Instructor enjoys working with
all ages at baseball academy
By Darren
Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex
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| Marshall Dean is a popular instructor with Going Yard. |
That is the biggest message Marshall Dean hopes all the baseball players he instructs take with them.
“I like to think my players know I care,” said Dean. “It is not just my job.
“I care about them both on the field and in other aspects of life. I want to teach them how to be men from an early age, not just go through the motions, but work with a purpose. Every day is an opportunity.
“I hope they grow up to just be strong, hard-nosed baseball
players. That is what I want is competitive kids that do things the right way
and approach the game the right way.”
Having grown up playing minor baseball in Saskatoon and
moving on to play at the post-secondary level as a pitcher, Dean reflected that
he had a great experience playing baseball. When his playing career wrapped up,
Dean wanted to give back to the game by becoming a coach. He aimed to help
young players playing the sport in Saskatoon to have similar positive
experiences with the game like he had.
After coming on to be an instructor with the Going Yard
Baseball Academy in 2016, Dean has developed a reputation for bringing a great
joy to training sessions working with players in a wide range of age groups.
Some coaches find they work better with either younger players or older players
at the post-secondary and professional levels.
As for Dean, the 33-year-old finds he is at his best when he
working with players from all different age groups on a weekly basis. He has
fun helping players get better, and you would be hard pressed to not see a big
smile running across his face during daily practice sessions at the Indoor
Training Centre at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex.
“It helps you as a coach,” said Dean, who stands 6-foot-3
and weighed 190 pounds in his playing days. “It helps you learn different
aspects of the game and how to approach different players.
“It has been really fun to coach kids at a young age, set
that standard and expectation early and watch them grow into the players that
they are now. I’d say that is what I’m most proud of as a coach is the guys
that I’ve coached from the time they were 10-years-old and now they’re 16 and
17-years-old men ready to go to college.”
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| Marshall Dean instructs a group of young pitchers. |
“It is a lot different, but it is a lot the same,” said
Dean. “It is the same standard you set as far as what the expectation is at
practice and the right way to approach the game and your work every day.
“Obviously, it is gentler at the younger age groups, but it
is really the same. You practice the right way, you play the right way and you
approach every day the right way.”
Of course,
Dean only envisioned himself being a player, when he started in the sport. When
he discovered the game, his motivation to be in the sport was to be like his
two older brothers.
“I’m the youngest of three boys from an athletic family,”
said Dean. “My brothers played baseball.
“I fell in love with it early going to their games hanging
out in foul territory playing around and just stuck with it. I figured I had a
pretty good arm, and it’d be a good option for me.”
He took to
being a pitcher early on when he began playing the game. A lot of Dean’s love
for the game of baseball comes from the competition of pitcher versus batter.
“It is a thinking man’s game,” said Dean. “It is not just
straightforward.
“You have to use your mind a little bit. I always enjoyed
that. I enjoy the battle inside the game pitcher versus hitter, pitch to pitch.
“I enjoy the thinking part of it.”
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| Marshall Dean gives a pointer during a fielding drill. |
Dean said Plaxton was his mentor playing the game, while
growing up. The hurler credited a lot of his success to his long time minor
baseball coach from his Saskatoon playing days.
“He (Plaxton) coached us the right way really early,” said
Dean. “He taught you to respect the game, play hard and work hard.
“I think that is a big part of why I do this today is trying
to bring some of that back to these boys and making sure they’re viewing the
game the right way, practising and playing the right way.”
While suiting
up for the Cubs, Dean got his first experience of playing baseball with adults.
From 2006 to 2008, Dean played for the now defunct Saskatoon Yellow Jackets in
what is now known as the Western Canadian Baseball League.
These days
the WCBL is strictly a summer wood bat league for players from the
post-secondary ranks. Back in 2006 to 2008, the WCBL was a summer league in an
era where teams could use players from all sorts of age groups, if they were
good enough to be on the team. Dean did face players in their late 20s and
early 30s with the Yellow Jackets.
“It was pretty wild being a teenager in that league,” said
Dean. “Todd (Plaxton) always used to say you’re going to grow some whiskers,
and I definitely did.
“I mean playing against grown men you learn a lot really
quick good things and bad things.”
After graduating from high school, Dean played for Colby Community College Trojans in Colby, Kansas, from 2009 to 2011. He moved on to throw for the University of Central Missouri Mules in Warrensburg, Missouri. With the U of Central Missouri, Dean completed his bachelor’s degree in physical education and coaching.
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| Marshall Dean set to the ball during a fielding drill. |
“I realized I wasn’t going to be a professional baseball
player,” said Dean. “Around the time I was about 20 or 21, I realized that the
dream wasn’t necessarily going to come true.
“I just wanted to help guys from Saskatchewan reach their
goals. If you have a goal to play college ball or whatever that goal is in
baseball, I just wanted to help out back home.”
Upon returning to Saskatoon, Dean started working as an education assistant as a substitute and later full time at Caroline Robins Community School and Dr. John G. Egnatoff School.
He originally wanted to find a coaching spot with the
Cubs, but he joined the staff of the Saskatoon Diamondbacks 18U AAA team after
getting a call from Matt Kosteniuk. Kosteniuk brought Dean to Going Yard.
Dean has
loved every bit of his time with Going Yard starting with the old training
warehouse the academy was originally located at on Alberta Avenue before moving
to the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds on March 1, 2019.
“It is really cool to work with your buddies that you grew
up with,” said Dean. “Obviously, it is really cool to coach with a guy like
(MLB alumnus) Andrew (Albers) who you looked up to growing up, and now, he is
just your co-worker.
“That has been fantastic. Some of the younger guys that we
have coming up that have spent time in professional baseball or very high-level
baseball, it is really fun to watch them come back and again just be your
co-workers.”
Dean has
enjoyed seeing Going Yard grow over the years that included developing the
Goats travel team program. Looking to the future, he believes his passion for
coaching will always be there.
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| Marshall Dean gives post-practice talk with a group of players. |
“It is awesome to do what you love. I think a lot of people
would look at this job and be jealous of what we get to do every day. We get to
have fun with the boys.
“We get to help them grow and watch them grow. I’ll do this
for absolutely as long as I can.”
For more information
on the Going Yard Baseball Academy, feel free to check out their website at www.gyba.ca.
