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Show Wed/Thurs/Fri, May 30-June 1, 2018 The Park Record B-3 Former Pirates all-star stops by hitting clinic Four-time batting champion gives youngsters tips BEN RAMSEY The Park Record On Sunday, four time National League batting champion Bill Madlock was not particularly interested in talking about what he was teaching during his three-day stay with the Skullcandy Crushers. The 67-year-old, who won the 1979 World Series with the Pittsburgh Pirates, was more interested in talking about what drew him to the team, and to Crushers coach Brent Milner’s garage – which, with its highly sophisticated batting cage, is a baseball player’s dream even when there isn’t a hall-of-fame quality hitter standing in it. “The kids that I deal with here are so different than the kids I teach in Las Vegas,” he said, standing outside the garage. “One thing about kids here is, they are so polite, and so perceptive to what you’re talking about.” Madlock went on to describe the virtues of representing a brand, the philosophy that Milner and the Crushers embrace in caoching both the local Park City team and the statewide team, and how much opportunity the audio company has provided the seven youth club teams it sponsors (all called the Crushers) across the U.S. Madlock coaches a Skullcandy team in Las Vegas, where he has lived for the past 27 years. As for what the kids are so perceptive of, Madlock’s only real BEN RAMSEY/PARK RECORD AJ Herrera, a player on the Skullcandy Crushers 16U Utah team, swings at a ball during a batting clinic with Bill Madlock. hint was that it wasn’t about stats. “I’m from the old school,” said Madlock. “I like to pitch; let kids see balls in different positions.” Then he was back to extolling the virtues of the Park City kids and Milner’s graciousness. Madlock played in the MLB for almost 15 years, over which he had a batting average of .305. Since retiring from the professional game in 1988, he’s gone on to coach players from Little League to the majors. To understand Madlock’s approach, it’s best to pull up a ball bucket beside the mesh batting cage, next the parents who have come to the Sunday afternoon clinic to see their kids hit, and watch Madlock throw pitches to a few of the 16U and 12U Crushers. Logan Findlay, up to bat, was decked out in a Pirates uniform, which was no accident. “After (Crushers) practice on Thursday, I went and told my dad (Madlock was coming) and we both freaked out on the way home,” said Findlay, a longtime Pirates fan. “Couldn’t believe it. Then, meeting him in the dugout, it’s kind of surreal, because he’s one of my heroes.” Findlay’s hat was a replica of the one the Pirates wore when Madlock’s team won the World Series, and Findlay said Madlock was happy to sign it. Standing behind the pitching screen, Madlock threw some balls and watched how Findlay swung the bat. “Take that bat head out just a little further now,” Madlock advised. “You tried to pull it, didn’t you? Can’t pull, but still have to explode to the ball,” he added after the next pitch. Garrett Vaccaro, one of the 16U players, described Madlock to his father as “chill.” “I don’t know if thats the way I’d put it,” Preston Vaccaro, Garrett’s dad, said, “but it’s just how relaxed and willing he is just to talk to Garrett, to joke around. Its been great for him and it’s been fun to watch.” From a technical perspective, Garrett Vaccaro said the veteran has a nuanced eye for batting. “He sees things we can’t with the naked eye, so we don’t need a slow-motion camera,” Vaccaro said. “He just sees it and says ‘Do this instead; try this instead.’” According to Milner, Madlock also taught batting psychology over his three-day stay. “How do you prepare yourself mentally on a 3-1 count, versus a 0-2 count,” Milner explained. “What are the things that you do to be in the moment?” Milner said those questions are in lockstep with one of the Crushers’ fundamental tenants: Recognizing the difference between history, which is of interest to others, and the past, which is only relevant to the person who experiences it, and is probably not relevant in a game. “The problem with youth sports, and baseball in particular, is when a guy misses the play, he lives in the past; it sticks in his head for a long time,” Milner said. “We try to get these players to get out of the past — don’t worry about history because (for Little League players) it’s still in the future — and stay in the moment.” “Every level lower I coach, I have to talk a little bit more,” he said. “The lower you go, the more you have to communicate with the kids, and that’s the fun thing about it.” One thing he notices with the players in Utah is they don’t play nearly as many games as Las Vegas teams, so they are often more raw, though he said in youth baseball, there is no one area of their game that kids need to improve upon. “You always have to work on everything,” he said. “I was talking to one of my kids in Las Vegas, he said he had played 90 games since September — a 12 year old.” In Las Vegas, Madlock explained, players can find leagues that play year round, because of the climate, and for some the season only stops between December 15 and Martin Luthor King Jr. Day. But Madlock said that kind of schedule is intense, and added that one reason he liked coming BEN RAMSEY/PARK RECORD Bill Madlock selects a ball to pitch during a batting clinic with the Skullcandy Crushers 16U and 12U Utah teams. to Park City to work with the Crushers was that the team managed to keep things in perspective. “It’s just fun watching the kids here really enjoy the game,” he said. “(Milner) doesn’t put a lot of pressure on them; he doesn’t make every game seem like a matter of life and death.” And while kids in Las Vegas have the advantage of year-round play, Madlock said he didn’t want to give the impression that playing in Park City was fruitless for players who might want to take their talents to the next levels. “I want them to know that because this is a small city, don’t think they can’t make it in a big school or big way,” he said. “Sometimes, when you’re in a small city you might not think you have the same chances as a kid in Las Vegas, you might not have the same people watching you, and that’s just not true. You work hard and you’ll always have someone watching you.” Milner turned on the pitching machine and set it to throw curveballs while Madlock critiqued batting from outside the mesh of the batting cage. After all of the players had batted, Milner said he was going to set the machine to throw fastballs, hoping it would keep the players on their toes and force them to adjust their bat speed. “What do you think, Bill – 82, 80 (miles per hour)?” he asked. “78,” Madlock replied. Then, quietly, he explained the slower speed. “I want them to leave with confidence that they can hit,” he said. Alex Ferreira receives halfpipe crystal globe ANNA STONEHOUSE/THE ASEPN TIMES AUSTIN COLBERT/THE ASPEN TIMES Alex Ferreira received the International Ski Federation’s crystal globe -- awarded to the season’s overall winner of a discipline -- for his 2017-2018 halfpipe skiing season. Skier says it is his most cherished award to date JOHN LACONTE Vail Daily VAIL, Colo. -- A crystal globe, for many competitive skiers, is the ultimate accomplishment. While an Olympic medal is earned for one good performance, a globe recognizes a full season of good skiing, and there’s no globe given out for second place. In May, halfpipe skier Alex Ferreira finally got to add to his trophy case the crystal globe he earned this season. It was presented to him at the Ski & Snowboard Club Vail awards dinner on May 14. Ferreira secured the globe with a second-place finish at World Cup finals on March 23 in Tignes, France, but continued to travel Europe for a month following the competition and didn’t get to see his globe until May. It now sits in his room, in a trophy case next to his Olympic silver medal. Ferreira said the globe means more to him than the medal. “I think it’s a pretty high honor,” Ferreira said of the globe. “It’s about consistency with the globe, it’s not just one event.” Ferreira’s 2017-18 season got off to a strong start when he won the first World Cup of the year in September in New Zealand. A few months later, however, things weren’t looking so good. Ferreira wasn’t thinking about a globe as his sole focus was to make the Olympics and after two of the five Olympic qualifiers, he still had not notched a podium as New Zealand wasn’t actually an Olympic qualifier. “I broke my collar bone 6 weeks before the Copper Grand Prix, the second Olympic qualifier,” he said. “Of course, I’m extremely chapped, and frustrated … I got 12th, I didn’t even make finals, and there’s only three Olympic qualifiers left.” ‘FRIENDLY RIVALRY’ Ferreira went on to finish first and second at the next two Olympic qualifiers and make the team. He also notched a second-place finish at the third and final Olympic qualifier — a U.S. only competition the resembled U.S. Nationals more than a World Cup — placing him well on his way to earning the crystal globe. But the globe was not on his mind at that point, with the Olympics coming up. In Pyeongchang, he landed a run that contained nothing but double-inverted tricks, a first-ever accomplishment and a life-changing moment. It earned him the silver medal behind his teammate David Wise. Following the Olympics, Ferreira and Wise enjoyed a month-long break from competition, but a final contest loomed on the calendar, the last World Cup event of the season in Tignes. Burned out from the long season, Ferreira considered skipping the event, but only for a moment. “There was only one way (to get the globe),” Ferreira said. “I had to battle it out with David Wise in Tignes.” Wise wanted the globe, as well. “I would say it was a friendly rivalry,” Ferreira said. “We both really wanted to win.” Dropping into the halfpipe Alex Ferreira airs out of the halfpipe at a U.S. Grand Prix Olympic qualifier in Snowmass in January. Ferreira finished second at the event, helping pave his way to an International Ski Federation overall season title, known as the crystal globe for the trophy awarded to its recipients. in Tignes, Ferreira had tricky light conditions, as the event was taking place at dusk. He gave his coach a fist bump, followed by a head bump, and landed an abbreviated version of his Olympic run, with 720s where his double-inverted 1080s were in Pyeongchang. It proved to be more than enough for the globe, as Wise struggled in finals, finishing 9th. Ferreira’s second place finish earned him a podium in Tignes and the crystal globe on the season. “After the event, (Wise) came over and he shook my hand,” Ferreira said. “He said congratulations, I was very appreciative of that, and our friendship continues.” SPORTSMANSHIP AND SHOWMANSHIP Ferreira got to kiss his globe for a quick photo, but didn’t have it in his possession for long as he continued on a tour of the Alps, competing in a few non-International Ski Federation events including Laurent De Martin’s 7Peaks Riverstyle big air in Switzerland, the Freeski Playoffs and Pipe Ground in France. The globe was flown back to the U.S. and Ferreira was finally reunited with it at the Ski & Snowboard Club Vail awards dinner. At the event, Ferreira’s coach, Ski & Snowboard Club Vail freestyle program director Elana Chase, said Ferreira brought an infectious degree of energy to Ski & Snowboard Club Vail that season. “When Alex came to the Vail freeski summer water ramp camp this last summer … he would shout things like ‘fire me up,’ and get all the other athletes to hike hard with him all session long,” Chase wrote. “Alex could be heard shouting ‘Let’s do this boys,’ — and he was talking about doing the dishes after the coaches cleared the meal.” Ferreira said Chase put the “award” in awards dinner by arranging for him to receive his globe there at the event. “This … FIS award … is rarely actually seen in person,” said event emcee J.C. Cole. Leslie Tabor with Ski & Snowboard Club Vail donned white gloves to remove the globe from its protected case and present it to Ferreira. “It’s the full Vanna White treatment we’re getting right here,” Cole said. “Seeing Leslie put the white gloves on (unscripted) was truly priceless, funny, and carried real weight,” Chase wrote in an email. Ferreira said he would expect no less from Chase, who he described as not only a master of sportsmanship, but of showmanship, as well. “Elana is one of the most classy and most intelligent people I’ve ever met,” Ferreira said. “Just being around her is a special thing … one minute she’s teaching me how to establish credit, and the next minute she’s teaching me a doublecork 1260 tail grab.” On Tuesday, May 22, the U.S. Freeski team announced its halfpipe pro team nominations for the 2018-19 season, with Ferreira joining seven other athletes on the list. He said while life has changed a bit for him after becoming an Olympic medalist, many thing remain the same. “I still feel like I have a lot left to accomplish in this sport,” he said. |