The Ambassadors Group

The Ambassadors Group We consult young athletes and their parents throughout their journey through youth sports.
👉Start your journey here : gethelp.theambassadorsgroup.com

09/18/2026

Want to see one small thing that can completely change the way your team plays? ⚾

We used to practice something that most teams probably never practice:

How fast you get to first base.

And no, I'm not talking about sprinting out of the batter's box.

We make it a game.

Everyone lines up at home plate and jogs to first base.

The goal?

Get as close to 5.0 seconds as possible.

First player gets 5.2.

“Okay, you've got to be a little quicker.”

Next player gets 4.8.

“Okay, not THAT fast.” 😂

The kids have fun with it.

They compete.

They start challenging each other.

And eventually, it becomes part of how they play.

Then you come watch our team play and one of the first things you'll notice is:

Our guys get down to first base.

Why?

Because it creates energy.

It shows you're engaged.

It shows you're competing.

It's the right way to play the game.

And sometimes, the difference between a team that plays with energy and one that doesn't comes down to the little things.

You don't always need a complicated drill.

Sometimes you just need to turn the fundamentals into a game and make your players care about doing them right.

Teach the little things. Build the habits. Make it fun.

That's development.

📩 Book your FREE 15-minute consultation with Coach Mark:
https://gethelp.theambassadorsgroup.com

🎓 Join the Ambassadors Elite Parent Training Program:
https://parenttraining.theambassadorsgroup.com

09/17/2026

You're not getting better sitting on the bench. ⚾

I see young players getting pulled out of games because they made two errors.

Or because they struck out three times.

Or because they're “costing us the game.”

That's not developmental baseball.

Now, there's an important distinction.

If a player has a bad attitude, isn't hustling, or isn't being a good teammate, that's different.

Those are things a player can control.

But making mistakes?

That's part of development.

If a 10, 11, or 12-year-old makes an error, the answer shouldn't automatically be, “You're done. Go sit down.”

How are they supposed to get better if they aren't allowed to keep playing?

And it works the other way, too.

I've taken players OUT of games when they were doing great.

One time, a pitcher was throwing a no-hitter.

We had a 60-pitch limit.

I went to the mound.

“Coach, I'm throwing a no-hitter!”

“I know. You're still coming out.”

Why?

Because the no-hitter wasn't the priority.

His arm health was.

The result didn't change the developmental decision.

That's what development looks like.

Sometimes you leave a player in after a mistake because he needs the reps.

Sometimes you take a player out even when he's dominating because you're protecting his long-term development.

The question shouldn't always be:

“How do we win this game?”

It should be:

“What does this player need right now to become better?”

That's the difference between coaching for today's scoreboard and coaching for the player's future.

📩 Book your FREE 15-minute consultation with Coach Mark:
https://gethelp.theambassadorsgroup.com

🎓 Join the Ambassadors Elite Parent Training Program:
https://parenttraining.theambassadorsgroup.com

09/15/2026

Do you think a college coach is going to ask what happened when your son was 11? ⚾

How many games did he win?

What was his batting average?

How many home runs did he hit?

How many bases did he steal?

What happened in that championship game?

No.

College coaches aren't going to care about the results from when a player was 10, 11, or 12.

But somehow, adults have turned those results into the most important thing.

And that's where we're messing up youth baseball.

When winning becomes everything, young players start feeling pressure to perform.

They get pulled from games after a few bad at-bats.

They become afraid to strike out.

They become afraid to make mistakes.

And instead of developing, they're trying to avoid failure.

I've told players:

“I don't care if you strike out 20 times in a row. You're still in the lineup.”

Why?

Because you have to get better.

If we're truly developing players, they need opportunities to struggle, experiment, fail, adjust, and keep playing.

That's why I don't believe in treating a developmental travel team like there are “starters” and “subs” based solely on who is producing the most right now.

At 10, 11, or 12 years old, we're not trying to prove who the best player is today.

We're trying to develop the player who will be the best version of himself years from now.

The scoreboard matters for the game.

Development matters for the player.

Don't sacrifice your child's long-term development just to win another youth baseball game.

📩 Book your FREE 15-minute consultation with Coach Mark:
https://gethelp.theambassadorsgroup.com

🎓 Join the Ambassadors Elite Parent Training Program:
https://parenttraining.theambassadorsgroup.com

09/15/2026

**What if the goal of the game wasn't just to win?** ⚾

Here's how Coach Mark approaches a pregame talk with young players.

Every player is developing something different.

One player is working on bunting.

Another is developing his base-running.

A pitcher is working on a changeup.

Another hitter is learning plate discipline and improving his approach.

**That's development.**

So when game time comes, the message is simple:

**Tonight is your chance to show off.**

You've been practicing these skills.

You've been working hard.

Now let's see if you can execute them when the game gets real.

If you've been working on bunting, I want to see you bunt.

If you've been working on getting better leads and jumps, I want to see you use them.

The game becomes the **report card**.

And here's the important part:

If you make a mistake, we're going to coach the decision.

We're not going to punish you for trying to execute something you've been working on.

Because I don't care if we win or lose tonight as much as I care about three things:

**Did you give the effort to win?**

**Did you get better?**

**Did you have fun?**

That's a developmental mindset.

The scoreboard tells you who won the game.

The game itself tells you whether your players are actually developing.

📩 Book your FREE 15-minute consultation with Coach Mark:
https://gethelp.theambassadorsgroup.com

🎓 Join the Ambassadors Elite Parent Training Program:
https://parenttraining.theambassadorsgroup.com

09/13/2026

**“They’re only 12. Just let them have fun.”** ⚾

I keep hearing this whenever I talk about young players preparing for the future.

So let me clarify what I mean.

When I say a 12-year-old should start preparing for what comes at 16, I'm **not** talking about bench pressing, counting calories, or treating a 12-year-old like a professional athlete.

I'm talking about building the foundation.

When do you teach kids manners?

When do you teach discipline?

Respect?

Goal setting?

A positive mindset?

How to be a great teammate?

**Hopefully, you don't wait until they're 16.**

These are life skills that young kids can learn while still having a blast.

My players are jumping rope. They're juggling. They're learning new skills. They're doing box jumps. They're competing, laughing, and enjoying baseball.

**They're still being kids.**

But they're also being developed.

That's the part some people seem to miss.

You can have fun **and** have structure.

You can enjoy the game **and** learn discipline.

You can be a kid **and** start building habits that will serve you for the rest of your life.

Here's what I know:

A 12-year-old who understands goal setting and accountability is already developing skills that many of his peers haven't even started learning.

And you can't always go back and fix years of bad habits at 16.

**Start early. Build the foundation. Have fun while you do it.**

That's what youth baseball development should be about.

📩 Book your FREE 15-minute consultation with Coach Mark:
https://gethelp.theambassadorsgroup.com

🎓 Join the Ambassadors Elite Parent Training Program:
https://parenttraining.theambassadorsgroup.com

09/13/2026

**The game is like a report card.** ⚾

But for a 10-year-old player, winning the game isn't the grade.

I see too many travel baseball coaches beating their chests because they won another game.

And sometimes, it's more about the coach's ego than the player's development.

Let's get something straight:

**Winning a baseball game at 10 years old means very little.**

What matters is the effort.

Did you compete?

Did you give everything you had?

Did you execute what you've been working on?

Did you learn something?

Did you become a better player?

That's the report card.

If we play a game and win because the ball was fair, I'm not going to feel any different than if we lose because the ball was foul.

The result doesn't change what I'm trying to accomplish with a young player.

**I'm trying to develop the player, not feed my ego.**

Of course, I want my players to compete.

Of course, I want them to play hard and try to win.

But there's a huge difference between **teaching kids how to compete** and **making winning the entire purpose of youth baseball.**

At 10 years old, the goal isn't to collect trophies.

The goal is to build the player who will be ready for the opportunities that come later.

**Win the effort. Win the development. Win the lesson.**

The scoreboard will take care of itself.

📩 Book your FREE 15-minute consultation with Coach Mark:
https://gethelp.theambassadorsgroup.com

🎓 Join the Ambassadors Elite Parent Training Program:
https://parenttraining.theambassadorsgroup.com

09/11/2026

“Just let them be kids.” ⚾

I hear this from parents all the time.

But let's be clear about what that actually means.

Does “let them be kids” mean we shouldn't teach them:

• Respect
• Discipline
• Sacrifice
• Goal setting
• Being a great teammate
• How to handle adversity
• Accountability
• Skill development

Of course not.

I'm not talking about making a 12-year-old live like a professional athlete.

I'm not talking about taking the fun out of baseball.

I'm talking about using baseball to teach young people the life skills that will help them long after they stop playing.

Here's the difference:

**Fun without structure isn't development.**

At Ambassadors Baseball, our players are expected to have fun. But they're also expected to respect the rules, take responsibility, be good teammates, follow structure, and hold themselves accountable.

I've seen it firsthand at Cooperstown.

When our teams stay there, our dorms are clean, our players follow curfew, and everyone knows what's expected.

They still have fun.

They still laugh.

They still enjoy being kids.

But they also learn discipline.

That's the best of both worlds.

**Let them have fun. Absolutely.**

But don't confuse having fun with letting them do whatever they want.

Young athletes need adults who are willing to invest in them, teach them, challenge them, and hold them accountable.

Because we're not just developing baseball players.

**We're developing young people.**

📩 Book your FREE 15-minute consultation with Coach Mark:
https://gethelp.theambassadorsgroup.com

🎓 Join the Ambassadors Elite Parent Training Program:
https://parenttraining.theambassadorsgroup.com

09/10/2026

Do you know when college recruiting really starts? ⚾

If you're a young baseball player or a baseball parent, you need to understand the timeline.

Coach Mark is at the 2027 PBR Futures Games, where incoming seniors are competing in front of hundreds of college coaches.

For the 2027 class, college coaches were allowed to begin direct communication on **August 1 of their junior year**.

That means these players have already been in the recruiting window for an entire year.

And many are still uncommitted.

Now look at the 2028 class.

College coaches can't directly contact them until **August 1 of their junior year**.

But that doesn't mean coaches aren't watching.

They're at events like this identifying players, circling names, and tracking development.

They're asking:

**Who should I be watching over the next year?**

That's why younger players need to understand something important:

You don't wait until you're standing in front of college coaches to start getting serious.

If you're a 2031, 2030, or 2029 player, your recruiting window is coming.

The question isn't whether your time will come.

**The question is: Will you be ready when it does?**

Your development starts years before the college coach makes the call.

Build your skills. Develop your baseball IQ. Get stronger. Learn how to compete. Become the player coaches will want to keep watching.

Because when your opportunity comes, you don't want to start preparing.

**You want to be ready.**

📺 Follow Coach Mark Knows on YouTube for more free recruiting and player development information.

📩 Book your FREE 15-minute consultation with Coach Mark:
https://gethelp.theambassadorsgroup.com

🎓 Join the Ambassadors Elite Parent Training Program:
https://parenttraining.theambassadorsgroup.com

09/08/2026

Being good at baseball isn't good enough anymore. ⚾

Coach Mark is at the PBR Games watching some of the best high school players in the country.

These are seniors.

They've performed at showcases. They've put up numbers. They've competed at a high level. They've earned an invitation to this event.

And yet...

**Many of them still aren't committed to a college.**

That's how competitive college baseball has become.

You can't just be “pretty good.”

You can't just be a little above average.

**You have to stand out.**

Watching batting practice, I saw player after player who looked very similar.

Then one player stepped in.

He was hitting the ball on the screws.

Line drives.

Using the whole field.

And even among some of the best players in the country, **he stood out.**

That's the difference.

The small things. The finer details. The things you do better than everyone else.

That's what separates good players from elite players.

That's exactly what we're looking for with Ambassadors Baseball.

We're looking for hungry young players who have above-average ability and, more importantly, **want to be coached and developed.**

Not players who think they've already made it.

Not players who think a ranking means they're finished developing.

We're looking for 13-year-old players who want to put in the work now so that, when they reach an event like this, they're not just another player in the crowd.

**They're the player everyone notices.**

If you're a young player who wants to become elite, don't wait until you're 16 or 17 to start preparing.

Start now.

⚾ Learn more about Ambassadors Baseball:
https://ambassadorsbaseballus.com)

📩 Book your FREE 15-minute consultation with Coach Mark:
https://gethelp.theambassadorsgroup.com

🎓 Join the Ambassadors Elite Parent Training Program:
https://parenttraining.theambassadorsgroup.com

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