It started with
two boys and a ball.
O.N. Deck was built from two decades on the field — as a dad, a coach, and now bringing professional instruction to players across the Chicago suburbs.
I've been coaching my two boys since the first time they picked up a ball, and somewhere along the way it became the thing I love most in life — being on a field with a group of kids working together toward something bigger than any one of them.
Coaching gave me extra time with my sons. What I didn't expect was how much it would grow my family. Kids I coached as 9- and 10-year-olds are 15 and 16 now, and they still call me “Coach” when they see me (much to my youngest son's horror). I've watched some of them go from struggling at 14U to earning Division I scholarships. There's nothing more rewarding than getting to have a positive impact on these young men — helping them grow as ballplayers, but more importantly, as people.
Baseball is the hardest game on the planet. It's a game built on failure.
Make it to the show and get out 70% of the time over your career, and you're probably headed to the Hall of Fame. Walking alongside so many young men as they grow through that adversity has left a profound mark on my life. Right now I've got one son getting ready to accept a college baseball offer, and another working his backside off to get there.
When we moved home to Illinois in 2020, never once did I imagine I'd own a travel baseball club with a couple hundred kids and 20-plus coaches. But life has a funny way of landing you right where you're supposed to be, when you're supposed to be there.
Now I'm excited to take that love — for the game and for the kids who play it — beyond our Canes Illinois organization, and bring top-notch, professional instruction to baseball and softball players of all ages in the Northwest (Mount Prospect) and Southwest (Naperville) suburbs.
O.N. Deck Baseball Training is an homage to my boys, Owen and Noah (see what I did there). Their love for the game, and the work they put into it, inspired me to do things I never imagined. They're the foundation of my love for the game, my love for coaching, and my passion for helping good humans find cool jobs in baseball — coaching and training the next generation of players.
Ready to step up to the plate?
Book your player's first lesson and let's start getting a little better, every day.