Levittown North Baseball goes International.

Our annual Battle of the Skills competition was held as the finale of our Fall Instructional Ball on Sunday, October 28th. Participants and families were asked to bring gently used baseball equipment to be donated to a baseball league in the Dominican Republic that reached out for support.  The Levittown North Family did not disappoint!  We collected over 15 gloves, 8 pairs of cleats, over 20 bats, helmets,  catcher’s gear, baseballs, and gently used uniforms. 

Roberto Cabrera distributed the collected items to the players of the Liga Los Jazmines outside of Santiago in the Dominican Republic.  Roberto shared, “When I arrived with all of this equipment it was like Christmas came early.  I was swarmed by so many kids and they were all very appreciative.  Levittown North really made an immediate difference in these kids lives.” 

Additionally, families brought over 100lbs of non-perishable food which went to establish a food bank at the Bayard Rustin Educational Complex in NYC  under the direction of Nancy Logozzo.  Families now have access to emergency supplies when family food insecurity hits. 

 If you are interested in donating additional food to the pantry

 please contact NLogozzo@hudsonhs.com

"...An Ounce of Prevention..."

In the last week, the Angels' Ohtani and Yankees' Montgomery both were diagnosed in need of “Tommy John” surgery. This is outrageous!!  We are clearly doing something wrong in training our pitchers.  Pitching is not a natural movement and puts incredible stress on the elbow and shoulder.  The average fastball velocity in the MLB over the past two decades has gone from about 88mph to just over 92mph. Now, this is the average. With that increase in speed the number of “Tommy John” surgeries has gone from less than 5 in 1994 to 45 in 2012.  It is unfortunate, but speed is in vogue. Everyone who pitches wants to be Aroldis Chapman! As a result, MLB and college scouts will NOT look at a pitcher if he cannot throw 90-92.  Therefore, baseball coaches all around America are focusing on training their young pitchers to throw harder. Although speed is a valued commodity, it is not the only dimension to being a successful pitcher. Greg Maddux, one of the winningest pitchers of all-time, towards the latter part of his career had an average fastball velocity of 86mph. Maddux said this about pitching, “The reason I think I'm a good pitcher is I locate my fastball and I change speeds. Period. That's what you do to pitch. That's what pitchers have to do to win games.” Pitch counts, days off, and proper arm care are absolutely critical in the prevention of injuries. Coaches from Little League to College and beyond, need to start doing a much better job in protecting the arms of young pitchers. What good is the talent and the hard work if you get hurt. And yes, the “Tommy John” surgery has evolved since its namesake had the surgery in the early 1970s. Today, players are opting to have the surgery prior to a potential injury, so that they can hopefully receive a better and stronger ligament in their elbows. But surgery is no guarantee, and the road to recovery is a very long and hard one.  As my mother has always reminded me- “. . . an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. . .”

-Peter Zirogiannis, Levittown North Board of Directors