Sports
Team Connecticut Continues Success
A Tradition of Excellence Like No Other - On and Off the Field
With Three First Round Draft Picks, TCB Continues to Strive
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. - Eighteen years ago, Team Connecticut Baseball, with a group of 13-year-old ballplayers, jogged onto the diamond for the first time. Little did those kids know, they were the start of a program that has since blossomed into one of national recognition.
Team Connecticut founders Bob Hetu and Dan Kennedy, like the players of that 1994 squad, weren't exactly sure what to expect during that inaugural campaign. All they were certain of was that they wanted to not only make better baseball players out of those who came to them in search of a place to play at the highest level, but also help them become better, smarter and more well-rounded young men on the whole.
"Honestly, our belief isn't about winning. It's about developing kids both on and off the field. We want to use baseball as a way to give the kids discipline and structure. We make sure they know that their academics, family and religion are the priorities that come before everything else. They don't have to necessarily come in that order, but they all come before baseball. Baseball should always be fourth on the list," Kennedy said. "If we're able to do that, we always believed the wins would come."
Through that philosophy, it didn't take long for the wins to start piling up.
In its first year of existence, coached by Hetu, TCB staked claim to its first National Championship. Years later, three players off that team were eventually taken in the MLB Draft - Brett Burnham, Adam Greenberg and Wendell Anderson. Greenberg was the first member of the Team Connecticut Baseball family to reach the Major Leagues, appearing with the Chicago Cubs in 2005. Jamie D'Antona was the first TCB alum to ever be drafted, taken by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2003.
That 1994 championship and those early draftees were just the start of the tradition of excellence that has become synonymous with Team Connecticut Baseball.
That tradition continues to grow.
Three players who've worn a TCB cap and jersey were selected in the first round of the 2011 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft on June 6th. George Springer (New Britain, Conn.), was taken 11th overall by the Houston Astros, Matt Barnes (Bethel, Conn.) was grabbed by the Boston Red Sox with the 19th pick, and Tyler Beede (Auburn, Mass.) was selected 21st by the Toronto Blue Jays. They became the second, third and fourth TCB alums to be drafted in the first round.
Add in Michael Dowd (East Bridgewater, Mass.), Matt Duffy (Milton, Mass.), Sal Romano (Southington, Conn.), Dexter Price (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Ryan Thompson (Amherst, N.H.), Brad Zapenas (Nashua, N.H.) and Maxx Catapano (Fairfield, Conn.), - who were each selected in later rounds of this year's Draft - and the total number of former TCB players to be drafted has expanded to 54.
"We'll never take responsibility for the accomplishments of anyone that comes through the program," Kennedy said. "I'd like to think that we're a tiny part of it, but these players are who they are because of their families and their work ethic more than anything else."
But ask those who've helped add to the growing tradition that is the Team Connecticut Blue Jays, and they'll tell you something a little different.
Mike Leonard, who spent three seasons in the Red Sox system, said that joining Team Connecticut as a 13 year old in 1995 paved the way to his baseball success later in life.
"It's the highest level of professional instruction you can get," Leonard said. "Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of dads out there that do a great job with their Little Leagues, but there's such a value of learning some of the more advanced parts of the game at an early age."
TCB, Leonard added, also passes on some important lessons to its players that go beyond the diamond. He said the likes of Kennedy, Hetu and the rest of the coaches provide an extra level of accountability and serve as an extra set of motivators to along with what is supplied at home.
Hetu said that all goes back to the philosophy in which the program was founded. He said all the players know there are more important things in life than baseball. At the top of the list is academics. After all, Hetu said, without good grades, playing baseball at the next level will never be anything more than just a dream.
"The first things college coaches come in here and ask us are, 'What's his GPA? What are his SAT scores?" Hetu said. "You can't just be a good baseball player; you have to be a good student and a good young man if you want to be successful."
Leonard, who is now the head coach at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, admits those are the first questions to roll of his tongue when he's out on the recruiting trail - which at one point or another always leads him back to TCB headquarters in East Hartford.
"The truth is there's no shortage of talented baseball players out there. As coaches, we not only have to find the kids that can play, but the ones who meet the academic standards," Leonard said. "A lot of the time we're looking for ways to narrow down our lists of recruits and academics are usually the way to do that."
Sixteen former Team Connecticut Blue Jay players have gone on to play in the Ivy League.
The goal of TCB Baseball is not only to include instruction and competition, but also serve as a place where the development of friendships and memories that will last a lifetime can be formed. The program also teaches the importance of setting goals and striving to achieve and exceed those goals. And most important, TCB offers an alternative to alcohol, drugs and other temptations that face today's youth on a daily basis.
For 18 years it has provided that environment while not missing a beat on the field.
The Team Connecticut Blue Jays have claimed 10 National Championships, been a three-time national runner-up and played itself to a total of 25 top three finishes nationally to go along with 63 top 10s and 11 Super East titles. The program, which began in 1994 with the one team, has expanded to 17 teams.
To its founders, it's still hard to believe how far the program has come. But just like they won't take credit for the success of their players, the humble duo isn't about to take recognition for the program either.
"It's the kids and the families who have built this thing. It's their program," Hetu said. "But it's certainly surreal thinking about all the kids who've come through here."
Hetu has coached three teams to the National Championship and boasts a career tournament record of 89-42-1.
Kennedy guided the 18-and-under team to the USSSA World Series and the No. 1 national ranking in 1999. He has a superb coaching record of 425-175-2, a better than .700 winning percentage.
"We've been successful because we have some great people around us," he said. "We have great baseball and great business people who are all in it for the same thing, and that's the betterment of the players."
TCB Baseball organizes teams in 10 to 18 year old divisions which compete regionally and nationally in various cities across the United States. In 1994, Team Connecticut's 13-and-under team won the gold medal in Des Moines, Iowa and three years later in Chickasha, Okla. In 1999, National Championships were brought home with the 16-and-under team winning in Oklahoma City, Okla., and the 18-and-under team winning in Cocoa, Fla. In 2002, TCB's 17-and-under team won the National Championship in Bourbonnais, Ill. TCB captured two National titles in 2008, with the 18-and-under team winning in Nashville, Tenn. and the 15-and-under team winning in Orlando, Fla. Two more titles came in 2009, with the 18-and-unders winning back-to-back titles in Nashville, and the 16-and-under team winning in Viera, Fla.
