Kent Island BSBL HC | Founder of DDP ‘26 N Bayside COY | ‘26 MD 2A Finalists SU Baseball 17-18 & DTCC Baseball 15-16 2x CAC Champion
Joined August 2024
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The Diamond Diaries Project | Voices Behind the Game
From sub .500 to State Runner-Up in one season. No shortcuts. No magic formula. Just the blueprint that worked for us.
Full blog ⬇️
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Last Friday, I was at the high school football game when, on a few separate occasions, people approached me about the upcoming season. I was congratulated on a hell of a year, and they all asked the same question. What’s next?
Well… Obviously I want to bring home a state championship more now than ever. Being that close and losing it on a bloop single with 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th motivates us to become better. We have to continue to reinforce our standards and values, keep raising the bar, and hold ourselves accountable to it. We have goals we need to hit along the way, and if we continue to do those things, everything else will fall into place. We’re going to continue to build until people see our program as a destination they want to be a part of. We want to keep the talent here, and we want talent to want to come here.
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Coach Cheney retweeted
The Brewers regarded smoking cigarettes before games as a good luck charm and their motto was ‘if we smoke heaters in the cage, we will smoke heaters in the game’
Christian Yelich on this:
“You walk by the cage and see the cigs lit and you’re like, the boys are ready to rock.”
(Via @JeffPassan)
Coach Cheney retweeted
Pat Murphy uses climbing a mountain to explain how he wants his team to handle getting closer to its goal.
“As you get closer, you just got to keep your footing…you can’t look too far ahead. When you look up for the prize…you might step in a crack or a pothole.”
Getting close to a goal can pull a team away from the very things that put it within reach.
Players start pressing. Coaches feel compelled to say more. Everyone wants to make something happen.
Part of leading in those moments is helping people trust the work they’ve done and stay connected to what the next play (and moment) requires.
Keep the goal in view and the next step in focus.
🎥: NLCS Press Conference
Coach Cheney retweeted
Congratulations to Logan Baierlein for earning student of the week honors for 10/5-10/10!
Leadership is speaking with conviction about where you’re going before there’s proof you’ll get there. I can speak to this firsthand. Belief became action, people bought in, and we accomplished what we set out to do. One thing I’ve learned is, if I want others to believe in the vision, I have to believe in it first.
Lars Anderson says Tom Brady told Robert Kraft, “I’m the best decision you ever made,” while he was still a fourth-string rookie.
"He’s walking down a flight of stairs carrying a box of pizza. And who’s coming up the stairs but Robert Kraft?
Tom asks Kraft, ‘Do you know who I am?’
Kraft says, ‘Yeah, you’re our sixth-round draft pick. You’re Tom Brady. You played at Michigan. Welcome to the Patriots.’
He’s like, ‘No, I’m the best decision you ever made.’
And he walks away.
He’s fourth-string at this point. It doesn’t even look like he’s gonna make the roster. And yet here he is telling this to Kraft.
This stuck with him. Several hours later, he calls his son: ‘I just had this interaction with Tom Brady, and he told me that he’s the best decision we ever made.’
There was a pause, and Jonathan, his son, asked, ‘Well, what’d you think?’
He’s like, ‘Damn, I kind of believe him.’
Because he said it with such certainty.
And yet Tom decides before training camp to buy a condo in Foxborough. It’s Ty Law’s old place.
His agent’s like, ‘Shouldn’t you wait? Do you really want to buy this place? Because you might be stuck with this for a while.’
He’s like, ‘Nah, I’m good.’
His agent couldn’t believe it. He just was hanging by a thread there."
@LarsAnderson71
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Coach Cheney retweeted
Lars Anderson says Tom Brady told Robert Kraft, “I’m the best decision you ever made,” while he was still a fourth-string rookie.
"He’s walking down a flight of stairs carrying a box of pizza. And who’s coming up the stairs but Robert Kraft?
Tom asks Kraft, ‘Do you know who I am?’
Kraft says, ‘Yeah, you’re our sixth-round draft pick. You’re Tom Brady. You played at Michigan. Welcome to the Patriots.’
He’s like, ‘No, I’m the best decision you ever made.’
And he walks away.
He’s fourth-string at this point. It doesn’t even look like he’s gonna make the roster. And yet here he is telling this to Kraft.
This stuck with him. Several hours later, he calls his son: ‘I just had this interaction with Tom Brady, and he told me that he’s the best decision we ever made.’
There was a pause, and Jonathan, his son, asked, ‘Well, what’d you think?’
He’s like, ‘Damn, I kind of believe him.’
Because he said it with such certainty.
And yet Tom decides before training camp to buy a condo in Foxborough. It’s Ty Law’s old place.
His agent’s like, ‘Shouldn’t you wait? Do you really want to buy this place? Because you might be stuck with this for a while.’
He’s like, ‘Nah, I’m good.’
His agent couldn’t believe it. He just was hanging by a thread there."
@LarsAnderson71
Coach Cheney retweeted
Shoutout to NBC forgoing some commercial time to give us this on the broadcast
I hope Fox is watching and recognizing how good a move that is…
Coach Cheney retweeted
2 innings pitched w/3 k’s
Mason Whisman (‘29 MD) peaking in the low 80’s w/ some vertical drop to it. Mixing in a CB & CH from a lower slot that has generated weak contact. #WWBAWorlds @PGMidAtlantic
Coach Cheney retweeted
Mason Whisman (‘29 MD) peaking in the low 80’s w/ some vertical drop to it. Mixing in a CB & CH from a lower slot that has generated weak contact. #WWBAWorlds @PGMidAtlantic
Coach Cheney retweeted
Mason Whisman (‘29 MD) flys this to deep RF for a 2B. 3rd hit on the day showing tons of consistency & great feel for the barrel. #WWBAWorlds @PGMidAtlantic
Mason Whisman (‘29 MD) jumps on this first pitch & sends it right back up the box for a 1B. Tall, lengthy frame w/ intriguing two-way upside. #WWBAWorlds @PGMidAtlantic
Coach Cheney retweeted
Mason Whisman (‘29 MD) jumps on this first pitch & sends it right back up the box for a 1B. Tall, lengthy frame w/ intriguing two-way upside. #WWBAWorlds @PGMidAtlantic
That’s why I tell my players, “Don’t accept failure, learn from it.” It’s okay to fail, but to consistently protect someone after failure is to enable them, which in turn leads to mediocre performance. Eventually, that mediocrity becomes the standard.
Tom Brady explains why constantly telling someone it’s not your fault after failure may make them feel better for five seconds, but ultimately prevents them from improving
“It’s amazing to have the support from people to come in and go, ‘Hey man, it’s not your fault. It was the defense’s fault. Not your fault. It was the coach’s fault.’”
“The reality is maybe that helps for like five seconds, but in the end it doesn’t change any of the outcomes. If you really want to grow up, just take it all on yourself. Just say, ‘No, it’s my fault. I got to do better.’”
“What could I have done better that day? You immediately have to look at yourself in the mirror and aggressively attack yourself.”
“I’ve been around great entrepreneurs as well, and I would say that attitude where they put everything back on themselves makes them very successful in business too. Everyone work hard, have humility, have self-awareness, know you could do better. We all have the opportunity to be better.”
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Coach Cheney retweeted
Our Stanley Steemer Player of the Game is @AlexBrestensky!
He helped lead Kent Island to a 34-6 win over James M. Bennett. Brestensky rushed for two touchdowns and scored another off of a blocked punt.
#LocalTeamsBigDreams
Coach Cheney retweeted
Here’s an NFL Films video on Brady’s Psychologist at Michigan Greg Harden
Tom Brady says his career turned around when a sports psychologist told him to stop complaining about what he wasn’t getting and start stewarding what he had the right way
“Greg said to me, ‘Why don’t you quit bitching about all the things you’re not getting, and how about you do the best with whatever opportunities you get?’, ‘Stop worrying about what the other quarterback’s getting. Stop worrying about what the coach is saying to you.’”
“‘Every time you get in there, you bring the juice. You bring the energy. You bring the enthusiasm. You treat practice like a game.’ Because if you just decide to go out there and you’re blaming everybody else, where does that get you? So I started to change my attitude.”
“I didn’t have a lot of confidence in myself. And when you don’t have a lot of confidence in yourself, you blame other people. When you gain confidence in yourself, you start pointing the finger at yourself.”
“I would encourage every athlete to look in the mirror after every day of practice or a game and say, ‘What can I do better to help the team? What can I do better?’”
“Not, ‘What does the coach need to do better?’ Not, ‘What do my teammates need to do better?’, ‘What do I need to do better?’ If every player does that, you’re going to have an incredible team.”
“You can’t have a false confidence. You don’t only gain your confidence because of your physical ability. You gain your confidence because you’re prepared, because you’re competitive. I couldn’t just show up and be better than everybody.”
“I had to show up prepared. I had to show up with energy. I had to show up with my body feeling right. I had to show up like I was on a mission.”
Coach Cheney retweeted
Payton Tolle's Smile right before his final pitch to get the Immaculate Inning.
The 2nd Annual 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb at Kent Island High School is complete.
When I started this here, it was just @KIBucsBaseball. However, after finding out the lack of importance being placed on teaching this day to the younger generation, I opened it up to other sports. We were happy to have some new faces join us this year.
We who lived it are failing this next generation by not teaching them. They weren’t alive to experience that day, so it’s our job to make sure they understand its importance and why we must never forget.
My goal is simple. One day, I hope to have enough Kent Island High School athletes and community members join us to represent all 343 firefighters who lost their lives that day, while also bringing awareness to their families and the sacrifices they continue to carry.
Until then, we look forward to continuing to grow what I can only hope becomes a tradition for years to come.
Never Forget 🇺🇸
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Coach Cheney retweeted
A 9/11 widow just rent rogue in NYC…
She read her husbands name and then called out Islamic terror and Saudi Arabia.
She called out Bush, Obama, Biden and JD Vance/Trump while they sat right in front of her. The entire crowd at ground zero cheered.
Coach Cheney retweeted
More than 300 dogs helped search for survivors on 9/11. In fact, the last person rescued at ground zero was found by a search and rescue dog.
The search was mentally and physically taxing on the dogs, who walked across huge piles of debris and smoldering rubble. As the days went by, dogs became sad when they were no longer finding people alive. So, to keep their spirits up, their handlers staged mock rescues. They would have people hide under debris for dogs to find. This boosted the dogs’ morale as they continued their work.
In addition to rescue dogs, therapy dogs were brought to the scene to provide comfort to emotionally drained and traumatized police officers and firefighters.
Dogs are the best thing in the world and we do not deserve them.
