What have I let myself in for? Imposter syndrome is working overtime. I appear to be sitting in the bar area of The 108, awaiting the Coach Edge Conference 2025. I’m not a coach. I don’t really have any ambitions to coach. I have never even played baseball. But it’s taken me three hours to get here, so it feels a little too late to have cold feet.
One of my gripes about the Great Britain team in the recent European Championship was the lack of player information available. GB’s U23 head coach, the irrepressible Jonathon Cramman, said to me, “You’ve got my number. If you need anything, just ask.”
Well I don’t have his number, but I DM’d him on Insta to ask his opinion on something else… whether the event would be suitable for a non-coach to attend. His quite brilliant answer of “there is no such thing as a non-coach, just a person who hasn’t started coaching yet” was all the encouragement I needed to sign up.
The concept for the conference, as I later discovered, was the brainchild of U12 GB coach* Chris Ward and the dynamic Tour de Force that is Mike Wakelam, one of the co-founders of The 108.
Lots to unpack there. Firstly, I asterisked U12 GB Coach because today (12 October 2025) is the closing date for applications for the U12, U15, U18, and Women’s Head Coach for the Great Britain national team. So in theory, Chris isn’t a GB Coach at the moment as the position is being advertised.
I get it that this is some sort of accountability, but it is a bad look. I can’t begin to imagine how these people who take on GB roles – unpaid voluntary roles – can afford to give up so much time. Especially, when the tournaments might eat into half of their annual leave. A better scenario would be to ensure that these coaches are left in no doubt about how much their work and sacrifice is valued by British Baseball.
And then moving on to Mike Wakelam – he has, almost single-handedly, raised more than £15,000 for youth baseball in the UK with his amazing “Big Fly” challenge of hitting a home run in Citi Field. I don’t know if anyone has ever generated as much cash for youth baseball in the country.
Just imagine how good it would feel to donate a few quid – go on, you know you want to.
I’m sure there will be social media posts shortly recapping his challenge, so I won’t tread on any toes, but safe to say, it will be a mega-watch.
Anyway, as I was walking from the rather impressive Brent Cross West station on the new pathway towards The 108, a “nutter” on a Lime bike sped past on the narrow path. Having just spent eight glorious days enjoying a new level of respect to and from cyclists, this biker reminded me that I was definitely back in the UK.
The 108’s car park was crammed with flashy motors as I walked through it; obviously a lot of money in this part of London. I clocked that the cyclist was already serving behind the counter. It was Mike. I discovered that his plane from the USA had only landed at 7 am that day, and he was rushing to get this Coach Edge show on the road. Feels like a legit reason to cut him some slack.
THE 108
Look out for our forthcoming article on The 108. It’s hard to overstate the debt of gratitude the baseball community in the UK owe to Mike and his fellow co-founder, Max Trautman, for creating such a facility.
State-of-the-art batting cages, bullpens, and a sports bar with proper beers and excellent bar snacks – try the hot dog with extra jalapeños.
Up until a couple of weeks ago, there was a full-size adult infield, but heartbreakingly, the lack of usage by clubs has meant that one of the best indoor training facilities in Europe has already been converted to padel tennis courts. The padel courts cost £68 per hour to rent and all six were fully occupied when I arrived. That’s a decent amount of money it is generating, so it’s tough to envisage a switch back to baseball. It does, however, explain the number of expensive cars in the car park.
The Field of Dreams, “If you build it, he will come”, doesn’t actually work in the UK, where it’s more of “If you build it, they will be indifferent.”
THE SCHEDULE
The format of the day was nine separate presentations split into three blocks, with a Q&A section at the end, when a couple of special guests would also join.
Chris and Mike had thrown together the whole event in the space of eight or nine days. The speed was necessary as there was a small window of opportunity to hear from Liam Carroll, former GB Head Coach, and now running things at the Boston Red Sox’s High-A affiliate in Greenville, before he headed back to the States.
Section 1: If I started coaching British baseball again today, what would training look like?
The presentation started with a picture of young Liam hitting in Waltham Forest and worked through the incredible transition both Liam and British baseball have made over the last 30+ years.
There was a bit of audience participation with his slice-of-cake analogy, which illustrated the different layers that made up certain aspects of the game. He is very keen on making practice more representative of real baseball rather than traditional, more mundane reps.
He also stressed his desire to get players to establish (and coaches to appreciate) raw abilities—hitting hard or throwing far —before refining them into more rounded players. Output before polish.
I enjoyed the “Baseball is simple… it’s just not easy” quote.
In some ways, the talk felt controversial, in that if he were starting again, Liam would ignore lots of the basic training exercises that, presumably, most clubs in the UK believe are the bedrock for success.
But it also felt like he was preaching to the converted. Not for the last time, I considered, “Why are there not more coaches here?”
Section 2: Competitive advantage through great base coaching
I loved this presentation by Chris Ward, explaining how first- and third-base coaches could maximise their teams’ scoring potential.
I pictured myself utilising the tips he was offering to assist a base runner get that extra run, which, on their own, they wouldn’t have got. It quickly transpired, after talking with other coaches in the breaks, that perhaps domestic teams in the UK are not adequately motivated to squeeze out extra runs.
When I watch MLB and international baseball in the future, I will now be watching the first- and third-base coaches far more closely.
Section 3: Developing home run hitters
Jonathon Cramman, Gold medal-winning head coach of Great Britain’s U23, worked through the process of transforming The 108’s Mike Wakelam from an enthusiast to a home run slugger.
Initially, Jonathon had thought Mike’s chances of clearing the fences in Citi Field were less than slim, but thanks to the extraordinary information-gathering software attached to the batting cages in The 108, Cramman was armed with the raw data with which to work his magic.
The hard-hitting but low-angle profile was tweaked to a max-effort, aim-just-to-the-right-of-the-foul-pole, pull hitter to maximise Mike’s chances of homering in the Mets’ stadium.
Then we got to witness one of JC’s real talents: getting to know his players and offering a personalised solution in an easy-to-understand format. In this case, it was to get Mike to develop poor stature, which was dubbed as something Mike’s mother would have hated. The idea was to get more lift on the ball.
And secondly, using the patience of a funnelweb spider as the analogy, Mike was persuaded to wait and let the ball come to him rather than make contact too far in front of the plate.
Section 4: Managing a Minor League Baseball Team
Liam Carroll was back up, and I swear that this section was worth five times the entry cost and double the six-hour round trip on its own. How many times do you get to listen to the manager of a High-A team candidly go through their day-to-day tasks and routines, in a chat-down-the-pub vibe?
It was fascinating to hear that winning games always comes second behind player development. This must sometimes be a frustrating mandate, especially when the fans might not appreciate what the management is trying to achieve.
Liam gave an example of, say, your priority player is not the fastest, and he’s on second base when you’re trailing in the ninth. If you want to win, you’d switch him out for a pinch runner. If you want to keep your job, you keep him in and train him to be faster.
There was so much more in this section. You should have been there.
Section 5: Building a Championship Calibre Programme
Full disclosure: I did not know Erick Henson before today. He is the manager of GB’s U18 (same asterisk about job advertisment as in paragraph two). He is also the assistant manager for the U23 and assistant manager for GB women’s, so that meant in 2025, he was a double gold medal winner.
But it wasn’t GB he was here to talk about, it was the incredible, and I mean that in a “Hollywood should make a movie about this guy” sort of way, journey from the father of a kid who wanted to play baseball in London, to the catalyst behind transforming London Mets from a club with practically nothing to one of the most envied organisations in Europe.
Although Erick is very humble, and kept reinforcing that it was a team effort rather than a personal one, it felt more like the motivational speech that could be given by Woodward or Brailsford. What the London Mets have created is phenomenal.
SIDE NOTE: There was a technical glitch within the presentation. While the computer was being sorted, Chris Ward thought it would be a good idea to have everyone introduce themselves to the group. I felt sick. This is a nightmare. Could I excuse myself to the restroom and come back in 20 minutes?
As the coaches eloquently made their introductions, I could see my turn getting closer; I was feeling more and more uncomfortable.
And then it was me. I “think” I tried to crack a nervous joke along the lines of “Oh, I think Erick [Henson] is ready now”, but that probably only works for people who know me and my social anxieties.
I mumbled something like “I’m not a coach. I’ve never played baseball, I’m not affiliated to any team, but I write for Europe’s biggest baseball website and podcast, Bat Flips & Nerds. And any opportunity to listen to Liam, Jonathon, and Chris, is an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”
At least, that’s what it was meant to sound like. I’m better at writing than talking.
Section 6: Prioritising Player Wellbeing to Create Success
An exceptionally impressive, yet ridiculously young Matt Moran took this one. Great Britain’s U18 assistant coach certainly has a bright future ahead of him, despite being one of the huge number of Red Sox fans in the room. What is it about baseball coaches in the UK and the Red Sox?
This section was definitely more for the coaches than the imposter.
Section 7: Cramman Culture
With Liam Carroll and Drew Spencer, two former GB head coaches, now thriving stateside, it feels just a matter of time before Jonathon Cramman does the same.
He has a less traditional manner about him, but possesses the same remarkable talent for inspiring self-belief and unlocking every drop of potential in his players.
Having enjoyed the personalised analogies from his opening segment, we were now given a peek behind the curtain of how he gets close to his players. Given the limited time a national coach has with the players, he maximises every opportunity to build a team culture. He is obsessed with developing a relationship with every single player on the roster.
We were treated to a few snippets from the team’s “get to know each other” meetings, and it appeared that once all of the team appreciated what representing GB and participation at the tournament meant to their teammates, every decision, every play, every error, every success wasn’t a personal one; it was a shared one.
You could see how Cramman had convinced these young men that together they were a far more dangerous force than just as a group of individuals.
And then, you remember that in the final GB trailed 0-7 before overturning the hosts to clinch the gold medal 9-7. Yes, it’s a Netflix ending, but you don’t get close to the magnitude of such a finale without Cramman culture.
I’m not religious but JC is inspirational.
Jonathon Cramman is one of the three finalists for European Coach of the Year.
Taken from the EBCA website…
“Jonathon Cramman led Team GB to a European Championship. The first ever for Great Britain in any age category. Let that sink in”
Section 8: Defence – Reflection and action planning to produce better infielders and outfielders.
This was the final segment of the day, and Liam Carroll was back with nuggets of gold for the coaches in the room. And yet again, I was scratching my head with the incomprehensibility of “If you’re a coach in the UK, why wouldn’t you want to be here listening to this?”
He ran through a few of his more favoured drills, and just like in the opening section, he avoids the conventional (in this case, one-to-one throw and catch) in preference for triangular, box, and zigzag throwing/catching drills to replicate more game-like angles and situations.
Liam also reiterated that BP is the single most important opportunity when developing defence. And not every team utilises BP to maximise its defensive potential.
Q & A HOT STOVE
The coaches were joined on stage by two more inspirational characters: Laura Hirai and Will Lintern. The fact that yet more coaches were willing to give up their time on this Saturday is really such a huge compliment to the atmosphere that has been built within Great British baseball.
Laura is a superstar. Baseball superstar (tick), Softball superstar (tick), GB coach (tick), Committee superstar (tick), Trail blazer (tick) – plus she’s really cool.
Will is this dynamic force of energy. He is as committed to getting 4 to 9-year-olds hitting and enjoying the concept of baseball with his T-Rex T-Ball, as he is to getting baseball into south-east London with the Greenwich Giants. His enthusiasm is so contagious, it almost made me consider a two-hour commute to lend a hand.
All of the questions fired at the panel were coaching queries specific to their situation. The feedback the coaches were getting seemed invaluable. You can guess what was going through my mind again.
I don’t know why this conference was independent of BSUK or British Baseball Federation. I assume that the quick turnaround did not fit with the federations’ slower pace… or maybe it just wasn’t seen as a priority.
Although, I’m pretty sure that had it been an official BBF/BSUK event, it would have been priced out of my budget, but at £25.00 for six hours, I felt like Dick Turpin.
After some chatter and food at the sports bar, I headed home enthused that this sport that I love has such characters fully invested to improving the standard of baseball in the UK.
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