Herts Baseball Club has confirmed that Andrew Fulford has been appointed as the club’s Under-17 Team Manager.
In an interview Fulford expressed his excitement at being appointed and provided more details about how he plans to approach this project. He said: “The most important thing for a baseball program for children and young adults is having an absolute blast and nurturing the maturity developing within youth players. To achieve this goal, I believe acquiring strong fundamental baseball skills is key. And it’s my aim to impart my baseball knowledge in a fun, creative, and effective way.”
A few weeks ago the club announced that they plan to invest in a new business model. This will involve investing in high quality coaches for the club’s youth programme. The aim of the experiment is to see if the investment would bring sufficient growth over the next 10 months. If the experiment is successful, the next step would be to adopt this new business model across most of its teams in time for the expected arrival of MLB to London in 2017.
“It was good to receive so many applications from coaches” said club board member, Aspi Dimitrov. He added that “the club is delighted to appoint Andrew. He already has so many fans at the club after joining as a player in 2012 and in just a few weeks he has become an integral part of the coaching staff in our youth programme. We very much hope that this new approach will succeed and Andrew’s appointment gives us a really good chance to do so”.
Fulford comes from Tampa, Florida, and he moved to Hemel Hempstead in 2012. He started playing when he was 4. After spending his early years in the Citrus Park Little League, Fulford went on to play for the varsity team at Sickles High School and later with Cambridge High School finishing as Florida Sate runners-up in 2009. During his career he has played under former MLB players Jody Reed, who played as second basemen for the Boston Red Sox, and Sam Marsonek who was a pitcher with the New York Yankees. He is 25-years-old and he will have the opportunity to pass on his many years of playing experience to the Herts boys and girls. As a player his primary position is catcher and he has also played in second base and pretty much in all other positions on the field.
“Growing up in Baseball, nothing was more empowering to my self-esteem than coaches who affirmed the abilities I possessed and encouraged me in my weaknesses” said Fulford. “At the same time nothing was more detrimental to my self-esteem than coaches who did the opposite. So it’s with great enthusiasm and a heart full of empowerment that I take on the role of Herts U17 team manager”
The club confirmed that they are continuing discussions with some of the other applicants with a view to considering them for other coaching projects which may come up this season or future seasons.