyde of Southern Squeeze to explore the story behind one of the region’s growing baseball development organizations.

From its early beginnings to its long-term vision for the future, Artie shares how Southern Squeeze was built around player development, culture, opportunity, and creating an environment where athletes can grow both on and off the field.

The conversation dives into:

• The origins and history of Southern Squeeze

• The philosophy behind player development

• Building culture within a baseball organization

• Creating opportunities for athletes and families

• Challenges and lessons learned along the journey

• The future vision and expansion plans for the program

• What separates Southern Squeeze from traditional travel baseball models

This episode provides an inside look at the people, philosophy, and mission driving Southern Squeeze forward — and how organizations focused on long-term development are helping shape the future of youth baseball.

Thanks for joining me, everybody. My name is Matt Gerber. I'm the executive director of the Curve Sports Allegiance.

Excited to welcome one of our new members, Artie Clyde with the Southern Squeeze. Artie, I appreciate you joining me today, brother. Sir, I appreciate it.

I'm looking forward to our long-lasting partnership. Awesome, man. Well, let's jump right in. I'd love to learn a little bit more and have our viewers learn a little bit more about you. How did you fall in love with the game of baseball? Tell us a little bit about kind of, you know, your career, your background in the game. You know, I fell in love with the game.

My grandfather played in the Negro Leagues and my dad really instilled, you know, all the principles that baseball, you know, provides for a young man. And I was fortunate enough to play multiple sports, but really fall in love with baseball. And growing up in New Jersey, I had this just infatuation with playing all the time.

So I ended up committing to High Point University right out of high school and then going to Hillsboro Community College and then playing at Alabama A&M and Brewton Parker. It sounds like the transfer portal before the transfer portal. I played one year in the Frontier League for the Rockford Riverhawks.

In the meantime, I have a younger brother that's 10 years younger. And on all my, you know, off time, I was helping my dad coach his team. And once I decided I was done playing, I ended up taking over his team and helping him coach.

And, you know, I really fell in love with the coaching aspect. And I had a couple of mentors along the way outside of my father, you know, a guy named Keith Goodwin and another guy named Brad Boris. Brad let me spend a summer with him, with his Team Elite Prime team.

And I really learned the ins and outs of all the things that go on behind the scenes, which I think that leads us to now where we are, you know, a successful organization in the state of Florida. That's awesome, man. So let's take a, it's kind of a long winding road.

So let's start, tell me a little bit about the college days and then kind of the transition into coaching. Like, would you say that when you were playing, you kind of felt like that you might want to coach one day? Were you thinking about getting into something else? Like what led you to say, you know, hey, I'd really like to try to give this a try in the coaching realm? So, like I said, I have a younger brother. He's 10 years younger than me.

And he had a travel ball team that I used to help out while I was playing. You know, my college career was interesting because I was very athletic, a lot of talent, but never was able to put together, you know, where the rubber meets the road. And so fortunately for me, I was able to, you know, be athletic enough to play multiple positions, learn how to pitch, learn how to play third and first, learn how to play second, learn how to play the outfield.

And I was just really, you know, I was always influenced by my coaches to be the best version of me. So I wanted to give back. That's why I started working with my brother's team.

And then once I was done playing, I was actually, it was in the middle of the recession and I couldn't get a job. I was trying to figure out what to do. So I went back to, I was trying to go back to grad school.

I was gonna go to FAU. And one of the coaches that helped me along the way, you know, asked me if I can come in, if I pass the GRE and I'm able to make it into their grad school to be a grad assistant. So I knew that coaching was right on the fingertips.

And then I couldn't pass the GRE. And randomly I was throwing in a ballpark and a scout from the Cleveland Indians was there. When he saw me throw, he referred me to the Rockford River Hawks.

I went out there and finished a year, had a small taste of what independent professional baseball was like, which, you know, was able to almost complete my resume as far as playing background was concerned. I felt like, you know, if I was able to go coach on any level, I felt like with that on my resume, it helped me apply for any job. And as I coach now, I continue to grow with, you know, things like TrackMan and Driveline and PitchLogic and all the technology that we have for our players to show progress in the numbers that are involved that show progress.

Sorry to, you know, get off in left field, but I do think it's, you know, important that we always evolve. And that started when I was a young 18 year old kid at High Point University. Yeah, I love it.

And we'll definitely get into the, you know, the player development side of what you guys do and looking forward to diving into that a little bit later. Let's talk about Southern Squeeze in specific. I know you mentioned that you spent a year with Brad Boris

Brad is the owner and founder of Team Elite in Atlanta, also a member of the Allegiance. But tell me about, you know, the early years of the Squeeze. A couple of questions that maybe you can touch on here for me is, you know, was there a problem that you were trying to solve in your market, in your area? And what was the original vision for your program? Yeah, so we, I started coaching a 13 year old team that was really good.

And it has players that have gone on and had professional careers. But I felt like we missed on a couple of things. I felt like there was no commitment.

There was a lot of pressure for those kids to perform and there was no practice. So we would grab, you know, the best players in all parts of the region, we put them together and we go to, you know, Disney World of Sports, or we go and play down in Miami. We would go play in all these big events.

And it was great as far as competition was concerned, but it wasn't fulfilling as far as development. I felt like I could have had more impact on player development. And then I ended up getting invited to a, into a spring training workout with the Red Sox over here in Fort Myers.

And a friend of mine named Keith Goodwin took me to one of his practices afterwards. And he said, this is what I do with my program. And he had a whole practice layout.

Well, I had very good networking skills and we were able to, you know, kind of blend the two together. This is around 2015, 2014. And once I realized that you can do both is when our program or my vision for my program started to get a lot clearer.

Myself and Keith met Brad Boris. And I did an internship with Brad for almost a year. I went up to Atlanta

He showed, you know, all the things that he does for player development, his network. He was, you know, he's like an older brother to me. And I took bits and pieces along the way.

And I said to myself, okay, look, it's very hard for a new program to have the Kumar rockers of the world want to play for you. And it's also hard to get, you know, at the time division three players to compete on a high level. So what I planned to do was take those kids that were falling through the cracks and give them an opportunity to develop and then compete on a bigger stage like Brad had his teams playing on in the tournaments such as the Wilson Premier Event, the World War Bad in Atlanta, and Jupiter and a lot of these events where we have become to find our niche was maybe not the draft pick, but helping that division two player not fall through the cracks and helping that very talented kid find a juco then go to division one.

And there's multiple ways it's gonna crack. And I think that, you know, a lot of players can reach their ultimate goal, but not everybody has the same road to get there. And we're just here to facilitate different avenues.

Yeah, I love that Artie. So what I hear you say is, you know, you guys have kind of taken a different tack than, you know, the per se elite travel baseball, right? Focusing on kids that really need someone to be an advocate for them to need player development and, you know, have aspirations of playing at the next level no matter what that might be. And that's super important, right? At the end of the day, I think that there's, you know, our industry gets hyper-focused on, you know, the top 150, the top 200 players, but that's such the tippy top of the spear, right? And there's so many kids out there that are floundering, that aren't getting good advice, that aren't getting direction on where they should be going and what they should be doing.

So obviously really refreshing to hear of a program like yours that's focused on those types of people. So a couple of follow-up questions, and then we'll kind of move on to more about, you know, what does it mean to be part of Southern Squeeze? But, you know, from the startup, from, you know, when you first started getting going, what were some of the early challenges that you faced and, you know, what made you keep going, right? Because you're to a point now where you guys have a pretty well-established program, you've grown, right? But in those early years, I know it probably wasn't easy, right? So what were some of those challenges you faced and what kept you going and saying, I want to continue to do this? Well, you know, I think the first challenge was, you know, being able to tell Brad like, hey, I'm going to do something different and still keep a good relationship. So, you know, respectfully, I said, hey, you know, I'm prepared to start something in Southwest Florida.

I didn't think it was gonna take off like it had. I had, you know, one group of guys that believed in myself as a coach, myself as an organizational head. We had a really good year.

We had multiple players that went off and played division one baseball. And all of the kids that were on that original team ended up playing in college somewhere. Now, we have one player that's still playing with the Minnesota Twins from that original group.

And that group grew from one team to two teams, to two teams, to four teams, four teams to eight teams. And the next challenge that I faced was, how do I keep our culture the same? You know, once it turned from, you know, two to four, I wasn't as hands-on anymore. So I had to find the right people to help me, you know, with the same morals, the same ethics, the same beliefs, the same developmental beliefs.

It's very challenging to find those people that are like-minded because, you know, as everyone knows, you know, there's old school baseball, there's new school baseballs, there's coaches that let the kids wear their earrings, there's coaches that don't. There's so many different things that it was a huge challenge to find coaches that were like-minded so that we can facilitate our culture throughout the program. And then once we were able to overcome that, and I realized that, you know, I had to bend myself a little bit and I didn't, you know, know everything.

I think that, you know, we were able to overcome a lot of obstacles in itself. The next challenge that I ran into was how to handle, you know, questions in regards to the recruiting process and how to make myself accessible, you know, to all of the families in our program, whether you lived in Alabama or you lived in my backyard. I wanted to make sure that there wasn't a family and part of our program that I didn't meet or that I didn't talk to, that I didn't spend my time with.

And so I had to figure out a way to take a step back off the field and let the coaches that I coached coach. And we've become very successful because I become accessible to everyone. So when they have questions about the recruiting process, which is, in my opinion, the most important part of being an athlete, because you don't wanna set yourself up in a situation where you feel like you gotta transfer out.

You don't wanna set yourself up in a situation where you feel like you're gonna graduate college in debt. You don't wanna set yourself up where you're, you know, overwhelmed with schoolwork and all the other things that come with being a college baseball player. So my role has now been, hey, I can advise you through this.

I can walk you through this and I have the time to walk you through this. Yeah, I love that. So you talked a little bit about culture.

So if there were, you know, two, three, four words that could describe Southern Squeeze's culture, what would you say those are? Respect, integrity, toughness is IQ. Yeah, first of all, IQ, yeah, I love that. IQ, right? Absolutely.

That is intelligence, okay? I really pride our guys on being the best that they can be in the classroom. Being, you know, we have kids that have gone to Brown. We have kids that have gone to Swarthmore, MIT.

You know, there's a lot of very intelligent, Emory, a lot of very intelligent kids in our program. Air Force Academy. But I also think that our players are very tough.

You know, during COVID, we had a couple of players that went on and maybe been undersized, but the coaches took my opinion on the player, regardless of how they couldn't see them. So they took my opinion on the player and they were able to compete the next year because they got tough kids. They might not have got the six foot five, you know, 95 mile an hour arm, but they got the five 11, 91 mile an hour arm that was able to play in a lot of tough situations.

I think that respect is another one. I think that our guys, you know, will respect their coaches, respect the accountability that the coaches have for them. I'm not always the easiest person to play with four and neither are my coaches, because we expect a lot, because we know that the college coaches expect a lot.

And then integrity, you know, just say what you mean and mean what you say. So, you know, I try to, you know, do everything for every player that I say I'm gonna do. And I think that, you know, that in return, our players respect what our coaches do for them.

So they give us a hundred percent on and off the field. Yeah, love that, man. And so important in this day and age to have defined culture, right? And define things that, you know, are kind of nonnegotiable for you and for your program.

You mentioned earlier, you know, going back to your time with Keith, you know, going to a practice and seeing things could be done differently. If somebody walked into one of your practices today, is there anything in specific that they would notice about that practice? I think that there's a lot of movement at our practices. I'm a firm believer in, you know, developing motor skills.

And the more that you are able to move to the baseball, the easier it is for a player to develop those certain steps. Just like a dancer, a dance rehearsal, you break down those steps over and over and over and over again so that you can close your eyes and you will stand in the same spot. It's just like, you know, making sure that you take, you know, the correct swing or you take the correct route to the baseball over and over and over and over again, which will in turn turn into routine plays being made, good swings being made.

And of course, you know, I think that, like I said, efficiency of practice, you know, don't walk to pick up baseballs because, you know, if you walk, that's time, you know, and time is of the essence. So the faster you can get me back the baseballs, the faster I can hit them back out to you. So I think our practices are very efficient and I think they're very repetitive.

And I think that as far as player development is concerned, those are the things that the individual needs to make himself a better individual. You know, as far as team baseball, we try to keep it simple. Hey, first and third, throw somebody out.

You know, if you wanna throw to third, throw to third, if you wanna throw to second, throw to second, throw somebody out. You know, show off your arm. You know, that's an opportunity, right? Like if there's six college coaches watching you, they know eventually that guy from first is gonna try to get second.

So it's an opportunity for the catcher to showcase his talents. You know, I think that situational hitting, right? There's a guy at third base or, you know, I really don't promote them to squeeze the guys in if there's five guys watching you hit, you know, because we know that you're gonna get pitched to, you're gonna get pitched around, and, you know, coaches wanna be able to see you barrel ball skills. And I think that, you know, whenever you get an opportunity to make a mistake, it's okay to make a mistake, but don't hold the baseball, or don't, you know, try to be perfect.

If you mess it up, mess it all the way up. And I think that, you know, all the people that are at a collegiate level or higher understand that, and they can see, you know, what a kid is like based off their mistakes, probably based off their mistakes more than their success. So, you know, we really encourage the boys to go out there, play hard, you know, and it all stems from practice.

So we practice fast, we practice efficient, you know, practice hard. So I got one more question, kind of on the club identity and culture side. We're gonna do a little like role play, okay? So, you know, I'm a parent of a 15-year-old kid, and I've come across, you know, your website, and I call in and say, hey, Mr. Clyde, my name's Matt Gerber, I've got a son.

He's 15 years old. Can you tell me a little bit about your program and why I should come play for you? What would you say to that? I said, absolutely. I think that we're the premier organization in Florida.

I think our structure and what we do for our boys is second to none. I think that we give them an opportunity to practice and develop their individual skills, and then also play at a high level. I think that, you know, the tournaments that we are registered in, and we compete in, are the best ones in the Southeast.

And as your son will grow in the program, we do things above and beyond to help him, you know, with the recruiting process. I think that our network is very strong. I think that our bus tour that we run is super efficient.

I think that our showcases that we run are super efficient. I think that every tryout that we've run, we've had at least 10 coaches in the last three years out of each one. I think that there's so many opportunities for your son to grow, but the most important thing, this isn't the last conversation that you and I will have about your son and how we can help your son.

So once you sign up, that doesn't mean that's the end, you won't hear from me. Anytime you need me, anytime you need to have a conversation, anytime you need direction on which camps to sign up for, which camps not to sign up for, where your son stands, as far as metrics are concerned, in comparison to other players or even college players. I'm here to answer those questions for you.

So, you know, I think that our organization is the top organization when it comes to personability. Yeah, love it, love it, love it. So let's talk a little bit about your player development philosophy.

You see you're sitting in a beautiful indoor facility. The term player development gets tossed around a ton, right? What does player development really mean to you? And how important is structure and accountability and development to your program and even to your facility? I think that player development is allowing players to fail. You don't want to take a negative, right, and base your negative sentence on, you know, the positive that comes out of this.

But what happens is when a player fails, you know, there's a lot of things. A coach can feel a certain type of way. His teammates can feel a certain type of way.

The fans or other parents in the stands can feel a certain type of way. And if you don't let that player miss that ground ball, if you say, okay, well, hey, we're taking them out or we're not letting them play that position again, there is no true development. Baseball's a very unique game because there's so many games that you play throughout the course of a season.

There's so many ground balls that you get throughout the course of a season that you're going to mess them up. But I think that if you can take the almighty wind and throw it in the trash and allow your players to play and make mistakes and learn and grow from those mistakes, that's true player development. And then you can monitor the progress and you can say, and I have a shortstop that, you know, I got him from when he was 13 years old.

There's a slow roller hit, he picks the ball up, just like he's at a Tommy Namski video, picks it up, shuffle, shuffle, throws it, safe. And I said, hey, you have to throw that ball on the run like this. He goes, I don't know how to throw it on the run.

And I know the transition from the smaller field to the bigger field is different because the balls come up on you faster. And most of the plays that you make are shuffle, shuffle. But, you know, we went through a long stretch where he's throwing the ball all over the place on the run.

But if you see him now, he's very accurate from multiple arm angles, from multiple balls in the hole, forehand, even obviously the routine plays are very solid because we allowed him to make those mistakes. And we created an expectation within the families, within the team, that us winning that 12 year old baseball game or us winning that 13 year old baseball game doesn't mean anything. What means something is when he got here at 12 and now he's 14 and a half, he is one of the best shortstops in our area.

Probably in the state because we allowed him to make some mistakes. And we have multiple players with the same situation. And I think that, you know, when you get on these super teams, well, you gotta win, right? You gotta win.

If I'm a bigger organization or if I had this expectation of winning, well, it puts too much pressure on the coaches and the kids to figure out the right plug and play to win. Which I think, you know, it's still good. I wanna play against the teams that, you know, plug and play to win because that gives me, you know, an opportunity to know where my guys are at.

But at the same time, I also think it creates a lower ceiling because my guys, you know, my shortstop that throws the ball away on the run also knows how to play second, also knows how to play third. He also pitches. He also plays right field, left field, and center field.

And he can catch a little bit. So I give him the opportunities to fail everywhere in order for when he gets to high school, if there is another shortstop there, that's okay. As long as he hits, he can go play second or third or right or left or center.

And I think that that, in our eyes, is the true player development. And it starts at, you know, nine, 10, 11, and 12. If a player came in here at 15, 16, or 17, I think that the player development aspect really turns into the physical development aspect, right? You know, these guys that come in, you know, you gotta eat well.

You gotta sleep enough. You gotta lift. You gotta have a routine.

You gotta stretch. You gotta make sure that your muscles are flexible. You gotta make sure that, you know, every time you wake up, you're preparing yourself.

You stretch before the game well. You prepare yourself mentally well. And I think that, you know, once they become 16, 17, or 18, the physical and player development go hand in hand.

Came in at 15, I'm hitting the ball off the tee at 80. You know, at 15 and a half at the last one, I'm, you know, my ball exit speed is 87 and all that's tracked in our data. So metrics do play a part in the recruiting tools, um, in the recruiting process

So I think that, you know, player development really starts at young ages and, and, and a lot of the coaches have to take winning and make it secondary. Um, and those players can grow, but as the kids get older, it does transition into physical development, and then hopefully the player comes out. How you, how you cook them.

Yeah, man. I, I love that, um, perspective on it. And, you know, I've done a lot of these.

I talked to a lot of different guys across the country, and I think you have this idea of failure is so important, right? Not only in baseball, but you know, that's why baseball is such a beautiful game and such a reflection of life. Right. And, um, if we're not giving young kids the, um, the ability or the opportunity to fail and telling them, it's okay, get back up and try it again and try it again and try it again until you get it, um, you know, how are we supposed to develop? So, you know, the good thing is already, I think, you know, this, there's a lot of good guys out there, um, across the country that are, that are of the same mindset and are doing this, but the more that we can put it out there that, you know, these types of things are what, what are important and, you know, not necessarily, you know, winning the 12U, whatever it is, um, but just continuing to, um, to, to foster, you know, growth in players.

And like you said, and then once they get, you know, to that high school age where they're like, Hey, I really want to do this, then it's, you know, physical development and it's arm strength and it's back speed and it's all those things that matter. Right. Um, but at a young age, you know, like you even, you even mentioned, um, and I'm a big believer after watching my daughter go through this, that I think every kid, if I could, if I could have one mandate, right, for every kid that wants to be an athlete, it'd be, be a gymnast for three or four years when you're really young, right? Just go learn how to move and be an athlete.

Um, and I think the more that we can do that, the better off we'll be. So a couple more questions here, um, for you, and then we're going to do some rapid fire stuff. So two kind of questions that you can answer and then, you know, some kind of quick back and forth.

So, um, first one is, is, you know, you guys have, you know, built, like you said, from the, from the one team to the two to the four to the six to now having, you know, multiple teams and multiple age groups, um, where do you want your club to be in three to five years? Um, what would be success for you? Um, and how do you balance, um, you know, who you are, um, with ambitions of, you know, of growth and becoming bigger over time? Um, you know, I, I battle this all the time.

It's a, that's a great question. Um, I think that I want continuity, right? So I want to grow in continuity.

So if I don't have more than 25 teams or 29 teams, I think we have right now in total, that's okay. As long as we grow in continuity and all of the rosters are full, all of our coaches are preaching the same thing. Um, I think that organically things will grow.

Um, but I definitely don't want to bite off more than I can chew. And I think that, um, you know, as far as success is concerned, I think that the success lies in when, you know, our players reach their goals. So every player has a different goal.

Some players that come in our program just want to make the high school teams. Some players want to be professionals. Um, and we're supposed to be able to facilitate, um, all those things, um, with, you know, our indoor facilities, um, with, uh, ACT and SAT tutors with our coaching abilities, um, and our opportunities that we present our players.

So growth isn't necessarily going to come from, you know, the amount of people, but I think that it's going to come with the efficiency of our program. Love that. Love that.

All right. A couple of rapid fire questions for you. These are, these are more fun.

Um, what's the biggest myth in youth baseball that you'd love to dispel? Yeah, Lee, here you go. My son is a shortstop. That's a good one.

Okay. Um, what's the most underrated skill in baseball? Being a good teammate. Okay.

Um, what does leadership mean to you? Leadership is the most valuable thing. Without leadership, you can't grow. You can't do all those things because, you know, um, if you, if, if there's eight guys depending on you to throw a good pitch, or if once a, uh, releases your hand, then there's, you know, eight guys depending on that guy to catch it.

And once it's hit, there's, you know, eight guys depending on you to make the play. Um, so I think that, you know, if you're a good leader and you stay positive, um, anything can happen and you're, you're able to make this world a better place. Love it.

Here's my favorite question in the interview. This one might take a little bit longer of a response, but imagine in a world where, you know, travel baseball, we're so together, let's call it across the country that there was a commissioner. Okay.

And, and you already were named commissioner of all of travel baseball. Okay. What is the most important and first thing you would do first day in office? What rule or what, what change would you make? I would certify all the coaches.

Um, and that would build continuity within the league. So if, um, you know, somebody is upset and they want to take their son and starting a team, he has to go in through, you know, the league and say, Hey, you know, these are the things that all of our coaches need, you know, they need to understand player development and need to understand, you know, CPR training. They need to understand, you know, leadership, morals, ethics.

Um, I think that, you know, that would be, you know, some sort of coaches certificate that way, you know, our players, um, aren't being skewed and, and, and we don't have families playing in them for the wrong reasons, whether it's, Oh, well, we're playing on this team because they win or, Oh, we're playing on this team because it's free or, Oh, we're playing on every team that we can possibly find because, because we can't, you know, um, because ultimately, um, you know, you play every weekend, it's not healthy. Um, you play for free, you lower the expectations and you think that you're, um, given, you know, you're, you're, you're, you're becoming, um, taking people for granted. So, um, and I think that, you know, if somebody is upset and they know that this process is, you know, something that you have to go, you know, it teaches that kid how to work through it, you know? All right.

So just a couple more questions here already to finish this up. Um, one of them is going to be a selfless, uh, promotion here. So, um, let's talk about the curve allegiance a little bit.

Um, you know, what attracted you to being a part of it? And most importantly, I think, you know, what do you think that it can do over the longterm for not only your program, but for the amateur space, um, as a whole? I think, uh, the curve allegiance is a great program for us to be a part of, um, due to the fact that you guys are doing what's best for the players and the families. Um, I think that, you know, it's been a true concept of how to help players develop and how to make this process as affordable as possible and, you know, making sure that there's no fluff. Um, I, I appreciate, you know, uh, Alex Og and all the help that he's, you know, done for us, um, he's been amazing and answers the phone at all times a day.

Um, and I think that, you know, with, with your assistance, it makes our program that much better. Love it. And then what do you think kind of longterm, you know, as we continue to get the right people, um, around tables, right? I know that you're planning on coming to the summit here at the end of the year.

Um, you know, what do you think that this group of people can do, um, in this space together, I think in the longterm, um, I think that this could be the founding fathers of the new, you know, travel baseball world. Um, I think that, you know, it's grown, um, tremendously under, you know, the tournament of organizations that they have in place right now, but I do think that there is a place for, um, the diamond allegiance and all that we provide that might, you know, make a huge turn for the better, um, not saying that the stuff that we have going on right now is bad, but I am saying that, you know, there is space for like-minded organizations, um, to pull together, to help our players, um, to the forefront of, you know, their goals. Awesome.

All right. Last question here already. Um, you know, as you continue, obviously down the path and, of, you know, leading young men and being a resource for families, um, you know, if you can put yourself down the road, 30, 40 years, and, you know, you're sitting in that rocking chair on the porch somewhere and, um, you know, just relaxed and looking back, um, what do you want your legacy to be in Southwest Florida? Um, what do you want your legacy to be, uh, the Southern Squeeze's legacy to be when it's all said and done? Um, I, I want to, I want to be known as, uh, somebody that will always do the right thing for your son.

Um, whether the right thing is something that you want to hear, don't want to hear, um, that when you look back at it and you say, man, you know, Artie did right by me, Southern Squeeze did right by me. Um, I think that the most important thing is how you treat others. Um, and if you treat others well, uh, others will treat you well.

Yeah. Love it. Couldn't have said it any better myself

Well, Artie, we're, um, as you know, um, for those that don't know, um, I was after Artie for a really long time to, to join up and become a part of the Allegiance, um, just thought the world of him and the way that he ran things. And, um, super excited to have you on board. Um, and as we kind of get the train moving here, I'm super excited to see what this all looks like, uh, in the coming, coming months, years.

Um, and glad Artie that you and the Squeeze are a part of this. I appreciate you taking the time today to talk with me, um, to let the world know a little bit more about your program. Um, and if somebody is interested in the Squeeze, uh, where can they reach you guys at? Oh, you can reach us on, uh, Facebook at, uh, Southern Squeeze Baseball.

You can reach us on Twitter on SQZ Baseball, or you can reach me directly. Um, I'm always accessible. I don't want to put my cell phone number in there.

All right, brother. Well, we appreciate your time and, um, hope you have a great summer season. Best of luck to you guys.

CURVE Sports is proud to announce USA Prime New England as an Official CURVE Sports Testing Location, expanding the CURVE Sports performance and development ecosystem into one of the premier baseball regions in the country.

The partnership brings CURVE Sports’ integrated athlete evaluation platform directly to players and families throughout New England — helping athletes better understand where they are today, how they can improve, and how they can position themselves for future opportunities.

Built around the CURVE Sports philosophy of:

Test. Train. Compete. Recruit.

the collaboration will provide athletes with standardized performance testing across three core pillars:

• BALL

  Objective baseball performance metrics and sport-specific data.

• BODY

  Movement quality, rotational power, speed, explosiveness, and athletic development metrics.

• BRAIN

  Vision, cognition, reaction time, processing speed, and decision-making performance.

By combining these areas into one connected athlete profile, CURVE Sports helps coaches, organizations, players, and families make more informed development decisions over time.

USA Prime New England has built a strong reputation for player development, experienced coaching, and creating meaningful opportunities for athletes throughout the region. Their commitment to long-term athlete growth aligns closely with the CURVE Sports mission of supporting development-first organizations with modern infrastructure, technology, and data-driven tools.

“This partnership is about more than testing,” said CURVE Sports. “It’s about helping athletes train with purpose, helping coaches develop players more effectively, and helping families better understand the development journey. USA Prime New England represents the type of organization we want to build alongside — committed to coaching, development, and doing things the right way.”

Athletes training within the CURVE Sports ecosystem gain access to measurable benchmarks, longitudinal tracking, and a more complete understanding of performance development over time — helping bridge the gap between training, competition, and recruitment.

As CURVE Sports continues building a national network of connected development organizations, partnerships like this strengthen the mission of creating better systems, better information, and better opportunities for athletes across the country.

Stronger Together.

CURVE Sports sits down with Chad Hinds of Marucci Prospects — a nationally recognized program built on development, exposure, and doing things the right way.

Since 2010, the Prospects Organization has helped place over 390 players into college baseball programs across all levels, while continuing to grow its national footprint through its partnership with Marucci Sports.

Chad shares:

• The mission behind Marucci Prospects

• Building a platform for development and exposure

• Relationships with college coaches and pro scouts

• Growth through the Marucci Franchise Club

• The future of player development in a national landscape

This is about creating opportunity — and delivering it at the right time. Stronger Together.

My name is Matt Gerber, executive director of Curve Sports at the Allegiance. Today I'm joined by Chad Hines from Marucci Prospects. Chad, I appreciate you joining me today.

Thanks for having me. Absolutely, brother. Well, Marucci Prospects, a nationwide house name, one of the newest members in the Allegiance.

I just want to spend a little time today getting to know you, Chad, to understand your "why." Then we'll learn more about the Prospects, specifically, and how they're going to run their program and what's important to you. And then we'll wrap up here, talking about the Allegiance, where we're going, and what excited you about being a part of what we're doing.

First of all, how were you in baseball? I played NAE baseball back in the '90s. And from then on, I moved on from the game, probably for 13 or 14 years, until I had a 5 or 6-year-old son who showed me an interest in baseball. And then, it's the old adage of, hey, you played past school, you're going to be the coach.

So, that started when I was 7 or 18, and it just kept going. But that was really... It's kind of funny how you play the game your whole life, and then you wake up, get a job, go home, have kids, get married, and all that. And then you go back to school and it's like, hey, it's like riding a bike.

It doesn't feel like you've strayed from the game. But, you know? A new perspective. With young guys, trying to encourage what maybe you were encouraged to use when you were a kid.

And so that was it, you know? Obviously, I played the game, I strayed for a long time, like a lot of parents do, and then I came back to it. And, you know? Fast forward to today, and here we are in 2026, and I've been doing this for several years now. That's pretty cool.

Okay, tell me about... We know the prospect started about 20 years ago. So, maybe tell me about its origin story, and then how you got involved, when you got involved, and what that was. Sure, yes.

The prospect started in the early 2000s, and he started with a couple of very high school teams. A lot of kids from the SEC, ACC, Big 12, draft picks, among those teams. And really, exposure first.

It was all about exposure. It was a time when that took precedence over everything else. But it began with development.

It was about finding the best players in the country, surrounding those talented guys with a team, and going out and playing. And, obviously, you know, you were playing against this team. At that time, at your average level.

So, it really started there. I got involved about five years later. And I really started as a director, like I said, about five or six years later.

And, you know, my goal was really to build on what was already in place. And that was, really, how can we go from a lot of talented school agents to, how can we build this 9-to-18 age group? And that was my goal. And, you know, it's taken time to get there.

We started building the youth. And, yes, today we're stricter, more, you know? 9 to 18, equally displaced, where you wanted to get to, what we wanted to expand. But, you know? Before it was all about exposure.

And we were very successive. And, you know? We played like kids. And, you know? A lot of professional guys, a lot of great players.

But that can't really be sustained as an organization. You have to build. Most organizations are built from the ground up, starting with youth.

We've built from the ground up, starting with a top-level school. And that's fine. That's where we started, where we've come from to where we are today.

Yes, that makes a lot of sense. So, what problem would you say you're trying to solve, that you're currently trying to solve, or that you're trying to solve in the market? What was the thing you wanted to gravitate toward that made you say, as someone who hasn't been in baseball his whole life, right? That went away and now it's back. What was it as a father, as a dad, that made you say, hey, we can do that better, right? Is there anything that stands out to you? Yeah, I think seeing how, you know, Jeff's dad, I don't know, the coach, with that pretty talented kid, you know? He wants him to play, to play short-term and in the middle of the field, even if he's a left-hander.

But, you know what? There's a lot of that. And that, you know what? I'm going back to, you know what? 7U, 8U. I was trying to close myself off from the right people, for the right reasons, you know? Who's in this for the long haul, sincerely? And it's not, it's about this group of kids, this group of teams.

And really, you know what? Put your best foot forward and try to do things the right way, again, with the right people, for the right reasons. And that, I think, is what separates us today. We generally have some good organizations in baseball, but we have some of those organizations that, you know, continue to play with two outside players.

And, you know what? It's all about, hey, you can struggle with the paycheck, you can be a traveling baseball player. That's not what it used to be, that's what it is today. And just, you know what? Try to change the narrative as much as we can, as individuals, as an organization, and, you know what? Document what we do.

Here's our calendar, here's our development plan. And, you know, being transparent with families about, you know, where the kids are, where we want to take them? And I think more of that needs to happen. And, you know, you see organizations doing it the right way, really being transparent with families and kids, and playing with better schedules, really challenging teams.

You know, we're not chasing trophies. We want our fair share of trophies, but that's not the goal. I have a hand in a lot of the schedules, and we create the schedules to go play, you know, 500, 600 baseball.

We don't want to go to 38 and 2. What did that do for us? And that's where I really see it, you know? You go on social media and you see all these clubs. Hey, we won all these tournaments. Okay, is the kid getting better? That's it.

You put the kid first. You know? You start thinking, okay, how can we make this player better, this team better, and overall, the organization better? Yes, 100%. I love that.

With that in mind, player first, you know? Not chasing trophies. That would answer my question of, you know, what's different about you guys? Well, first, your development first, you know? And you're focused on, you know? The player instead of necessarily the team. Although I love baseball because it is, in my mind, one of the only baseball sports, to a certain extent, but it's an individual sport within a team game, you know? So, you have to be focused on that player.

But as you start to focus on development, two questions here. If someone were to walk into one of your team practices, is there anything in particular you think they would notice or point out? And then, picking up on that, are there two, three, four words that come to mind that describe your organization's culture? Yes, I think if you walked into one of our practices, you would see organization, structure, resources, you would see fundamental repetition. That's where we want to start, that's where we want to master.

You know, we've come a long way. You know, like I said before, we were an Exposure First Organization and we've shifted more towards development, obviously, but we're still a hybrid. There are some players we've maybe acquired—16 players—and they're ready to be expelled, so we're going to focus more on the Exposure side for those guys, but you know, you talk about culture, and I think that's still evolving, especially with, you know, Indiana's rebranding to Marucci, obviously, with Curve Sports, so I think that's still evolving, but, you know, three words, probably: acquire, develop, and expel.

You know, we want to acquire younger players, we want to have a strong hand in that development, and then we want to expel them at the right time for that player, and every player has their own timing, their own timing. So, you know, I think that adds up to where we are today, and that, you know, can evolve over the next, you know, 18, 24 months, but that's what we're hoping for. Yeah, I think that, for me, you know, the same thing as the parents, you know, development, and you can be expelled through exposure, right? And a lot of kids are today, right? They go out at the school level and they're looking for exposure, and they're not ready to be expelled, or they're trying to expel themselves to the wrong place, right? And when you do that, you're going to get expelled again and again, right? And so, I think, you know, where you're at, is having this balance between development and improvement, and then, you know, also when you're ready, going out there and trying to get into colleges, like everyone has that goal, is important, but, you know, we've talked a lot before, Chad, about the pendulum and travel football and new sports, right? Like, you know, when it first became a business and really focused, I think, on this side, which was player development, right? And then the elite of the elite had the opportunity to go and play in some really good tournaments and face some guys, right? And then, you know, I think a lot of the reasons you described, even when the average started, you know, there was this great opportunity because the recruiting was happening earlier and earlier, right? Seventh and eighth graders were being recruited, and it wasn't just for SEC and seventh and eighth graders and seventh and tenth graders, it was all the way down, right? There was a weaving effect, right? So, if you weren't there and they didn't see you early, you were behind the elites, and that was true, right? You could be a kid, you know, during that time period, who was, you know, a junior in high school, and was Latino, and I know I've experienced it, it would be like, hey, this kid is better than, you know, three-quarters of the kids who are committed, and all the schools would be like, well, sorry, we're done, we're full, and there was no opportunity for that kid, right? Well, nowadays, obviously, it's the opposite, right? With the way the rules are and all, it's given, I think, the whole industry the opportunity to take a breath and understand that the pendulum is swinging back toward development first, and that you want to play, you want to have fun, right? Those are important things as a kid, like, you don't want to, we don't want to create these boxed monsters, right? But at the same time, you know, the empathy in playing all the time and the exposure can be pushed down the path a little, and I think, you know,The more organizations we have that do this, and not only do it but change their operational model around these things, right? The best offices in the industry will be there, and those are the types of groups we're looking for when it comes to Allegiance curative sports, right? So let's talk a little more about club identity and culture with the prospects.

How would you define success for a player in your organization? That's a good question. We've talked about that a lot over the summer and winter, and it's really, you know, developing a kid to achieve whatever their next goal is. When you're talking about youth players, you know, obviously, their goal is to make the senior school team.

Also, you know, as a young kid, how quickly can you get to that high school level? But the high school kids, you know? How can we create opportunities? You know, multiple opportunities for you, at any level of play, from a college perspective. So it really depends on the kid, you know, okay? It's appropriate, and, you know, what we see are three different levels, if you will, you know, it's like our middle school and our high school, and we want to make sure they develop at a pace to be ready for that next level. I mean, you know, middle school baseball is becoming more and more popular in our area, so obviously you have the middle school kids playing on the big league teams, you know, how do you get a kid who isn't, like you said, a high school player? How do you prepare him for high school? It's a long road from 5-6, you know.

So, you know, it really depends on the age group, the player's level, and that's what we want to do. You know, we have our top-level teams, we have our mid-level teams, and then we have a couple of development teams. How quickly can we expedite that process? Yeah, and I think that's one thing you just mentioned, that's changed in the last, you know, 10 years at Travel Wall.

You know, originally it was, at least, just the older kid playing. For me, you know, a lot of people in the industry look down on or say how bad it is for organizations to have multiple teams. I look at it differently, Chad.

I think people like you and the people who write for organizations that are part of what we're doing, those are the types of people we want to have on multiple teams, right? Because we want them to understand, like you said, that there are different levels, right? If you're a high-level player, this is what you have to achieve, right? You have something different than the guy who, you know, has to, you know, hold on and continue to improve to reach his goal, whatever goal, and, you know, having good baseball players who are providing opportunities, to me, is what this industry needs most, and, you know, the more consolidation there can be around the people who are doing well, I think the industry will be better. So, you know, the people who are listening to this, the parents who are listening to this, you know, just because your kids are on the development team of an organization like the Prospects, it's not a bad thing, right? You're surrounded by good baseball players, good coaches who are going to be invested in your kid and make him better, and they're not just going to tell you what you want to hear, and I think that's really, really important, right? Yeah, and another thing, going back to that, to trust the process as well, you know, I could go, I could go name after name with those kids, and, you know, 11, 12, you know? At that 13, those kids ended up playing ProBase, you know? It's because, you know, whether they were baseball players, they kept at it, they had a chip on their back, or whatever, so you just have to trust the process, whatever, whatever plan in front of you, trust that process, but, absolutely, it's up to the kid, you have to put in the work. Yeah, and I think, you know, we're going to get into this a little bit more about having realistic expectations about, you know, what you're up for, right? And understanding that, you know, this career for your son is a marathon, not a sprint, and, you know, I was listening to a podcast the other day, it was a soccer podcast, but they were talking about how the U.S. soccer program is, purposely, not taking the most talented, the biggest pre-teen, or pre-pubescent, 13-year-old in their national programs, they're looking for the most projectable kids, because in soccer it's different from baseball, when, you know, the U.S. team, baseball, they have to win 12-year-olds, so they're going to take the best, the biggest kid, right? In soccer, they're looking for a program that develops kids over time, so that 12-year-old, when he's 19 or 20, can play in the World Cup for the U.S. team, right? And, so, the people in our sport, for me, are the college coach or the pro team, right? What they're looking for, at a young age, even in high school, is, you know, are you constantly improving or are you staying the same?Right? If you're that 12-year-old who's going to throw 80 kilometers per hour, you're throwing 80 kilometers per hour when you're 16 years old, right? And, so, understanding as a parent, this is a stepping stone, a ladder, and like you said, I think all of us who have been in the game for a long time, we have a litany of names we could pull from our heads, of kids who weren't the best when they were 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, even if you look at the big leagues today, if you look at Team USA, if you look at, you know, Scooble, if you look at Miller and all these guys who, you know, will tell you they were late developers, right? So at the end of the day, you want to be your best later in life, not at the beginning, so trust the process, find someone you trust.

The prospects do a good job in both areas. So we talked about player development for a bit, what is real player development to you, both from the field and also from a kind of responsibility standpoint at the organizational level? When I think about real player development, I think about the whole player development, and not just from a skill standpoint, but football intelligence, instincts, as a player in general, and that's what we've been trying to instill here in recent years when, you know, we've been able to get our players on the field. You know, we have, you know, maybe we have that kid who, you know, can throw you from right field, can throw you from third base to right field, the kid has a weapon, but, okay, now you understand, player, you know, what's the right game there? And it's like, you know, everyone has a great arm, but what do you have between your eyes? And that's, you know, more and more colleges are looking, hey, is this kid coachable? Do you understand the basics, you know, of what we're trying to do here? And I think, you know, to talk a little bit about how we can help prepare the kids for high school baseball as well, because as it is, you know, you have a lot of great high school coaches here, but you have some who are high school science teachers who have been doing this for 20 years, and he didn't play the game at a high level, he doesn't really understand it, so how can we help him as a coach to better develop players coming up through his ranks? So we, in that way, and having communication with those kids, what are we trying to do with the player? But, you know, it's a lot, between years, it's, you know, baseball, EQ, instincts, and obviously the tools.

Yes, absolutely. And from an organizational standpoint—and maybe you're doing this now, maybe not, maybe it's something you want to look at doing—how are you giving that support to the parents and players? How do they understand where they stand and, you know, what their path forward is? Well, we want to establish a baseline as quickly as possible, and that's generally in trial or soon after, and as we progress into next week, like getting touchpoints on some of those measurable metrics, and then, you know, at the end of March and April, before we have to let them go back to high school, or, as it's called in baseball, middle school, like, see, okay, where did we get to? And then we have to adjust that plan. If we didn't see the kinds of improvements we were hoping for, well, let's look at ourselves. Was it something we did wrong? Did we not have that player more accountable? What was he doing in his own space, behind the scenes, when nobody was watching? So it's a sort of collection of data that we're going to look at if that child didn't progress as they should have.

Yes, I think that's a good point. What you just said is, you know, programs, you know, training facilities, whatever, you know, most of the time you're going to the top, you know, maybe three times a week, you know, typically, maybe two practices, right? And so, for the players to understand that, you know, what you can do on a daily basis, right? To improve your game is really, really important, right? The tools are going to give you, but only the person who, you know, grabs the key or, you know, puts the key in is going to be the one who's successful, right? So you have to use those tools. Why do they do it for so long? We only have to nephew someone, you know, an office, you know, our plan has to be very strong, but we also have to have a kind of backup plan for when things aren't going well on the ground with them. Yes, 100%.

And we'll talk a little bit at the end about some of the tools that, you know, they provide us with, that might help you do that at scale across your organization. So let's spend some time talking about growth and future vision for your organization. Two questions here.

What does sustainable growth look like to you? And how do you balance, you know, local roots with, you know, big ambitions for, you know, growth across the country? Yes, it's... Can I repeat the question? Yes. What does sustainable growth look like to you? And then, how do you balance, you know, the local roots you have and started with the ambitions to, you know, take this nationally, essentially? Right. I think sustainable growth first with retention.

You know, we've been very fortunate; I've had a bit of a knack with that method for the last few years. We're at around 80% retention right now. We want to be at 90%+.

We're growing that way, so that's positive. You know, locally, you know, like when we started as Indiana Prospects back in the early 2000s with, you know, a couple of teams. You know, we still have those values ​​of, hey, we're, the mothership is based in Indiana.

You know, we have several players from all over the country playing for us here at the mothership. You know, it's about maintaining those Indiana values, where we came from, the talent that initially came to the table, and that's really our barometer of who we want to continue being. And how do you create that across the different age groups, throughout the entire organization? You know, what we do with the affiliate model—12 affiliates in 10 states across Canada—is really replicate the success we had, and that's the model we built in Indiana, and we replicate that across the country.

You know, they're going to have their own flavor, they know that very well, but how can we get some best practices, some lessons, and really learn from that and be able to make that affiliate, or help make that affiliate as robust as we are here on the mothership? Yes, I love it. And so, where do you want to see this organization in 3 or 5 years? You know, I think it's going to continue to grow. We've grown quite a bit in the last 3 years.

I think it's going to continue to grow, but, you know, I'm not looking to be the biggest organization in the country. That's not the goal. I've been very selective about scaling slowly with the right people, for the right reasons, because, you know, I've spoken to a lot of people over the year, very interested people, and I can tell, you know, within the first 10-15 minutes of a conversation, are they sincere about this? Is this someone I want to work with? Is it all about the money, or is it about the child? And that's how I prefer the conversation.

First and foremost, you have to be a tree of faith, because you're going to wear the uniform, you're going to use the products, obviously, but it has to be about the child, it has to be about creation. I want to see, what are you currently planning? What are you doing? How can we increase that? So it's going to be slower growth, but it's going to be growth in the right way, because, you know, we don't want to add anyone in, because there are going to be challenges we don't want to face. And we're going to call it what it is.

Today, here, you know, at the end of January 2026, we know, we have a global brand that we need to maintain. We have a partnership with current sports that we need to maintain. So, you know, there's more responsibility on our hands than there ever has been.

It's very important. Yes. And it is important.

And, you know, again, one of the things that makes us really great at Curvesports is, you know, these shared ideas and working together and being stronger together. And I think one thing that really struck me there is, you know, people are what matter, right? If you have the right operators across the country who want to be part of something bigger, you know, every time you go to an ABCA or whatever, you know, a gathering of coaches from all over the country, and you hear, you often hear a lot of the same things, right? The same issues, the same desires, right? From the grassroots. And so, again, our goal at Curvesports is to listen to those people, you know, to provide a platform through our clubs like The Prospects, for them to come together to be part of something that's bigger than what you're doing today, so that we can all make a change in this industry and start putting it back the way it should be, right? And that's the subjective theme here at Curvesports and the alliance of what we want to do.

So finding the right people, not just at your level, but, you know, even the guys who are running 10-team organizations across the country who are doing a great job and want to be part of something bigger, you know, this is their opportunity to be a part of that, and, you know, through someone like you. So what excites you most about, you know, the next chapter and the next iteration of The Prospects? And, hopefully, that will involve maybe an answer to the question of why you decided to join the Curvesports alliance. You know, it's funny because if you hadn't reached out to me, I would have reached out to you because, you know, I've done due diligence with you guys, and I'm sure you do due diligence with us.

It just comes, you know, starting with the franchise, you know, with the franchise group status with Marucci Ferg. We've been with him for 11 years now, and knowing that there's another entity out there like you that can add value to what we're doing... You know, it was a mess. I'm excited about what we've been doing at Boots on the Ground over the last few years from a development and growth perspective.

Now we're able to collaborate with you and the added value you bring. I feel like, you know, our offering is as strong as it can be, and that's what excites me. What's the future? Well, you know, we need to get everyone excited about what you have to offer, and that's not always easy, but, you know, we have to do our part to get everyone on board and really take advantage of your offerings.

But, you know, moving forward, it's just the continued added value of partnerships like Marucci, like you, you know, that brings it kind of full circle. And I feel like we have something to offer that most organizations don't. Yes, 100%.

So, you know, when we talk about, you know, the offerings we have, I know, let's back up a bit, we talked about player development and how difficult it is to potentially scale, you know, through an organization. Are there other things specifically within the CurveSports offering and the app that you thought would help you scale that and that you're looking forward to using? Absolutely, the library, you know, I'll talk specifically about the scaling instruction. You know, we've addressed that before and often because we saw a kind of deficiency with our players in general.

So we took that instruction into account and broke it down. And now we're going to go through the others to see what's actionable right now. Where do we need to fill it in right now? So, you know, there's a lot there.

We need to go through that, what it means for us, what it means for different age groups. But absolutely, the offers are things that, and we have some things we can add.

We can also add to the app things we've used in the past, but it's just an information platform, video, and instructions. It's amazing. So, a couple more questions here.

These are the funniest ones for me. We'll start with the biggest. If there was something like a traveling football commissioner and you'd signed up for it, what would be the first thing you'd do? I'd roll out a non-negotiable, universal code of conduct that players and parents would sign.

That would be where we'd start. What area would that code of conduct focus on? What problems do you see? Let's play the game the right way. Let's respect the game.

We're going to respect the opponent. The players' fans, the parents' fans, whatever, we're going to act accordingly. We're going to go back to the way we were, where it's more bearable.

We're going to encourage our players, we're going to support our players. But I'm a bit old-fashioned. We're going to go back to the way we used to be.

I love it. And often, if you can fix the attempt, many of the other problems you could answer with that question can be fixed. I think one thing our founder, Sandy Ogg, says a lot, which I've taken from him, is that your values ​​need to be aligned before you can create any kind of value.

And in today's sports, focusing on the values ​​of the parents, the players, the organizations, is super important. And trying to return to some kind of, if we can, some form of loyalty between... It's a two-way street, too. I'm a parent.

I know my perspective on all this has changed a lot since becoming a father of athletes. At the end of the day, the parent, the player, and the consumer should all be getting the most out of a situation. But also, if the organization does a good job, like you said, they'll get 80% of the attention, trying to focus on getting the other 90%.

That tells me that the parents feel they're getting their values ​​from you. And it's probably because their values, the parents' values, and your values ​​are aligned. And finding those kinds of people is incredibly important.

Two more questions here. One will be about player development and skills. The other will be more from a leadership perspective.

What, in your mind, is the most underrated skill in baseball, and something you've seen kids have that has propelled them to be more successful than perhaps their skill set might indicate? I think one of the simplest is just playing baseball. I think a lot of that is instinct, baseball IQ, but absolutely work on it. I think a lot of kids have probably forgotten that, they don't have the time to do it, they haven't gotten around to doing it.

Come on, Pache, hit it. Don't hit it. I think it's huge.

Kids who play baseball have good instincts. I think you're off the mark. Yeah, and if... I'm sure if you interviewed a bunch of schoolboys, one of the first things they probably have to teach—I'm not even saying re-teach, but they probably have to teach—is how to pitch baseballs properly.

And I couldn't add more to that. Knowing when it's time to move from first to third place and make those tough tournaments happen. And even for kids who think baseball is boring, one thing I always tell them, especially for school kids trying to get exposure, is that if a school bus comes around, you're a hitter, he'll come watch you play.

If you're lucky, maybe you'll get 15 strokes. That's really luck. Most of the time they're just trying to make a call and get 5 to 10 strokes.

So maybe, in, let's say, 10 shots, maybe in those 10 shots, you're 4 for 10, you're doing great. You have 4 shots, and maybe you hit twice. So, now you have 8 bullets in play.

In my mind, it's eight opportunities to show how fast you can run home to first, how fast you can run around the bases. Those are the things that college kids are always looking for, and I think the parents and players don't always understand. It's the moment when they get that clean hit, that right-handed hitter gets that clean hit on the 5-6, and he just takes a nice stroll around first base.

Sometimes, yes, that's great. That's a good thing to do. We're not telling you to give up.

But the kids who are watching you play also get the mindset that it's time for me to show what I can do, to play the game hard, and to play the game the right way. Actually, I have two more for you. What do you think is the biggest myth in youth baseball? The U-Kid Stad 12 is going to be a Stad 16.

We've talked about this before. I love Stad Blumers. I've seen so many cases where we've had players like that.

They were the best version of themselves at 12-13 years old. Former Blumers, full Beards. That's real.

I think a lot of those kids have jumped ship. They've been the best players on the field for so many years. They're not continuing to work hard.

I think there's a lot of truth to that. Yes, 100%. Last question.

For you, as the leader of your organization, and likely a leader in your community and in the things you do, what defines being a leader? What does being a leader mean to you? In my case, I think I'm very fortunate to have the team I have with TJ Weir, Hayden Hines, and Austin Stout. These guys are very passionate. They're capable.

And they believe in their goals. And I believe my job is to help them improve. Perhaps that means sharing information, mentoring, coaching.

But I believe that leadership and success are on my side; if I do better, I'll do my job. Absolutely. You have a phenomenal team, guys you really care about.

Not only, as you said, Mother Earth, but also the opportunity we've had to integrate and have conversations with the guys who are running your partnerships. A lot of good people throughout the team. And the kind of people that, as you know, we want to be involved with in sports.

And we feel we can make a big difference in this industry moving forward. So, Chad, I definitely appreciate the time today. Welcome to Allegiance and Cur Sports.

And I'm looking forward to the next few years of exciting moments and growth for both of us. Me too. I'm grateful for the opportunity.

I appreciate you having me, Owen.

How Dakota Selects saved thousands and brought teams closer with Engine

The Problem

Dakota Selects runs a busy fall program that picks up immediately after the Fargo Youth Baseball summer season. This means the team’s travel logistics need to shift quickly between different tournaments, locations, training programs, and rosters. Coordinating blocks through traditional “stay-to-play” models often created challenges: limited flexibility, locked-in contracts, and a lot of manual work for a small volunteer-led staff.

They needed a solution that would help simplify coordination, and free up time for coaches and volunteers, without adding complexity or overhead. 

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The Evaluation

Dakota Selects first learned about Engine through their partnership with The CURVE Sports Allegiance membership, an organization that connects elite youth programs with trusted vendors and partners. After exploring Engine’s platform, the team was immediately drawn to its no-contract model, and focus on real savings. Not to mention the UI was simple and easy to use, so there were no concerns about sharing this out to families and volunteers.

“The cost savings were the biggest thing,” they shared. “We’ve already saved close to $30,000 for families and around $8,000 for coaches and staff rooms—just from bookings.”

While they had experience using other platforms like SaxSports under the SportsConnect umbrella and local CVB partnerships, Engine stood out for its ease of use and responsive support.

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The solution

With Engine, Dakota Selects can now manage all of their team travel through one simple, easy-to-use platform. Families can book directly using custom travel links, ensuring that everyone stays together while still getting competitive rates. Not only does this help save the families money and headaches, the athletes are able to stay closer together, fostering better relationships between teams and players. Engine’s group travel tools make it easy to coordinate across tournaments, while its customer success team provides fast, personal support whenever issues arise.

“The communication from the Engine team has been awesome,” said the team. “Ashley and the support staff have been great—any time we’ve had a hiccup, it’s been resolved quickly.”

They also appreciated Engine’s flexibility, allowing families to book independently while still benefiting from the organization’s negotiated rates and rewards.

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The Impact

Since adopting Engine, Dakota Selects has seen measurable results in just a few months. The organization has saved families over $30,000 and reduced its own travel expenses by another $8,000, all while making trips smoother and easier to coordinate.

“Engine has completely changed the way we handle travel. Families are saving money, our kids are staying together, and we’re putting those savings back into the program. The process is smoother, the experience is better, and it just makes sense. At this point, if you’re not using Engine, you’re doing it the hard way.”

Through The CURVE Sports Allegiance membership partnership, Dakota Selects also receives Platinum-level Engine Rewards, using points to offset coach travel and reinvest in the program. Beyond the savings, families now stay together more often, creating stronger bonds between players and coaches, an outcome that aligns perfectly with the program’s mission to grow both on and off the field.

CURVE Sports sits down with Tony Crivello of NorCal Baseball — one of the most respected programs in youth baseball.

From its origins in 1992 to producing MLB talent like Jimmy Rollins, Pat Burrell, Dontrelle Willis, and Xavier Nady, NorCal has built a legacy grounded in doing things the right way.

Tony shares:

• The origins and growth of NorCal Baseball

• The philosophy behind developing complete athletes

• How tradition and work ethic shape their culture

• The importance of relationships over transactions

• Where the program — and the game — is headed next

  
  

This is a conversation about more than baseball — it’s about building players for life. Stronger Together.

All right, buddy, thanks for joining me again. My name is Matt Gerber. I'm the executive director of the Allegiance and Curve Sports.

Got with me today, an exciting guest, Tony Cravalho with NorCal Baseball. Tony, I appreciate you joining me today. Yeah, thanks.

I appreciate you guys taking the time and getting to know us a little bit better. Awesome. So let's jump right in.

Obviously, NorCal has been around for a really long time. But can you tell us the origin stories of NorCal Baseball and then how you got involved? Yeah, sure. So really, how it began was way, way back in like early 90, like 93, 94.

Excuse me. My partner, Rob Bruno, was actually a scout for the Angels at the time, and he created what we called the NorCal Angels. At the time, it was kind of a scout team before there were really some scout teams.

And it was, you know, one of those kind of deals where he went out and recruited a whole bunch of guys to play. And then there wasn't a lot of teams to play during that time. So it was pretty much going around and playing the junior colleges during the fall and playing some teams around the country that they could find during that.

And so I think we actually during the early days, too, like we would play like the little league allstar teams who were getting ready for the tournament. Like so whoever we could find, that's who we would play. Because back then, baseball wasn't what it is now.

And so at some point, he actually came and recruited my brother. I have a younger brother who played, played at Bishop Fresno State. And then he recruited my younger brother.

And I had just kind of finished up some schooling and realized that I wasn't going to be playing baseball any longer. But I still loved being around the game. Love the idea of being on the field.

It's hard to give up. And so he asked me if I was interested in helping. And I said, sure.

You know, I again, I didn't have a whole lot to do. And this was something that was important to me. And so we actually coached together that first year in 1995 after Rob had kind of done his thing for a couple of years with the Angels and the Black, he called them the NorCal Black Sox.

And so we kind of met up in 95, coached together. I thought coaching was super easy because that first year we had Jimmy Rollins playing shortstop and Xavier Nade playing third base. You know, we had all these guys.

I think there was like eight or nine guys in the big pro players at the time. So I thought, coaching, this is cool. But obviously, as you get a little bit older, you're on another team.

Just not. But that's how it started. And then the next year, we both kind of did a team and they just kind of grew from there, honestly, from where we were.

But that's that's how it began was one team. We coached together. We actually won during that time.

It was the AAU was the big event. We went back and we won the AAU 16-U World Series. And like I said, it's I thought it was easy.

I thought we'd be winning all the time. But things change from time to time. Well, you definitely probably thought one thing is probably the best team, one of the best teams you probably ever had was the first year.

It definitely was one of our best. When we try to rank some of our best teams of all time, obviously, that that group is is right there. You know, we've got a couple more that definitely compete with that team for sure.

But like I said, that was you have some all time great guys on that group. So if we go back to 95, then at that time, you know, what problem were you trying to solve by bringing together a team and kind of parlaying off of that? Like, when did you start to kind of realize that this might become like a program? And what was your vision for that program? Well, I think it was initially, you know, after that first time we coached together, Rob and myself, you know, we kind of understood or we talked a little bit about like what what it was, why we did it. And really, the initial thing was the scout part of it, right? With OK, let's put together these teams, because there were some scout teams back then, you know, the Dodger down south and, you know, the Angels, stuff like that.

So you definitely had some some scout teams that were around and you had teams starting to pop up. You know, I like club teams. And so this was an opportunity for us to start drawing some of the Northern California talent.

I mean, I think a lot of people don't understand how good baseball is in Northern California in the sense of the history up here. I think everything's California, Southern California, things like that. But when you start talking about the greatest players from California, you're talking about Bay Area, right? I mean, you're talking about some of the greats.

And so it was an opportunity for us to kind of open up some of these these avenues for some of these kids. And in reality, what was funny was that, you know, when we started, we were pulling a lot of kids from, you know, like Lowell, from, you know, Oakland, from places like that, where we actually thought this was an opportunity for kids who maybe weren't going to get it. Oakland Bay, Ruth, at the time, was, you know, like this powerhouse, you know, and they had a great history and they still do.

Like, they still have this kind of like draw of, you know, like, man, what you have all this ability in the area and stuff, and they were awesome. And we just thought this was a great way to help maybe some of those kids that, you know, there were Jimmy Rollins. Right.

But they were good players. And so it was an opportunity for that. And as it as a program grew, we got more and more interest for some players.

And then Robin, myself, I think, just kind of thought this is something pretty good here. We feel like we're making a difference in some of these kids' lives. And I know for myself, I know for Rob, too, but I've always, you know, I've always kind of felt that, you know, I'm a religious guy.

I'm a believer in Christ. And it's something where I feel like, you know, God puts something in your soul and your heart to be to be a mission out there. And it just so happened I was lucky enough that I felt like it was baseball.

So outside of just the games, it created great relationships with players. And, you know, I'd hope to, you know, think that a lot of these players, when they think back about playing for me or playing for Rob or whatever it is, it's like, hey, they helped me with baseball. They helped me understand things that made me a better player.

But honestly, they made me a better person. And that all my players knew, like, hey, yeah, Coach Tony's not perfect. You know, none of us are.

But at least we knew he cared about us and he had our best interests. And he he was an example for me, you know. And so we take a lot of pride in that more than we ever do.

We always say like, yeah, we love the fact that we've had gold glovers and MVPs and all these pro guys. That's awesome. And again, that's that's ego driven stuff.

But at the end of the day, when I stop or when I think about what I really do, it really comes down to like, man, we have awesome teachers and lawyers and firemen, you know, all these things. These guys that are giving back and they talk about this stuff. And so being able to affect lives like that is, man, I I feel blessed every day that I'm allowed to do it.

Yeah, 100 percent. And I think that resonates. And buddy, I've gotten to do a couple of these, obviously, over the years with groups that are involved with us.

And I think that that's the one thing that rings true is that the people that have done this for a really long time and are sustainable in the industry do it because they care and they have passion. And it's just it's such a refreshing thing to hear, honestly. So so let's parlay that into, you know, we kind of define your why.

But, you know, as a club, could you describe your culture or what it means to be play for NorCal in a couple of words, two, three words? Yeah, I mean, we we we call it our hashtag, OKG, our kind of guys. You know, we we have a certain type of player. And I don't mean like physically.

Like, I mean, yes, we have elite players of that. But we're talking about the type of players who are, you know, way back in the day. You know, it used to be a way your palms down or a palms up guy.

We want the guys that are palms down, right? Guys that are scratchy and clawing, not the guys that have their hand out saying, what can you guys do for me? You know, we we spent a lot of time with players and families and we've turned away a lot of players because we have that conversation and no fault of anybody's. But you can tell sometimes when a family's and what can NorCal do for me? And it's like, that's that's a valid question. But maybe not the first question.

Maybe the question should be like, hey, how do we partner together? What can you do to help us? And, you know, we leave our in it. We live our gene, our dreams, things like that. Like we want to be part of the journey.

We don't want to be a little box to check off on your way to do something else. And we want people committed. And I tell every single person that I invite to play for us that we expect a commitment from you because I'm committing myself to you and your family.

Like I'm saying that you're part of NorCal. When you call me, I'm going to answer. Maybe not right away because we get busy, but I'm going to try to help in every way I can.

So we just ask for that back. And honestly, our culture has been that way. We have players who come to us and say, hey, coach, this guy's not an OKG.

He just isn't. Doesn't mean you're a bad person. It just means he doesn't fit with what we do.

Yeah. And yeah, I love it. Would you would you describe NorCal as development first, exposure first or something else when you're talking about your identity and your culture? Our number one thing is developing.

I mean, we we take good players. We take players that are OK. I think Rob and I and our staff does a really good job of projecting.

So we get a lot of those eighth grade boys that come and play for us. Those players that come and play like, yeah, are they the best players right now? The answer is no. You come out to our elite league and you'll see, you know, 60 kids and you'll see maybe 20 that you're like, hmm, I'm not sure about this kid.

But, you know, we see long arms, high waist. We see kids who are like growing. We see a parent who's six, three.

We see all of these things. So we're willing to develop and like take time. I tell kids in eighth grade, I said, guys, we want to win because we're competitive as heck and we're going to do everything we can.

But let me tell you something. What we care about is when you are in your sophomore or junior year and it really matters, we want to make sure you're ready. So we want to develop you.

So, yeah, if your number one goal is to win the elite tournament championship for eighth and ninth and tenth grade, like that's not what our focus is. Yes, we want to win. Yes, we're going to try.

But we're not going to sacrifice our player development to win a game. You know, yeah, we're we're about development. 100 percent first.

We are true believers in especially nowadays. People will find you if you are good. But schools will find you pros will fight.

That's their job, right? So, yeah, we're development first. And I said the exposure part comes with the fact that we've been around when Rob and myself call coaches. They know they're getting a legit evaluation of a student and a player like we're not going to we're not salesman.

Yeah, and I think most families out there, it's really important to hear that because most families out there, you know, think that it's the the team that they're on within an organization or whatever it might be. Right. That's going to get them recruited.

And first of all, you have to have the requisite skill set set and you need to surround yourself with people like you guys. Right. Like Rob, like you, Tony, that can pick up a phone call phone.

And, you know, whether it's, you know, top end division one or, you know, division three, that when that phone rings, they know that they're getting somebody that they can trust and is going to tell them the truth. I say all the time recruiting is about relationships. It really is.

Right. Yeah. Do that across the board.

So I think that's something that parents that see this and listen to this, you know, need to continue to internalize. It's important to put your son with an organization like NorCal, with people that have a proven track record of delivering the the end goal result that you're looking for. So I want to ask a couple more questions on the development stamp from a development standpoint here, because development's a term that can get tossed around a lot, you know, in our world.

What what does real player development mean to you? And if I were a parent of a player coming to you and saying, hey, I want you to develop my kid, like what would that look like in real time as I play for NorCal? Yeah. So one of the first things that we try to do is we try to explain to families and parents like, hey, we all have a dream, right? You wouldn't be contacting us. We wouldn't be part of this if you didn't have a dream.

And our kid has a passion for the game of baseball. So the first thing we do is we try to say, OK, let's let's look at what it is you want, right? Hey, I want to be a pro. I want to play college.

That's all awesome. Let's let's set that dream because we didn't have dreams. We wouldn't work for stuff.

But what we want to do is also start setting the realization. Let's take a look at what does it look like as a player size wise, right? Physicality, things like that. Let's start to like really hone in on, OK, I want to play Division one baseball. OK, well, what position do you play? All right. Well, I'm a center fielder. OK, well, do you run at what's what's your what's your 60 time? If you're telling me you're a seven one, like, look, man, you're not playing center field in Division one baseball.

Like the average time is somewhere around six, seven, right? I mean, like you have to be unbelievable as far as routes and all that kind of stuff to be a you know, above a six nine. So physicality, I say, hey, one thing you should do, go watch a J.C. game. Look at the size out there, right? I mean, things like that.

And then we say, OK, how fast are you? How strong are you? Things like that. So we can start to set that bar for you, what it's going to look like. Right.

Bigger, faster, stronger. Those types of things. Secondly, it's about the mental side, right? We start working mental side stuff immediately because that's what's that's the separator.

If everybody runs a six, eight, you know, if everybody runs a six, eight, what is it that makes you different? Right.

If everybody takes 500 swings a night or whatever it is, everybody's training nowadays. Right. So now the separator, which used to be physicality, athleticism. Well, now we've got all kinds of physical athletes playing baseball. What's the separator on the mental side? How do you recover? Right.

How quickly do you recover as far as like when something doesn't go your way? And so that's how we start with the development. And then we say, all right, we're going to take that into the game. Right.

Here's some skills we've been working on. We have, you know, mental side coaches that we we offer up to our our our families and players. I think that we just had a series with D.L. Martin, who she met with a lot of, you know, did some zoom calls with people and talked about what it takes to be a elite athlete mentally.

You know, we spent we used to spend a lot of time with, you know, Alan Jaeger and the mental side of breathing and all these types of things. So even way back when we were before we had all this information, it was about learning how to breathe, learning how to live in the moment. And now that we've I guess you can say all that has grown and there's more information available.

We've tried to stay on top of it and offer that stuff up to our families. Like, are you the mentally strongest person on your team? The answer should be, I'm not the strongest. I'm right there with them.

So, yeah, that's that's one of the developments. Like, so we want to make you complete. We're going to get you.

We're going to play 100 games. That's not development. That's learning how to try to play a game, not how to prepare for a game, not to be the best at a game.

You know, that's just that's like trying to play chess and no one ever explained to you how chess works. You just got to move the pieces around. I'm moving the pieces around like we want you to understand there's a strategy behind it.

And that means training physically, mentally. What games do I play? What events do I go to? All of that matters nowadays when it talks about development. Yeah, I love that.

Great answer. One more question on the development side. And you kind of answered it, but I want to dig a little bit deeper here because you've got such a wealth of knowledge when it comes to this.

What do players need off the field to succeed on the field? So number one, you need support, especially young, right? I mean, because if you're talking about you can't drive, you can't do things like that. You need some parents that are going to support or guardians, whoever you're with, right? An aunt, an uncle, a coach, someone who's going to be supportive of you. Because it's true.

I'm in education. So I've been in education my whole life. And so I always come from this kind of like education background.

I was always alt ed. And so these kids who maybe didn't have everything. Right.

And so they ended up making bad choices. But that's OK. Let's see what happens when we give you support.

And it's amazing what happens when a kid knows someone believes it. Right. So development itself starts with like, OK, do I have someone who believes in me a little bit and can help support? And if they don't, let's try to find how we can make that happen for you.

And then what they really need at this point is a plan. Right. How to prepare.

Like I said, going back to that. How do I prepare to be the best? OK. If I'm not going to be big, OK, but I need to be quick then.

Right. If I'm not going to be if I'm not going to, you know, throw ninety five, whatever it is, well, how can I be the best whenever I am at? There's something called the capability gap. And I didn't make it up.

I stole it. Right. I heard it years ago.

And I know that, you know, Nick Saban and some of my favorite coaches, you know, Jimmy Johnson, all these guys talk about the capability gap. And that's kind of what I base off. Hey, look, our job is to try to develop you in the sense that whatever you are capable of, whatever that is, how do we get you there? I can't I can't make a kid a six, seven runner.

We can train for it. Doesn't mean you can get there. Yep.

What are you capable of? If you are physically capable of running a six nine, then let's get you to six nine. So if we can make every player, if we can close that capability gap for all of our players, we're good. And you are as good as you're going to be.

And that's our goal. So you want to be good on the field. You have to close whatever what your capability gap is.

OK. And so that means training mental. How many players have we seen that are absolutely studs but are mental midgets and their game eventually stops? So that your gap is mental.

So that's that's where our focus needs to be for you to be an on the field beast. Yeah. And would you say in, you know, in all the years you've done this, the guys that have made it to the upper echelons of the game, it's it's a lot to do.

Obviously, they've got the physical capabilities that but they've been able to fill that capability gap because of their mental awareness. Absolutely. I mean, we've had some really great shortstops, and that's I mean, if you talk about, you know, you talk about Jimmy Rollins, you talk about Brandon Crawford, Troy Tulewitski, and we know Kevin Kramer.

These guys, they were the smartest guys on our team. They had the biggest baseball IQ. We always thought like we mean, Rob, always that like Jimmy Rollins was the third or fourth fastest guy on our team.

But he was the best base runner. He could always steal a base. He could always do those things because he just had the IQ.

He could read things. He just had that. You know, same thing with Brandon Crawford, like super athlete, no doubt.

I mean, his physical ability could take him. But there's a reason why he played that long. I mean, when he was with us, he was the smartest guy.

When he was at UCLA, he was probably the smartest guy. When he was with the Giants, let's face it. I mean, how many plays did you watch Brandon Crawford and go, whoa, that's pretty special.

That's not because he just randomly did it. That's because he's he's playing chess or something like that's going on. So 100 percent, it's it's the mental side that separates.

So let's talk a little bit now, kind of transitioning back to NorCal as an organization. You guys have been doing this since 1995 Trailblazers, obviously in the industry. Where do you want NorCal to be in three to five years? And then, you know, to add on to that at the end is, you know, what kind of legacy do you hope to leave with all the work that you've done with NorCal? Yeah, so it's you know, it's it's an ever changing man.

But this this last few years has been like on hyperspeed with the way this the game's changing. The landscape of youth baseball is changing, especially when you're starting to talk about it was trickling down. Right.

From from pro to college now, when you have, you know, the portal and all this kind of stuff that like, honestly, it kind of stinks for kids that they have to start dealing with all this, that they feel as an eighth grader, a ninth grader, a tenth grader that you need an advisor now, like an advisor to play baseball. And I don't I don't know if it's good or bad. I don't try to cast on like I don't want to be the old guy who yells at clouds and says, back in the day, you just played, you know, things like that.

But but what I also want, I want to be we want to be obvious about that and then be conscious of what's happening. But for us, I think trying true like now we're just going to keep developing guys. We're going to adjust the landscape like we always have.

You know, back in the seven to eight years ago, like when they were recruiting eighth graders. Yeah, we had to take our young teams to events that they had to go to. Right, because that's what it counted.

I love the fact that at least they moved it back now to, you know, you can't get recruited. You can't really have conversations to that till after your sophomore year.

I would love for it to go back to their junior year. Yeah, because what we've done like the last few years with our young guys, you know, eighth grade and freshman is we talk to our families a lot about, hey, we're going to focus on your development because in reality, like you don't need to do a lot of those things around the country anymore because they can't recruit you anyway. Yeah. And remember, coaches have to recruit their own team.

Number one, that's number one. And college coaches have to recruit their team.

Yeah. Number two, portal. Right. Number three, JC, because all those guys that normally would go to campus are at JC now and then high school.

So the pecking order has changed. Yes, the top guys are still going to go, of course. But those mid-range guys who normally would have gotten recruited pretty heavily are now, you know, struggling.

So we're adjusting to that, trying with our families. So where do we want to be in five years? Where we are right now, we still feel like we're in the top program. There's some great programs out there that have been around for a long time.

You know that, you know, CBA and GBG. And, you know, I mean, there's a bunch of me up here.

We have, you know, like the Zoots do a great job up here. And Eric and the CCB guys and, you know, Adam over at the Alpha and those guys, they're all good programs. They do great things for kids. We just always want to be in that group.

And we always will. You know, like, yeah, we can all, you know, fight over who's the best ever. And it doesn't really matter.

Honestly, what matters is the players who come through our programs and our groups all have something in common. That's that's the goal to make them the best player in person possible. Yeah, I love it.

Do you feel like the pendulum is, you know, you mentioned, you know, when we started, I would say it was around the AAU circuit and those type of things. But, you know, the pendulum in my mind, you know, I started in travel baseball in 2005, so about 10 years after you. But when I first started, it was, you know, development first.

And, you know, then, like you mentioned, recruiting started happening earlier and earlier. Thanks to Coach Savage out there on the West Coast and Coach O'Sullivan over here on the East Coast. Right.

And then everybody had to follow. And then we had to react, like you said, to then we had to put the players in those situations. And then it became about playing and getting exposure with these new rules.

Two questions. Do you do you think, one, that the pendulum is swinging back to development first? And then, two, how are the parents and the players reacting to that? Do you feel like they're getting up to speed with that or it's taking them some time to realize that they don't necessarily need to chase that exposure so early on? So it's a good question. And I think the the pendulum is set up to swing back to development, meaning like and it's good that that's happening so you can't get recruits a little bit later with the portal and all that kind of stuff.

I think we try to explain and inform our parents that, hey, this is not six, seven years ago, like you really are at a disadvantage if you're a high school player at this point, meaning like you don't have that. The colleges aren't bringing in 12 dudes anymore. They're recruiting class because they don't need it.

Right. Yep. So I think that that's good and bad just because good, because you start to realize, well, I'm going to have to stand out more.

So I've got to focus on my training more. It's not about games. It's about how I play in games.

There is a little more focus where we need to be this like instead of casting this big net, I'm going to go to this event. This is showcase in this showcase. We need to be a little more focused in on the let's go to some school camps and some things like that, that you can really like this is where you could fit.

They have a need for stuff like that. I think that's that's changing in a good way. Parents, on the other hand, when they hear that, sometimes they get they they feel I think they start to get a little desperate, like, well, what's going to happen? And then these guys come in and say, look, I want to be your advisor.

I want to I want to walk you through the next four years. Yeah, I again, I don't know if they need that or not. I just think that.

And again, I don't fault anybody for trying to provide a service that a family is looking for. So nothing wrong with it. But I also think that it's one of those things that if a parent in a family doesn't feel like their club can provide that for them, maybe you're in the wrong group, right? If you can't call me or coach Rob or coach, these guys will coach for us and say, hey, look, we're being asked to go to this event.

Like, should we? And if you don't feel like we can give you a good enough answer or you don't trust our answer, then. You know, I mean, maybe they said maybe it's not the right. I wouldn't want I mean, my son is a junior right now.

And if I wasn't a coach or something, but knowing what I know, like I would want to be able to trust the guy he's playing for and the program he's playing for, right? Like, hey, guys, you got invited to, you know, the, you know, three top top 20. I don't even know, you know, whatever it is.

Sure.

Is this something you should go to? And if they're like, no, man, like, look, he's schools are going to be there, not going to recruit him anyway. Doesn't really matter. Like, I want to be able to trust that.

Yeah. So I think parents are caught in a tough spot because they want to make sure that no one has being a parent. I have twins, actually, a son and a daughter.

They won't play softball. Obviously, my son plays baseball and they're both juniors. So I get the, hey, I'd love for them to keep playing at the next level.

And I think they both can. But I start to realize you start to feel that like urgency of it. Am I doing everything as a parent? I could.

And so I think that's what parents kind of get wrapped into. Like, well, I'm going to hire this guy to come help us because I just want to make sure that I did everything I could. No fault, no foul.

But I still think at the end of the day, it comes down to, like you said earlier, who's going to pick up the phone and call? I'll say Northridge or USD or hey, if you're good enough, you're going to call Stanford and be like, look, this is a kid you guys want. Or if they call us, they know like, hey, this is a kid you want. Like when parents say, hey Tony, can you call Stanford for us or Cal? I'm like, your son's a 2.7. He's not going to either of those schools.

What would you like me to say? I have a kid who could play there, but he can't get in. You know what I mean? So you want people to give you that type of information, not just saying, hey, sure, I'll call anybody you want. Yeah, 100%.

I think the ones that are sustainable in the industry do exactly what you said. They create that trust factor, right? And like you said, I do think there is room. I've seen an upswell of that advisor type of person in the recruiting process.

Not everybody has access to Tony or to, you know, whoever it might be that does a really good job. Yeah, but buyer beware as well, right? With just make sure that I think what I hear is make sure you find somebody that you can trust that has a proven track record of, you know, again, getting kids to that level, right? At the end of the day, that's what you want. Yeah, like I said, I have no problem with guys who come in and help.

Because again, I get like like anything in life, right? Some guys are there for the right reason. This is just what they're doing. Then there's, you know, some guys are capitalizing.

But again, no harm, no foul. Parents want it. I've always said, look, every level way back when, when, you know, people were complaining about, I remember like six, seven years ago, everyone was really complaining about.

I'm watching these tournaments, 12U, and there's like these triple or double A teams that are awful. Why are they even out there? And I'm like, hey, wait a second. Like.

Just because these kids aren't great at sports or great at baseball doesn't mean they don't get to play it. Who are we to say only the players who are good? That to me was, and so for me, if you feel you want somebody, like you said, you don't have access to play on the team that you want, or maybe whatever it is, but you want some help, absolutely. Go find people that can help you.

That goes back to that support system I was talking about. Find whatever supports you can and hopefully it works out for you for sure. Great advice

A couple more questions here. We'll take a couple more minutes of your time if you don't mind. We're going to talk a little bit about the Allegiance and just a couple questions surrounding that.

I know that I talked with Rob for years about the Allegiance, but once you guys kind of got into the weeds with me and started to talk through things, what stood out about the Allegiance model and what do you think being part of this stronger together context means for NorCal? I think you see it play out in all sports, right? And you see it playing out in college football right now, in college baseball. All these sports where you kind of have these leagues, these teams kind of jumping ship and creating these leagues and stuff. Well, same idea here.

Look, again, I love the fact that there's teams everywhere. And I know some people in the business don't like it. They think there's these horrible teams out there and there's teams.

And again, man, that just needs more kids playing baseball. So whatever. And for us, we've always looked at it as the more teams that are out there, the more we're able to stand out.

Because you start to realize, OK, this is clearly better than everything or most things out there, right? And so for years, we've had great relationships with a lot of the groups that are with Allegiance. Like I said, with GBG and CBA and these guys. And we've always done great stuff with them.

And we're always better when we're playing them and when we're doing things with them. And so this is kind of one of those things where it allows us to kind of all walk in together. Yeah, we compete against each other and stuff like that.

But this is a little bit more where, hey, look, we're all part of something. I know that eventually we want to like grow this and it's like, hey, we can have an event where I'll go to and all this kind of stuff. So for us, that's where that was the draw, right? Like we're around good people we trust, right? You know, like John, you know, CBA and Mike was, you know, with GBG and, you know, all these guys on the West Coast that do a really good job.

We've known them for years. You know, we've always had good relationships with them. You know, the guys, you know, back east and stuff

Again, we used to, when we used to go back there, a lot of good relationships with those guys. So, you know, for us, it was just kind of like the right time for that to happen. And so that made sense to try to jump in.

Yeah, love it. Well, we are super excited to have you guys and have people of your, not only obviously of NorCal's caliber, but of your personal caliber being part of rowing our boat to where we want to go at the end of the day. You know, we've put out there in media and we mean it.

We want to find, you know, the 30 best operators across the country that really care about this game and want to move this game in a positive direction. Like you said, I think that, you know, there's a lot of people out there, Tony, that want to, you know, bash all these teams, right? And I'm on the same page as you. Like the other day, we want more kids playing, but we also want more kids under the leadership of people that are going to give them good, solid advice, right? I think bearing out that vision and doing it as a group is something that's really, really exciting to me and I hope for you guys as well.

So that's all my questions for today, Tony. I certainly appreciate the time. And again, the Allegiance is honored and excited to have NorCal join.

I've been looking forward to working closely with you guys as we move forward. Yeah, like I said, we're excited about it. You guys offer a lot

And so, like I said, we're pumped to be part of it. We want to help grow it in any way that we can. And again, we just think good people together with a one clear vision is what baseball is about, what life is about, right? You want to surround yourself with good people so they lift us all up.

And we think that happens with, you know, with something like Allegiance and all the teams involved. So we're pumped and we're excited you guys were part of what we are doing now. All right.

Thank you, Tony. Appreciate your time. You bet.

Have a great day.

The Florida-based organization joins the CURVE Sports platform, expanding development pathways for players and families while reinforcing the company’s operator-led approach to youth baseball.

ORLANDO, FL. April 21st 2026 — CURVE Sports today announced that POWER Baseball has joined the CURVE Sports platform, marking an expansion of the organization’s development ecosystem into Florida, which we believe further strengthens its ability to support long-term player development, club leadership, and sustainable growth across youth baseball.

Power Baseball, a respected development organization known for its disciplined coaching, competitive teams, and commitment to long-term player growth, will continue to operate under its existing brand and leadership while gaining access to CURVE Sports’ shared infrastructure, development systems, and technology platform.

The alignment reflects CURVE Sports’ long-term strategy: building a baseball-first operating platform that supports great leaders, preserves local culture, and raises standards across development, operations, and the family experience—without centralized control.

“Power Baseball is exactly the type of organization CURVE Sports was built to support,” said Sandy Ogg, CEO of CURVE Sports. “Brian and his team have built a strong program by focusing on coaching, development, and relationships with families. Our role is to give great operators access to the infrastructure, data, and long-term support that can help programs like Power Baseball to keep growing without losing what makes them special.”

Founded in 2016 by two experienced high school head coaches — Eric Lassiter, Jesse Marlo — alongside training facility owner Brian Dempsey, Power Baseball was created to build an opportunity-focused travel baseball program grounded in transparency, advocacy, and education, guiding families through the recruiting and development process to help foster long-term success at every level of baseball.

Since its founding, the organization has grown beyond its Florida roots to support affiliated Power Baseball programs across multiple regions, including South Carolina, North Carolina, and New York, serving baseball and softball athletes through a growing network of development-focused teams and training programs.

Through the alignment with CURVE Sports, Power Baseball will gain access to expanded resources, including the CURVE Sports Performance Testing system, objective player development data, operational support, and platform-level services designed to reduce administrative burden and improve outcomes for players and families.

For players and families, the partnership enhances access to:

• Clearer development pathways 

• Objective testing and performance insights through advanced player assessments

• Expanded services, events, and recruiting support


• Greater transparency and confidence in development decisions


• Savings programs for travel, hotels, and baseball expenses

Importantly, Power Baseball will remain led by its existing leadership team, with day-to-day operations, coaching philosophy, and culture unchanged.

“We started Power Baseball with a clear goal — build a program centered on development, accountability, and creating real opportunities for players,” said Brian Dempsey, Founder of Power Baseball. “Joining the CURVE Sports platform allows us to continue leading the organization the way we believe it should be run, while gaining access to better systems, performance data, and long-term support that will help us serve our players and families even better across our growing Power Baseball network.”

This announcement builds on the launch of CURVE Sports, which brings together Diamond Allegiance and CURVE Test Center into a unified ecosystem. The launch of CURVE Sports is supported by a long-term partnership from Weatherford Capital, The Ogg Family, and Matthew Scattarella. Founded by Drew, Sam, and Will Weatherford, Weatherford Capital brings deep experience scaling mission-driven organizations, informed by a lifetime of competitive sports. Their relationship-driven approach—known as The Weatherford Way—prioritizes disciplined process, teamwork, learning, and long-term impact.

“Youth baseball is incredibly fragmented,” said Drew Weatherford, founding partner of Weatherford Capital and co-founder of Collegiate Athletic Solutions. "This dispersion makes it harder for the best programs to reach the players and families who need them most. Brian and his team have built exactly the kind of program that we believe is poised to grow — and CURVE Sports exists to help make that possible, connecting experienced operators to the infrastructure and long-term capital that can help them scale their impact."

“This is how CURVE Sports grows,” Sandy Ogg added. “By partnering with seasoned operators, supporting strong leadership, and expanding the platform in a way that strengthens the game—not fragments it.”

CURVE Sports plans to continue to welcome aligned organizations into its ecosystem as part of its mission to build a stronger, more sustainable future for youth baseball.

Stronger Together isn’t a slogan. It’s how the platform is built.

About CURVE Sports

CURVE Sports is a baseball and softball operating platform designed to strengthen clubs, support long-term player development, and improve the experience for families. By connecting Diamond Allegiance, CURVE Test Centers, and aligned baseball organizations, CURVE Sports provides shared infrastructure, development systems, and reliable data—while preserving leadership, independence, and culture. Visit www.curvesports.com 

About Power Baseball

Power Baseball is a development-focused baseball and softball organization founded in 2016 by experienced high school coaches and training leaders committed to building strong athletes through disciplined coaching and long-term development pathways. Headquartered in Florida, the organization supports a growing network of affiliated programs across multiple regions, including South Carolina, North Carolina, New York, and the Gulf South, providing competitive team opportunities and training programs for athletes across the country. Visit www.powerbsb.com 

About Weatherford Capital

Weatherford Capital is a private investment firm with over $1 billion in assets under management. Founded in 2015, the Firm aspires to partner with visionary founders and leaders to build enduring companies critical to the long-term growth of the economy, spanning technology, financial services, business services, sports, and public-sector markets. Through a relationship-driven approach rooted in long-term stewardship of capital and deep experience in public-private partnerships, Weatherford Capital seeks to empower organizations to create lasting value in sectors where regulation, governance, and public engagement shape how businesses and consumers operate. For more information, visit WeatherfordCapital.com.

Nothing in this press release is an offer to sell securities.

Media Contact

Tom Judge
Chief Marketing Officer, CURVE Sports
tom.judge@curvesports.com 
760.916.3828

www.curvesports.com

Makes Big Move In Midwest

Curve Sports Makes Big Move In Midwest

The club baseball platform has partnered with Pitch 2 Pitch, a Minnesota-based developmental organization.

The addition follows the blueprint laid out by Curve CEO Sandy Ogg in an interview with Buying Sandlot back in February — P2P will continue to operate under its existing brand and leadership, but will gain access to Curve’s developmental systems, infrastructure and tech.

It also sheds further light on Ogg’s vision to establish a network of about 30 “super clubs” nationwide.

P2P will expand its footprint significantly in the next 12-18 months, founder and CEO CJ Woodrow told Buying Sandlot — moving into other parts of Minnesota as well as North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

Curve and P2P also plan to build a 180-acre campus in Victoria that will have 20 youth baseball and softball fields, five full-sized baseball fields and a 150K-square-foot indoor facility. The fields will be turf; Woodrow said the complex will make quality competition more accessible and affordable for the region.

"The idea is to create the supply chain and the network across the area so that people are driving 3-4 hours, not 10," he said. "It's going to be the epicenter of our region for everyone to come to and have accessibility options."

Woodrow said USA Softball has already signed on to host events 10 weeks a year; a major soccer club may also partner with the facility.

Curve launched earlier this year, unifying Diamond Allegiance — a club partnership network — and the Curve Test Centers data and metrics assessment platform. The venture is backed by Weatherford Capital.

Ogg, a former Blackstone operating partner, plans to acquire about 100 clubs in total while leaving local culture and leadership untouched, shifting focus back to local competition. Academics are also part of the long-term vision, he said.

Alignment with the respected development organization reinforces CURVE's operator-led platform—enhancing infrastructure, data, and long-term support while preserving leadership and culture.

MAPLE GROVE, Minn., April 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- CURVE Sports today announced that Pitch 2 Pitch has joined the CURVE Sports platform, which we believe further strengthens its ability to support long-term player development, club leadership, and sustainable growth across youth baseball.

Pitch 2 Pitch, a respected baseball development organization known for its player-first philosophy, disciplined coaching standards, and strong community relationships, will continue to operate under its existing brand and leadership while gaining access to CURVE Sports' shared infrastructure, development systems, and technology platform.

The alignment reflects CURVE Sports' long-term strategy: building a baseball-first operating platform that supports great leaders, preserves local culture, and raises standards across development, operations, and the family experience—without centralized control.

"Pitch 2 Pitch has built something real—strong leadership, a clear development philosophy, and deep trust with families," said Sandy Ogg, CURVE Sports CEO. "This isn't about changing who they are. It's about supporting what they've built and giving them access to a broader platform designed for long-term success."

Founded with a commitment to long-term player development and growth of 'the Millers' teams, while doing things the right way, Pitch 2 Pitch brings on-field expertise and organizational leadership into the CURVE Sports ecosystem. Through this alignment, Pitch 2 Pitch will gain access to expanded resources, including the CURVE Sports Performance Testing system, objective player development data, operational support, and platform-level services designed to reduce administrative burden and improve outcomes for players and families.

For players and families, the partnership enhances access to:

• Clearer development pathways aligned to baseball's long timelines

• Objective testing and performance insights through advanced player assessments

• Expanded services, events, and recruiting support

• Greater transparency and confidence in development decisions

• Savings programs for travel, hotels and baseball expenses.
   

Importantly, Pitch 2 Pitch will remain led by its existing leadership team, with day-to-day operations, coaching philosophy, and culture unchanged.

"We built Pitch 2 Pitch by staying focused on development, relationships, and doing right by players and families," said CJ Woodrow, Founder and CEO of Pitch 2 Pitch. "Joining the CURVE Sports platform allows us to strengthen that foundation—giving us access to better systems, data, and long-term support—while continuing to lead our organization the way we always have."

This announcement builds on the launch of CURVE Sports, which brings together Diamond Allegiance and CURVE Test Centers into a unified ecosystem. The launch of CURVE Sports is supported by a long-term partnership from Weatherford Capital, The Ogg Family, and Matthew Scattarella. Founded by Drew, Sam, and Will Weatherford, Weatherford Capital brings deep experience scaling mission-driven organizations, informed by a lifetime of competitive sports. Their relationship-driven approach—known as The Weatherford Way—prioritizes disciplined process, teamwork, learning, and long-term impact.

"Pitch 2 Pitch has earned something that can't be manufactured: genuine credibility with athletes and families, built on disciplined development and consistent leadership," said Drew Weatherford, founding partner of Weatherford Capital and co-founder of Collegiate Athletic Solutions. "In a market as fragmented as youth sports, that kind of trust is rare. CURVE Sports exists to support and scale leaders like CJ and his team, bringing infrastructure, data, and long-term capital behind operators who know how to build it the right way."

"This is how CURVE Sports grows," Sandy Ogg added. "By partnering with experienced operators, supporting strong leadership, and expanding the platform in a way that strengthens the game—not fragments it."

CURVE Sports plans to continue to welcome aligned organizations into its ecosystem as part of its mission to build a stronger, more sustainable future for youth baseball.

Stronger Together isn't a slogan. It's how the platform is built.

About CURVE Sports

CURVE Sports is a baseball and softball operating platform designed to strengthen clubs, support long-term player development, and improve the experience for families. By connecting Diamond Allegiance, CURVE Test Centers, and aligned baseball organizations, CURVE Sports provides shared infrastructure, development systems, and trusted data—while preserving leadership, independence, and culture. Visit www.curvesports.com

About Pitch 2 Pitch

Pitch 2 Pitch is a player development–focused baseball and softball organization committed to building strong athletes, leaders, and teammates through disciplined coaching, clear development pathways, and a player-first culture. Pitch 2 Pitch serves players and families through comprehensive training, competition, and long-term development programs including their team, The Millers. The P2P Millers program is a nationally ranked and recognized organization that competes at the highest levels, with a history of producing college and pro players; 50+ players, on average, go on to play in college annually. For more information, visit www.pitch2pitch.com.

About Weatherford Capital

Weatherford Capital is a private investment firm with over $1 billion in assets under management. Founded in 2015, the Firm aspires to partner with visionary founders and leaders to build enduring companies critical to the long-term growth of the economy, spanning technology, financial services, business services, sports, and public-sector markets. Through a relationship-driven approach rooted in long-term stewardship of capital and deep experience in public-private partnerships, Weatherford Capital seeks to empower organizations to create lasting value in sectors where regulation, governance, and public engagement shape how businesses and consumers operate. For more information, visit WeatherfordCapital.com.

Nothing in this press release is an offer to sell securities.

Media Contact

Tom Judge
Chief Marketing Officer, CURVE Sports
tom.judge@curvesports.com 
760.916.3828

www.curvesports.com

Inside Curve Sports’ Launch

Sandy Ogg's initial entrance into the youth sports industry was a philanthropy project.

The former Blackstone operating partner launched the Diamond Sports Foundation with his wife after being exposed to access barriers when a group of players from the Bronx joined their son's travel team based in Rye, New York, for a weekend.

"I realized pretty quickly that if we were going to do good and make youth sports, and in this case youth elite travel baseball, more accessible to kids who couldn't afford it, we were going to have to build a business," he told Buying Sandlot. "We were going to have to do well in order to do good in a systematic way."

That process took another big step last week with the launch of Curve Sports with the backing of Weatherford Capital.

The new platform unifies Diamond Allegiance, a national elite baseball club partnership network, and Curve Test Centers, which measures athlete assessments and metrics.

Ogg founded both organizations and will be the CEO of the combined company, which will deploy capital directly to clubs rather than to large-scale tournament operators and other overarching platforms.

"I have felt, and I continue to have even more conviction, that the heart of this is the club," he said. "Because that's where the parents are, that's where the players are, that's where the coaches are. That's where the action happens. ... But they are under-capitalized and underfunded."

Ogg's vision is to have about 30 "super clubs" nationwide and shift focus back on local competition and development. He expects Curve will acquire about 100 total clubs to reach this goal. Diamond Allegiance has about 70 clubs in its network, but it does not own them.

Ogg said Curve has made one acquisition so far and is working through several more— he wants club owners to retain a significant stake and continue day-to-day operations.

Facilities is also a point of emphasis. Ogg expects Curve will mostly acquire/partner with existing, underutilized facilities within its super club footprints. Curve Test Centers tech will be integrated into these facilities, bringing the testing capabilities and data discovery process to the local level (it currently has a facility on-site at LakePoint Sports).

Ogg also hopes to establish academies that pair academics with the clubs. He and Weatherford Capital both have ties to IMG Academy. Ogg is also the board chairman for Nord Anglia Education, a UK-based private school operator with over 100K students in 37 countries.

"Our first priority is to assemble this super club network, and then get the flywheel in place," he said. "We (want to) have the best leaders, the best coaches, the best parents and we're developing the athlete to be everything they can be."

TO READ MORE:

CURVE Sports Launches Unified Platform Combining Diamond Allegiance and CURVE Test Center

Key Takeaways

• CURVE Sports brings together Diamond Allegiance’s 70+ independent clubs and 15,000+ players with CURVE Test Centers’ athlete testing infrastructure

• Weatherford Capital, a private investment firm with over $1 billion in assets under management, is backing the launch

• The platform builds on more than five years of relationships established by Diamond Allegiance

• Partner clubs retain full independence in leadership and culture while gaining access to shared infrastructure and performance data

• Additional backing comes from The Ogg Family and Matthew Scattarella

A New Operating Model for Youth Baseball

CURVE Sports officially launched February 5, 2026 as a baseball-focused operating platform designed to connect clubs, athletes, families, and performance data under a single ecosystem.

The Tampa-based company combines two existing organizations: Diamond Allegiance, a national network of independent youth baseball clubs, and CURVE Test Centers, which provides objective athlete testing and longitudinal performance tracking.

Sandy Ogg, CEO of CURVE Sports, framed the launch around infrastructure gaps in the current youth baseball landscape.

“Baseball has always been about long-term development, trust, and relationships. But the systems supporting the game haven’t kept pace with its growth.”

The platform is designed to give clubs shared resources without requiring them to give up operational control. According to the company, partner clubs will maintain independence in leadership and culture while gaining access to operating standards, development resources, and performance insights.

What Diamond Allegiance and CURVE Test Centers Bring to the Table

Diamond Allegiance has spent more than five years building a national network of high-performing youth baseball clubs. The organization currently includes over 70 independent member clubs representing more than 15,000 players.

The network operates around shared standards for player development and sustainable club operations, but each club retains control over coaching decisions and organizational culture.

CURVE Test Centers adds an objective data layer to the platform. The testing centers provide sport-specific athlete assessments and track performance over time, giving players, families, and coaches measurable benchmarks for development.

By combining these two entities, CURVE Sports aims to create what it calls “coordinated, data-informed development pathways” that align with baseball’s longer development timelines.

Weatherford Capital Leads Investment

The launch is backed by Weatherford Capital, a private investment firm with over $1 billion in assets under management. The firm was founded in 2015 by Drew, Sam, and Will Weatherford.

Drew Weatherford, Founding Partner and co-founder of Collegiate Athletic Solutions, emphasized the need for integrated infrastructure in youth sports.

“By building a unified platform that supports the full athlete journey, educate, test, train, compete, and recruit, we’re replacing fragmentation with continuity and subjectivity with repeatable standards, defined pathways, and measurable results.”

Additional investment support comes from The Ogg Family and Matthew Scattarella.

Weatherford Capital describes its approach as relationship-driven and focused on long-term stewardship. The firm invests across technology, financial services, business services, sports, and public-sector markets.

Addressing Fragmentation in Youth Baseball

The press release points to a common challenge in youth baseball: families are investing more than ever in year-round development, training, competition, and exposure, but the infrastructure supporting that investment remains fragmented.

Clubs often manage complex, disconnected systems. Families navigate unclear development pathways. Performance data lives in silos.

CURVE Sports positions itself as a solution to that fragmentation, offering a connected ecosystem that spans testing, training, competition, and recruiting.

For families, the company says the platform will provide greater clarity and continuity across the full development journey, helping ensure that time, energy, and resources are invested wisely.

Ogg was clear about what the platform is not intended to do.

“This is not about consolidation or managing clubs. It’s about serving great leaders better, preserving independence, raising standards, and building something durable for the next generation of baseball players.”

What Comes Next for CURVE Sports

CURVE Sports plans to continue expanding its network of aligned clubs and partners nationwide. The company’s stated focus areas include long-term development, sustainable operations, and the overall health of youth baseball.

With Weatherford Capital’s backing and an established network through Diamond Allegiance, the platform enters the market with existing relationships and infrastructure in place. The addition of CURVE Test Centers’ data capabilities gives the organization a testing and tracking layer that many independent clubs lack on their own.

Whether the model gains traction beyond its current 70+ club network will depend on how effectively it delivers on its promise of shared resources without sacrificing club autonomy.

READ MORE: https://youthsportsbusinessreport.com/curve-sports-launches-unified-platform-combining-diamond-alleg...

Backed by Weatherford Capital, CURVE Sports brings together Diamond Allegiance and CURVE Test Centers to support clubs, athletes, and families through a connected, baseball-first ecosystem

TAMPA, Fla., Feb. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- CURVE Sports today announced its official launch as a unified, baseball-first platform designed to strengthen the foundation beneath youth baseball. Built to support club independence while raising standards across development, operations and player development, CURVE Sports connects clubs, athletes, families and trusted data into a single, aligned ecosystem.

CURVE Sports brings together two established organizations – Diamond Allegiance and CURVE Test Centers – under one mission, one platform, and one shared future for the game. Diamond Allegiance is a national network of independent, high-performing youth baseball clubs committed to long-term player development, shared standards, and sustainable club operations. CURVE Test Centers provide objective, sport-specific athlete testing and longitudinal performance data, helping players, families, and coaches better understand development over time and make more informed decisions.

Youth baseball sits at the center of the broader youth sports economy, with families investing more than ever in year-round development, training, competition and exposure, yet the infrastructure supporting that investment has remained fragmented, forcing clubs to manage complex systems while families navigate disconnected experiences and unclear development pathways.

CURVE Sports was built to address that gap.

"Baseball has always been about long-term development, trust, and relationships," said Sandy Ogg, CEO of CURVE Sports. "But the systems supporting the game haven't kept pace with its growth. CURVE Sports exists to strengthen the foundation beneath baseball so clubs can focus on coaching and culture, athletes can develop more thoughtfully, and families can feel confident in the journey."

The launch of CURVE Sports is supported by long-term partnership from Weatherford Capital, The Ogg Family, and Matthew Scattarella. Founded by Drew, Sam, and Will Weatherford, Weatherford Capital brings deep experience scaling mission-driven organizations, informed by a lifetime of competitive sports. Their relationship-driven approach—known as The Weatherford Way—prioritizes disciplined process, teamwork, learning, and long-term impact.

The platform builds on more than five years of relationships, trust, and industry leadership established by Diamond Allegiance, a national network of over 70 independent member clubs representing more than 15,000 players, while adding a robust technology and data layer through CURVE Test Centers. Together, they enable coordinated, data-informed development pathways aligned to baseball's long timelines—without changing how clubs lead, coach, or preserve their individual cultures.

Through CURVE Sports, partner clubs gain access to shared infrastructure, operating standards, development resources, and longitudinal performance insights—while remaining fully independent in leadership and culture.

For players and families, the platform brings greater clarity, continuity, and confidence across the full development journey—from testing and training to competition and recruiting—reducing confusion and helping ensure that time, energy, and resources are invested wisely.

"This is not about consolidation or managing clubs," Sandy Ogg added. "It's about serving great leaders better—preserving independence, raising standards, and building something durable for the next generation of baseball players."

"Weatherford Capital's investment in CURVE Sports is rooted in a deep conviction that youth sports needs an integrated operating system to truly evolve and meet the demands of today's increasingly competitive landscape," said Drew Weatherford, Founding Partner of Weatherford Capital and co-founder of Collegiate Athletic Solutions. "By building a unified platform that supports the full athlete journey — educate, test, train, compete, and recruit — we're replacing fragmentation with continuity and subjectivity with repeatable standards, defined pathways, and measurable results. This empowers local youth sports communities to scale what matters most: character, competence, resilience, and life-long opportunity. We believe this partnership will strengthen the foundation of the game, ensuring youth development matches the caliber of the collegiate and professional pathways that follow."

CURVE Sports will continue expanding its network of aligned clubs and partners nationwide, with a focus on long-term development, sustainable operations, and the enduring health of the game.

About CURVE Sports:

CURVE Sports is a baseball-first operating platform designed to strengthen clubs, support long-term player development, and improve the experience for families. By connecting Diamond Allegiance and CURVE Test Centers, CURVE Sports aligns coaching, development services, and trusted data into one integrated ecosystem—helping clubs operate more effectively while preserving independence and culture. For more information, visit www.curvesports.com

About Weatherford Capital:

Weatherford Capital is a private investment firm with over $1 billion in assets under management. Founded in 2015, the Firm aspires to partner with visionary founders and leaders to build enduring companies critical to the long-term growth of the economy, spanning technology, financial services, business services, sports, and public-sector markets. Through a relationship-driven approach rooted in long-term stewardship of capital and deep experience in public-private partnerships, Weatherford Capital seeks to empower organizations to create lasting value in sectors where regulation, governance, and public engagement shape how businesses and consumers operate. For more information, visit www.weatherfordcapital.com.

Media Contact

Tom Judge
Chief Marketing Officer, CURVE Sports
tom.judge@curvesports.com
760.916.3828
www.curvesports.com

SOURCE CURVE Sports