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.
