American Baseball Coaches Association
| Formation | 1945 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Greensboro, North Carolina |
|
Executive Director
|
Craig Keilitz |
| Website | http://www.abca.org |
The American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) is the world's largest amateur baseball coaching organization. It was founded in 1945 as the American Association of College Baseball Coaches. Now, the ABCA comprises over 8,300 baseball coaches from all levels of amateur baseball, including youth, high school, travel ball, NJCAA Divisions I, II, and III, NAIA, and NCAA Divisions I, II and III, among others.
The organization was founded as the American Association of College Baseball Coaches. Presidents have come from NCAA Divisions I, II & III, National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, junior college, and high school. The association was behind the start of the creation of the College World Series, which now is conducted by the NCAA.
As of 2016, the association has over 8,300 members with members hailing from nearly 25 different countries, and includes coaches from all ranks of amateur baseball. The membership year for the ABCA runs from September 1 through August 31.
The ABCA hosts the world's largest baseball convention every January. The convention features coaching clinics, trade show, meetings, several awards presentations, cand honors. Over 5,600 coaches attend the convention, which lasts for four days.
The convention is on a rotating schedule with the 2017 convention scheduled for Anaheim, California, 2018 in Indianapolis, Indiana and the 2019 convention in Dallas, Texas.
A major draw are the nearly 30 clinic speakers each year. These include some of the most knowledgeable baseball coaches and minds in the world and are on-hand to share their experiences and expertise with fellow coaches. Attendees receive each clinic video for free at the end of the convention on ABCAvideos.org.
At the ABCA Trade Show, over 330 companies fill up over 130,000 square feet of exhibit space and are on hand to display state-of-the-art equipment and products, including coaching aids, apparel, field equipment, pitching machines and software. Many products are displayed for the first time and some items are even raffled off as prizes.
Induction to the ABCA Hall of Fame is the highest honor bestowed by the ABCA organization. The ABCA Hall of Fame was established in 1966 with the inaugural 18–member class. Each year's Hall of Fame class is inducted during the Hall of Fame/Coach of the Year Banquet at the annual ABCA Convention in January.
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