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General | General | 1/10/2025

PG Pros Share Tips with Faraway Friends

Jim Salisbury

PG Pros Share Coaching Tips with Faraway Friends

It was an early Sunday morning just before the Holidays when three of Perfect Game’s most dedicated coaches gathered to instruct a group of eager young students.

This wasn’t the first time that Mo Vaughn gave a hitting lesson. It wasn’t the first time that Flash Gordon taught the basics of pitching. And it wasn’t the first time that Ryan Klesko discussed the importance of mind and body with a collection of young baseball players hoping to get better.

But it was the first time the three former big-league stars did it remotely, as a threesome, with their pupils watching and listening attentively some 7,000 miles away.

Baseball is not the No. 1 sport in Cameroon, an African country of 28 million, but it is gaining a foothold thanks to the extraordinary dedication of people like Arsel Giowou, the dynamic 22-year-old founder of the Harmony Baseball Academy in the capital city of Yaounde.

Wayne Lonstein, a baseball-loving lawyer from upstate New York, followed Giowou’s story and work from afar. He became impressed with Giowou’s efforts and mentioned them to his old friend and colleague Rick Thurman, the president of Perfect Game. One thing led to another and within a few weeks Vaughn and Gordon were rising before 7 a.m., in Florida, and Klesko before 5 a.m., in Las Vegas, to interact virtually with Giowou, his coaching staff and 50 players ranging in age from 8 to 17.

PG rented a hotel conference room in Yaounde. It was equipped with internet and a big screen. Back in the States, Vaughn, Gordon and Klesko, all members of the PG family, positioned themselves in front of their laptops and let their knowledge and passion for the game flow.

The session was a big hit.

“It’s amazing to me that with the help of technology we were able to affect people across the globe,” Vaughn said a few days after the session. “It was very special to be part of.”

The session exemplified PG’s commitment to growing the game internationally. In addition to providing nearly two hours’ worth of instruction and expertise, PG furnished the Harmony Baseball Academy with a gift of equipment.

“When you see someone like Arsel who is so passionate about the game, and you see his kids who are so hungry to learn and get better, it becomes easy to want to be involved,” Thurman said. “I think we all found it very rewarding.”

Vaughn, the 1995 American League Most Valuable Player, delivered his lesson from his facility, the Vaughn Sports Academy in Boca Raton. He was joined by one of his longtime students, Chase Hamlett, a 17-year-old with a sweet swing.

Using Chase as his demonstrator, Vaughn covered the basics of the swing, stressing the importance of balance. He covered foot positioning, bat positioning and stressed attacking down and through the ball.

Vaughn looked into his laptop and spoke enthusiastically to the group watching half a world away.

“You can do drills without the benefit of a batting cage,” he said. “A tee is the most effective tool you can use to practice your swing.”

Vaughn placed balls on the tee at the outer edge of the strike zone for Chase to hit.

“Master the pitch away and it will take care of all the others,” he told the group.

Vaughn continued to place balls on the tee.

“Load and explode,” he told Chase. “Hit the inside part of the ball.”

Thwack. Thwack. Thwack.

“Good. Good. Good,” Vaughn told Chase.

Next, Vaughn moved to a side flip drill.

“This is putting it all together,” Vaughn said. “With the tee, the ball is not moving. Now, we’re putting a little movement into it.”

From the hotel conference room in Cameroon, a youngster asked Vaughn how high the tee should be positioned.

“Good question,” Vaughn answered from Boca Raton. “Belt high. Down and through the ball.”

Next was Gordon’s turn. From his home in Florida, he described pitching as an “art.” Who’s to argue with the only man in major league history to record 100 wins, 100 saves and 100 holds?

“Pitching sets the rhythm for the game,” Gordon told the group.

He kept his message simple, building it on fundamental throwing techniques, the importance of having a target, stepping toward it, turning the shoulders, releasing the ball in front. All of this is the foundation on which a sound, stable delivery is built and that leads to more strikes, he said. Gordon talked about observing the fundamentals of throwing when doing something as simple as playing catch. He talked about the value of long toss as a pitcher gets older and more advanced.

Klesko took his message beyond the playing field and to the mind and body.

You know the old cliché about how even the great ones fail seven times out of 10 in baseball. Dealing with setback is part of it all.

“The mental side of the game is so important, learning to deal with failure, learning to reset after failure,” Klesko told the group. “It’s important to flush the bad stuff and focus on the next step forward, the next at-bat.”

Klesko hit 278 home runs and was a World Series Champion with the 1995 Atlanta Braves during his 15-year big-league career.

“Taking care of your body while dealing with the stress of competing is vital,” he told the group. “Nutrition is not talked about a lot but it’s an important part of the game. You have to hydrate, get enough protein, get the right vitamins. You can’t put unleaded fuel in a jet engine. You can train as hard as you want, but if you’re not refueling your body with the right nutrition, you’ll break down on the side of the road.”

Klesko’s presentation also included a word to the coaching staff.

“Mix coaching with positive encouragement,” he told them. “The game is hard enough as it is. Don’t forget it’s a hard game. Encourage, find solutions. You will impact the player in a positive manner."

According to Giowou, the young players who took part in the virtual coaching session were impacted positively. The coaching staff was, too, and that’s important because good coaches coach forever in the form of lessons, wisdom and knowledge that is passed on and on and on.

“The session was very useful and beneficial for our young players,” Giowou said. “I am sure that it will improve their playing techniques.

“The clinic was a great help not only for those who were present during the session but also for future Cameroonian baseball players. Because our coaches will put into practice everything they learned.”

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