On Monday afternoon, Veterans Memorial Park in Harrison was filled with the sights and sounds of baseball, as some of the town’s youngest aspiring stars took the field to hit, run and throw in the final installment of the JustinTime Rookie Baseball Program. The five-week summer session may have come to an end on Aug. 9, but Justin Sherman, the founder and owner of JustinTime Baseball, believes that the lessons imparted by his camps will stick with these youngsters long after baseball season has ended.
The Harrison Rookie Program, one of several area youth camps run by JustinTime Baseball, featured children aged 5-7 and was created with the express intent of fostering a love for the sport among local youths.
Sherman, a 2009 graduate of New Rochelle High School, has been a youth baseball instructor in the Westchester area since 2015 and noted that even as elite youth travel teams proliferate—pushing kids into high-level training at earlier ages—his coaching philosophy is simply built around keeping children active and engaged.
Sherman’s camps are each structured around small-group skills sessions followed by instructional play, where he and his staff are able to reinforce the week’s ideas and lessons during live-game scenarios. That formula, argues Sherman, allows children to receive individualized attention in an up-tempo, fun environment.
”A six year old doesn’t need to learn about launch angles, it’s more about creating a positive environment,” he said. “We call ourselves a youth development company, and by using baseball and softball, we just want the kids to build their skills and reach their own potentials.”
Sherman admits that the ups and downs in his own baseball career have helped to shape his instructional philosophy. After being cut from New Rochelle’s junior varsity baseball team, Sherman committed himself to improving his game and ended up lettering for the Huguenots in his junior and senior years before going on to play collegiately at Westchester Community College and SUNY Purchase.
“I was not the typical kid who played Division I or got signed, so I have an extra special place in my heart for the kids who work hard and just need that extra boost of confidence,” he said. “I was just lucky enough to have some great coaches along the way, so that’s why I think I emphasize the idea of giving that extra reinforcement.”
But while Sherman’s true passion is working with children through his camps, clinics and individual lessons, his methods have also garnered recognition from Little League organizations that bring him in to speak with coaches about how to get the most out of their practice time.
“One thing you hear all the time is ‘Well, they’re just six years old, they’re not paying attention,’ and of course there is some truth to that,” he said. “ But it’s all about how you structure your practice and how engaged you are with the kids. You don’t want kids to just be standing around.”
Similar Rookie Programs are being run in other cities, including New Rochelle, and Sherman says that the feedback from parents has been invaluable as he gears up to run similar events during the fall months.
“I heard from one mother of a five year old girl who emailed me to say that her daughter had been shy and this had really helped bring out her confidence,” Sherman said. “Being a part of something like that has been a really special experience.”
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