From Ricky:
I am a 14 year old baseball player. I have been training with Coach Ron Kaplan for about 2 1/2 years now. I originally met Coach Kaplan at a catching clinic where he worked with me to help fine tune my catching game. After a session was over, he asked if he could throw me some balls to see me hit. We ended up spending about 30 to 40 minutes hitting that day and we worked on a couple different things. He suggested making some adjustments and I began to hit better. I began to work on my hitting on a regular basis with Coach Kaplan shortly after that.
In our weekly workouts, Coach Kaplan constantly challenges me to be a better hitter, while still making it fun by always mixing things up with different drills, programs, etc. We spend time working on pitch recognition, situational hitting and hitting to all fields. I believe that all of these things have made me a more complete hitter. In the past few weeks, my team coach has noticed a dramatic improvement in my swing and my hitting has improved.
I look forward to our weekly workouts, where we discuss all aspects of the game, not just hitting. I love talking baseball with him and I respect his knowledge of the game. He has suggested several drills and exercises that I do at home on my own time to become faster and stronger. While watching a game that I was catching, he later gave me some things to work on to help me take my game to the next level.
I believe that I am a much better baseball player since I have been working with Coach Kaplan. He is constantly challenging me and telling me what I need to work on while being very supportive. I credit all of my success to Coach Kaplan for helping develop my swing and pushing me to be a better ball player!
Thank you for all of your help, Coach Kaplan
“My 10-year-old son has been instructed by Ron for a year-and-a-half. He went from a substitute batting 8th for his travel team at the start of last spring to the clean-up slot hitting above .400 this year, and leading his team in hits. He cut down his strikeouts by 66%, and was the only kid on his travel team not to be caught looking all season. He needed help with his throwing, which Ron also worked on. This season, he led the team in outfield assists and even got the chance to pitch. This would have been impossible a year ago. Ron’s instruction is a major reason for this. Ron teaches the physical as well as mental skills kids need to thrive in the game of baseball. With Ron’s help, my son’s skill level and confidence have increased way beyond my expectations. I can’t recommend Ron more highly for any kid serious about improving his game.”
-JJ, Yardley
Coach Ron Kaplan
My son Eric has been coming to Coach Ron for about a year now and it amazing to see the progress my son has made with both his hitting and fielding. Ron’s easy to understand approach to hitting has helped my son learn the proper mechanics that has become the foundation of his hitting. Ron continually challenges Eric to improve in every aspect of his game. My son can’t get enough of baseball and that is a function of the success he has had from Coach Ron’s teaching. It is exciting to go to the field and hear from parents about how much Eric has improved this past year and that is a true testament to what Coach Ron has done with him.
Bill Hoefer
Upper Makefield Baseball
I highly recommend Ron for personalized baseball training. His experience and wealth of knowledge of the game accelerated my son's learning curve unbelievably fast. My son started playing ball fairly late in his youth. He went from a beginner at 11 years old to being a starting Little League catcher at 12 years old to being a champion Babe Ruth League catcher at 13 and slated to be the starting catcher for his middle school this coming spring. He has been approached by several travel teams to play for them. My son most definitely would not be the player he is today without the outstanding training he received from Ron. I highly recommend him to anyone who is serious about baseball player development."
M. Friedman, PAA
Our son who is now 13 has been playing Baseball since he was in T-Ball. I always respected the fathers who volunteered to put thier personal time in to coach Little League Baseball, but we have a boy who wanted to learn the game and improve himself to play competitively. When we met Tony some years ago, we expressed our concern to him about the coaching within Little League, and that it was mostly comprised of dedicated fathers who volunteered thier time who knew some things about the game, but may not have had the skills to teach and draw the best out of each individual boy. Tony invited us to thier weekly clinic that he and Ron Kaplan put on to teach the skills and fundamentals that are necessary to learn and play the game. Needless to say, our son took to it like wildfire! Each week there were dramatic differences with how our son's skill level, competence, and execution improved. Our son connected with Tony & Ron like magic, but Tony & Ron connected with him far more than we could imagine. These guys made the skill training so interesting & fun that our son cannot wait to see them each week.
At one point about a year or so ago, I asked Tony if he thought our son had the skills and mechanics to Pitch? The reason for the question was drawn from our personal experience within Little League where I heard most Coaches directing thier pitchers to throw hard vs teaching them some basic skills to pitch properly.
Tony said our son was very coachable, and asked if we'd be interested in going into one on one training to teach our son how to pitch. We started one on one instructional pitching with Tony and it completely changed our son. Tony completely broke down our son and has taught him the mechanics and skills of how to pitch. Our son went from knowing very little about pitching, where he is now becoming a skilled pitcher who now knows how to throw a fast ball, change up, cutter, and put movement on the ball that he would never have learned on his own or from Little League Coaches. Tony has also taught our son what to recognize when you make a mistake, and how to correct yourself. It has been a remarkable process to watch our sons development.
The most important thing that we value is the relationship our son has formed with Tony. Our son looks up to Tony and values everything Tony teaches. Tony not only teaches Baseball, but takes the time to get to know who the individual is, and teaches great values. Our son speaks so highly about Tony, and it makes us feel proud to know that our son has a great Mentor who he can share things with and that Tony is there for him.
On a personal note, we'd like to thank Tony for the relationship he has with our son. Our son could not have gotten a better mentor at such an early stage in his young life!
We look forward to many continued years of great teaching and mentoring!
All our best,
Michael & Donna Wheelan
Coach Tony Vlahovic
Coach Tony has been working with my son Eric for about a year with his pitching. Tony has worked on proper footwork, stride, release point, and probably most importantly the mental aspect of pitching to my son and we have seen significant improvement in his game. Tony doesn’t throw a lot of technical points at my son but rather watches him pitch and works on simple improvements to help gain the consistency he needs. Eric has gone from an in-house pitcher to one of the primary starters on his travel team in just one year. Tony’s easy going approach has been just the right thing for my son. We are excited to continue with Coach Tony to see what potential Eric can reach.
Bill Hoefer
Upper Makefield Baseball