Hilton Head Prep announces start of baseball academy for 2018-19 school year

Hilton Head Preparatory School announced the start of its Baseball Academy for the 2018-2019 school year.

The academy runs throughout the school year from 1:40 pm to 3:30 pm at the Prep baseball field, Monday through Thursday, and is open to Prep and non-Prep students. For the fall semester only seventh through 12 graders are eligible to participate. The schedule allows any student to participate regardless of their after-school activity or sport.

“Having the ability to build off of Coach Sofield and continue Hilton Head Prep’s development of athletics is an amazing opportunity” Academy director Erik Mathisen said. I am excited and passionate about the development of each student-athlete in sport and as quality contributing members of the Hilton Head Prep community. The students have a unique opportunity to work hard and pursue their passion through the academy structure.”

Mathisen believes in using a strategic approach supported by available technology and resources for athletic development, data collection and evaluation. He documents and uploads each individual plan to a readily accessible web-based program called TRAQ (developed by Driveline Baseball). When a player completes their workout, they self-report their progress. The TRAQ software integrates with technologies such as Diamond Kinetics, which Coach Mathisen uses to track player’s swing data.

“We want to be smart about training and getting better. We have tools at our fingertips that allow us to create an environment of accountability. In the end, we want to prove the value of the program. If we can’t report on our progress, we won’t know whether or not we need to make any changes, or if what we’re doing is actually working the way we intend,” Mathisen said.

This story was originally published August 22, 2018 at 4:31 PM.