No “off season” for Cobras Baseball

The four months between the fall and spring baseball seasons are deemed the "off-season" to most fans and players. However, the Parkland Cobras baseball program thinks otherwise.

The beginning of November means the start of hard work and a period in which their baseball skills must be honed to the best of their abilities in order to continue the winning tradition for which they're known.

Once the annual Green/Gold World Series is completed in near the end of October, the squad begins its rigorous regiment of weight training, speed and agility training and individual hitting workouts.

When the new year arrives, they begin more baseball-specific drills such as hitting, fielding ground balls, fielding fly balls and pitching.

One thing the coaching staff and Head Coach Matt Kennedy stress more than anything during this crucial time is the weight training.

"I think that's really helped us in the past due to the fact that we're stronger than most teams and not gonna wear down during the course of a 60 game season," Kennedy said.

While not in the weight room, baseball related drills are practiced over and over again in the Cobras new off-season location, Soccer Planet in Urbana. Soccer Planet is an indoor soccer arena with an Astro Turf field that is plenty big enough to house a baseball team.

While there, the team works on defensive sets, such as groundballs and fly balls.

"We have to utilize Soccer Planet," Kennedy pointed out. "Defensively we've gotten more work done here than we ever have."

Consistency on the practice field, more often than not, leads to consistency on the playing field which is what the Cobras strive for every off-season.

Often overlooked is the chemistry that's built between players as they battle through the rigorous training together.

"The chemistry has been good," Kennedy said. "You always see these guys out together hanging out."

Kennedy points out that everyone knows each other on the team, which makes it that much easier for them to keep moving forward and get better.

"They have one common goal, and they're definitely moving in the right direction," Kennedy said.

Due to the cold weather and the lack of an all-around baseball facility in the Champaign area, the Cobras find themselves bouncing around from place to place for their workouts.

"It's a lot of off-campus practice right now, bouncing in and out of places," the coach said. The team currently has four different spots they use to get work done.

One day they will be in the gym doing base-running and conditioning, and the next day they may be at the Soccer Planet for infield and outfield drills. The weight room is where a lot of their time is spent, as the coaching staff assigns groups in shifts for weight lifting throughout the day which is repeated frequently throughout the week. They also use a facility called The Cage that is not far away from Soccer Planet in order to get their hitting and batting techniques down.

Despite the fact that they are forced to move around frequently, the squad has still been able to show vast improvement in all facets of baseball.

"Being all over the place has been good just for the fact that with skill work we've been able to get some stuff done," Kennedy explained.

Even while focused on the off-season grind, Kennedy knows his players are counting the days until the March 2 opener.

"These guys are anxious, they're ready to get outside and play," Kennedy stated. The hard work and preparation done during the long winter months are what will lead this Cobra team on to success when it's time to play ball.