For greater than a decade, Jason Sekany has at all times discovered his manner again to USA Baseball.

His roles have modified, the age teams have modified, and the gamers have modified.

However the goal has remained the identical: assist gamers be taught, develop, compete and in the end give them a chance to signify their nation.

Sekany first joined a USA Baseball nationwide workforce employees in 2013, when he was chosen to teach the group’s inaugural 12U Nationwide Group. Wanting again, that first alternative to affix a nationwide workforce employees in 2013 was just the start.

“It was an unimaginable honor to be requested from the get-go,” Sekany stated. “The chance to have the ability to journey internationally and the chance to have the ability to signify the nation is one thing that I used to be very enthusiastic about and definitely wished to contribute to as a lot as I presumably may.”

Since then, he has been part of six nationwide workforce staffs and helped Group USA seize 5 gold medals alongside the best way, as that first expertise established a connection that might proceed for years.

When requested what has saved him coming again to USA Baseball, Sekany joked that the reply was easy.

“An incapability to say no,” he stated with fun.

Behind the humor, nevertheless, is a real connection to the group and its individuals.

“I’d say that the neighborhood that’s created inside the group, not solely the executive employees, but additionally the teaching employees, after which the chance to not solely work with tremendous gifted gamers, however to have the ability to take that expertise and mesh it collectively in a workforce setting with a singular aim to go win a gold medal in worldwide play is simply one thing that you would be able to’t discover anyplace else,” he stated.

Profitable gold has definitely turn out to be a part of the expertise.

“After profitable that first gold, it’s an expertise that you would be able to’t actually describe, however that you simply need to proceed to chase,” Sekany stated.

However that’s not the one cause he continues to return.

“Greater than that as a coach, you actually need that have to be supplied to and given to gamers that haven’t had it earlier than,” he stated.

Over time, he has coached gamers starting from 11-year-olds to members of the 18U program, and, in 2026, the Girls’s Nationwide Group. Every group has introduced a special perspective, however one high quality has remained constant.

“The factor that’s constant, I’d say, throughout the board, is clearly the expertise stage,” Sekany stated. “However the want for data and the curiosity in studying is basically what’s intriguing as a coach.”

That willingness to be taught is what permits Sekany to share the data and expertise he has gained all through his personal taking part in and training profession.

“That’s actually what we would like to have the ability to do, is share the data and expertise that we have now,” he stated. “Not solely from our personal exterior teaching and taking part in expertise, however what we’ve gained by USA Baseball and to have a platform and an viewers that basically needs that.”

Whereas working with gamers throughout the group, Sekany has additionally had the chance to observe a few of them progress to the best ranges of the game.

One of the crucial memorable examples got here through the 12U Nationwide Group 2015 gold-medal run in Taiwan, when Sekany served as an assistant coach and labored with Nick Kurtz. Kurtz took the mound within the gold-medal sport and was the profitable pitcher, but it surely was a second after the sport that stayed with Sekany.

He remembers an image of Kurtz sitting on the workforce bus with an American flag wrapped round his shoulders, fully exhausted after giving every part he needed to the sport.

“The extent of exhaustion and having simply given completely every part that he presumably may to win that gold medal or to contribute huge time to profitable that gold medal was simply type of an exemplary second of what all people is keen to do,” Sekany stated.

One other memorable participant got here a lot earlier in Sekany’s USA Baseball journey with the inaugural 12U Nationwide Group in 2013.

“We had Anthony Volpe on that workforce as our second baseman and doubtless was the smallest participant on our workforce,” Sekany stated. “An excellent competitor, however to see him transfer by the system and transfer by the method, and clearly make it to the large leagues, is excellent.”

Watching gamers similar to Kurtz and Volpe progress by the game has supplied a number of the most recognizable examples of what can come from a USA Baseball expertise. However their tales are solely a part of what Sekany values most from his time with the group.

Lots of the gamers who come by the USA Baseball pipeline go on to have profitable careers on the highest stage, however these behind-the-scenes moments are what stand out most.

“The conversations that we have now concerning the small stuff throughout these occasions are actually, I believe, the issues that stand out,” he stated. “That publicity and that data, serving to a few of these guys to maneuver on to the following stage might be greater to me than the person big-name thrilling gamers.”

Years of working with gamers at totally different phases have additionally formed how Sekany teaches.

His expertise teaching on the youth stage, alongside together with his expertise working together with his personal son as he got here by the sport, has helped him perceive that growth shouldn’t be merely about giving gamers as a lot data as doable. It’s about understanding what every participant wants and discovering the appropriate technique to talk it.

Discovering that steadiness has turn out to be an vital a part of Sekany’s teaching philosophy.

“Having the ability to put it into phrases that’s palatable, that’s relevant for them, given the extent that they’re at,” Sekany stated. “So, it’s actually placing a steadiness between not limiting their growth, but additionally not overwhelming them with an excessive amount of data.”

That strategy now carries into one other vital a part of his USA Baseball profession.

Because the Northwest Regional Director for the Nationwide Group Identification Collection (NTIS), Sekany has the chance to determine and develop gamers who may someday turn out to be the following technology of Group USA athletes. Via the NTIS, Sekany helps introduce these gamers to an extremely distinctive expertise that would present once-in-a-lifetime alternatives.

“Being straight concerned with sharing that chance, sharing that have, and exposing these gamers to how USA Baseball is a special alternative and expertise than what they get by event play or a number of the different bigger organizations which can be extra targeted on the person participant,” Sekany stated.

“That is actually concerning the widespread aim and concerning the workforce,” he continued. “And so, to be a grassroots a part of that’s one thing I actually worth.”

That worth of paying it ahead to the following technology may be seen within the gamers he has helped develop, the coaches he has labored alongside and the relationships which have continued lengthy after a event ended.

Wanting again on greater than a decade with USA Baseball, Sekany hopes he has been in a position to give the group the identical stage of dedication it has given him.

“I hope I’ve been in a position to reciprocate the dedication to not solely the greatness, I suppose, for lack of a greater phrase, of the expertise for the gamers and the dedication to a gold medal customary, which is what we’re concentrating on,” he stated. “There’s nothing wanting that.”

On the similar time, he acknowledges how a lot the group has given him in return.

“I’m grateful for that chance, for the idea in my potential to contribute at so many ranges of the group, and the variety of issues that I’ve taken away from the relationships with employees and gamers,” Sekany stated.

Sekany has been there as new packages started and thru many championship moments. He has coached future Main Leaguers, shared data with gamers at each stage of growth, and helped them perceive what it means to be a part of a workforce representing their nation.

Whereas many issues have modified all through his greater than decade-long USA Baseball profession, Sekany’s goal has remained the identical: assist gamers be taught, develop, and uncover simply how far they’ll take the sport.

And in any case these years with USA Baseball, Sekany continues to be saying sure to new alternatives, new gamers, and one other probability to present again to the sport that has given him a lot.