2016 Warren Park Warriors Player Development
Warren Park Warriors Program and Warriors Baseball Player Development directed by Joe Perona
Joe Perona pictured with sons, Louis and Joseph.
Coaching Purpose
"It is important for a coach to impress upon a young ballplayer that the coach believes in him and that both coach and player desire improvement. As a coach, I try to create a spark in a player and allow he or she to see growth is possible and show them the correct path with good instruction. This method builds confidence and allows them a chance to build on their improvement."-- Joe Perona
Background
The Warriors baseball winter training and in season practices will be taught by former college and professional baseball players led by Joe Perona. Joe is a former college All Big Ten conference baseball player at Northwestern University and team captain and MVP who was also drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 8th round in 1991 and played professionally for 5 minor league seasons. Joe founded the Warren Park Warriors Baseball Program in 2010 and has served as a volunteer coach and League leader for 12 years at Warren Park Youth Baseball.
This past season, Joe served as head coach for the 14u and 11u Warren Park Warriors. Both teams had impressive seasons. The 14u Warriors bested 32 teams to win the 2015 Mid Suburban Baseball League Tournament Championship and in doing so became the first city team to win the MSBL tournament for the 14 year old division. The 14u Warriors finished with 37-15-1 and won the Illinois Junior Division Championship for the second consecutive year. The 11u Warriors completed a very impressive season in sporting a 38-14 record including 5 tournament wins. Joe took over the head coaching duties for the 11u team this season after they recorded a 21-23 record last year at 10u. He conducts a six week fall instructional practice program for 8u to 15u along with training sessions for youth coaches. He head coached two teams last fall and both completed rewarding fall seasons as the Warriors 10u and 13u teams won Championships in the 2014 Glenview Youth Baseball Fall League. All the players on both teams also played in the WPYB house league.
Newspaper Article links on Coach Perona
1. 2015 State Tournament "Perona comes full circle" July 27, 2015
2. 2014 "Where are they now: St. Bede's Joe Perona" July 18 2014
Player and Team Development
"This year's 14u MSBL Tournament Champion team that also won the 2014 13u Illinois State LL Championship began six years ago as 9u players just learning the game of baseball. Six seasons ago, the 2010 9u Warriors team simply tried to survive six innings verses competitive teams. Winning games against strong teams was not on our radar. Near the end of the season of year two, the young players came to believe in themselves and realize they were good baseball players who could compete. Once that spark was set and confidence accomplished, then growth became possible. They reached a point of expecting to win and now as individuals are skilled enough ball players to win a spot on any team."-- Joe Perona
Player Development and Improvement
Historical season records of the Warren Park Warriors Founding Team that began in 2010
2010 Warriors 9u won-loss record 1-14 (Only win vs Skokie 9u all star team after losing to them 19-0 in the first game of a double header)
2011 Warriors 10u won-loss record 7-18 (Opening game loss to 10u Hamlin Park 30-3)
2012 Warriors 11u won-loss record 18-7 (Won Fox Lake Memorial Tournament, Northside 5 League 2nd place)
2013 Warriors 12u won-loss record 33-16 (MSBL A division champions, Northside 5 undefeated Champions, defeated Horner Park for Little League District 12 Championship)
2014 Warriors 13u won-loss record 31-21 (MSBL A division champions, Intermediate 13u division Illinois State Champions)
2015 Warriors 14u won-loss record 37-15 (MSBL A division 32 team 14u tournament Champions, Junior Division Illinois State Champions, Central States Finalist)
Mentoring Coaches
"I tell coaches that my own coaching improvement began to flourish when I removed my ego and accepted that my growth as a teacher of baseball would not be simply because I was an accomplished baseball player. Practice is the time for the coach to frame the game into smaller parts and focus on reps and allow players to make mistakes. Forget about scouting an opponent and focus your team on playing their game which for my teams is to play hard, prepared and aggressive baseball. If your team is applying pressure, they won't feel pressure. I tell coaches to lose the ego and teach the game."--Joe Perona
Some Youth Player Development Reality
Be prepared as the following thoughts include some realities of youth baseball that players and parents don't often focus on.
One generation ago, a youth baseball player simply played at the Little League in town or at the park and played with his friends. A youth player might have gotten lucky to get a an experienced youth coach or former baseball player. The players reached high school and that was first time the kids practiced every day. Now when a student enters high school, tryouts are highly competitive and coaches are assessing skills and not simply athletic ability.There were no choices parents could make to find better coaches or teams. Youth players moved up to the next age level and that was it. Youth players today do have options they pay for when it comes to youth teams and coaches but the team experiences and coaching can be very inconsistent despite the costs and regardless of a program's reputation.
Growing up in a small town, I played baseball or some type of sport nearly every day in the Summer
The reality is that youth baseball players have a short window to develop. If your child is not in front of a coach or program who has seen the other side of development and focuses more on develop than simply creating teams, you are spending precious development time simply showing up. With this generation of youth players, you may get lucky and have an experienced great youth volunteer coach at a local league however that is not often the case. Deciding which team or organization your child should register for is often simply whichever is the easiest choice or where the player's friends are registered. Parents should consider who they listen to when deciding on team or program decisions for their child.
Some temporary methods used to keep players from exploring a different program and extend the natural lives of teams during precious development years are to hire "baseball trainers" to work with a team or suggesting a future overnight tournament experience like Cooperstown, NY. Baseball trainers can be helpful but are often not committed to the overall improvement of the player. Destination tournaments can certainly be memorable experiences but often become the focus of the teams existence.
It is important for a youth baseball team or Baseball Club to have a true development plan and program. If the coaches including Dads and also "baseball trainers" are not committed to the development of the players, then you won't see much improvement.
The reality of the situation is that most kids are not good enough to continue playing baseball after the age of 13 because the playing field gets much bigger and the pool of players gets smaller. Many 13 year old kids including "travel team" players have not developed nor been properly trained. They simply cannot compete with the smaller pool of players and teams. Then high school years arrive and the HS coach does not care for whom your child played or whether he went to Cooperstown when he was 12 years old. The High School coach determines whether your son is good enough to make a team. They are looking for developing baseball players or kids with a lot of athletic ability to play at the high school level.
The Warrior Baseball Program focuses on player development and building teams to create a memorable and improving baseball player experience. Warriors teams are not a summer camp and youth players develop as they commit themselves to improvement.
click here for Warriors team and tryout page
contact Joe with questions. 773-315-5545 or [email protected]
For info on Warriors Teams and Tryouts
To register, simply login or create an account and select your participant. If your child is new player then register a participant prior to registering for the tryout. To register CLICK HERE