Culture-building movement: Murdock baseball creating a strong program at all levels

The words “culture” and “attitude” are frequently heard in locker rooms and team meetings. Murdock baseball is actively taking steps to work toward the development of these aspects, starting at the younger levels.

The middle school, JV and varsity teams are making efforts to build the program as a whole, working together to make that happen. Blue Devils varsity head coach Nick Taylor has had this goal since he started in the position last year.

One of the biggest things he is implementing is a mandatory study hall after school for his players. As a teacher at the school, Taylor saw an increase in student-athletes with poor grades and wanted to be sure it didn’t happen to his roster.

“I wanted to make a change in the right direction, emphasizing ‘student’ in ‘student-athlete’, so while I’m teaching here it shouldn’t be complicated to implement that,” Taylor said.

Both the varsity and JV teams work together during study hall, with older students being there to help younger players who may need extra help. The two teams have created a bond – between study halls with one another as well as practicing most days as one big team. Even the middle school team comes up for practices every so often, allowing athletes to create relationships and a positive learning environment on the field.

This aligns with Taylor’s theme of accountability. Whether it's academics or attitude and culture, he is striving to hold his athletes accountable for all of their responsibilities. Along with this push, Taylor is focused on widening the already small community by bringing together the three levels of baseball within Murdock schools.

Jeremy LaPointe, the middle school coach, and Andrew Collins, the JV coach, are both fully on board with Taylor’s initiatives. LaPointe recognizes his role is important in starting these habits for players at a younger age. Collins has a similar role at the JV level with a large group of freshmen.

Collins stepped in at a crucial moment, keeping the JV program alive.

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“It was kind of a chance conversation over lunch one day where he was like, ‘I have to cut all these kids, we don’t have a JV program,’” Collins said.

He recognized the importance of having that level to bridge the gap between middle school and varsity to keep kids playing and give them a chance to develop, so he decided to take matters into his own hands and step in as the JV coach.

A main point in Collins’ coaching strategy is allowing players some freedom to lead on their own. He has noticed how this has helped the team over the course of the last few weeks, giving them more of a bond on and off the field through the way they play and communicate.

“I’m a firm believer in providing them that leadership opportunity and they all bring strengths to the table,” Collins said.

LaPointe has seen great strides in his players as well, both on and off the field. With a handful of athletes who had never played the sport before, he has noticed their improvement through the beginning of the season and are currently 2-0. He also sees his team having great attitudes.

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“They have the right attitude when they come to the field, they are not putting each other down, they are holding each other up,” LaPointe said. “There's nothing more defeating than when you start looking inward and picking on one another, it's just not going to fly on our fields… we will hold them accountable. My job here right now is to try to provide the best basis I possibly can before I hand them off to Coach Taylor and Coach Collins.”

With three young rosters, all including some degree of inexperienced players, Taylor has leaned into the “little victories” seen on the field, whether it's a player’s first-ever hit or a clean play to get an out. Eventually, those smaller moments will build up to being big wins.

This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Attitude and accountability at forefront of Murdock baseball program