Smith Baseball Academy: Rob Smith

Photos by John Burns

Rob Smith didn’t set out to start a thriving side business as a baseball coach. But that’s what happens when you coach your son’s team and happen to have experience playing Major League Baseball.

An All-American college baseball player, Smith was drafted to the Cleveland Indians in the 1990s. Fast forward to 2008 when Smith began getting requests from moms to coach their kids. One mom told Smith about a space available in Master Overbey’s space on Burlingame Road and told Smith she’d pay him to coach her kid. Soon after, Smith Baseball Academy was born.

In his first year, Smith did about 100 lessons a week in the corner of Master Overbey’s. Later that year, he brought on a pitching coach, and their number of students shot from 30 to 50.

Today, Smith Baseball Academy has a group of 12 coaches who teach baseball and softball players ranging from age 7 to adult. They now conduct lessons from Sportzone, where they work with their players on hitting, pitching, fielding and catching.

While he works with players of all abilities, including those with aspirations to earn college scholarships, Smith said his training is ideal for beginners who could use a confidence boost.

“A lot of students we get are kids that aren’t feeling confident or want to come into a learning environment, so they can contribute more to their existing team,” said Smith.

While parents are looking for results, Smith also focuses on the emotional part of playing the game. While all sports have what Smith calls “built-in failures,” he said baseball has a particularly high level of adversity.

“From a hitting standpoint, you’re dealing with the failure of game 70 percent of the time,” Smith said. “The life lessons that come with having perspective are huge.”

Smith said his players learn those lessons naturally while they’re swinging, missing and making adjustments. The other key part of Smith Baseball Academy’s coaching philosophy is simply having fun.

“You’re not going to stick with it unless you love it because of the failures,” Smith said. “The other part of our approach is just loving and growing the game.”

For Smith and his coaches, the most rewarding part of their work is the “wow” moment they see athletes experience.

“There’s an awakening where they’re like, ‘OK, this is fun”—they get some belief in themselves,” said Smith. “Even if they aren’t going to be college players, they learn how to enjoy it.”

Smith only hires coaches who share his passion. Usually, he said he can tell within three minutes
if a coach is right for the job. The number one quality he looks for is trustworthiness.

“It’s so important to be able to earn the trust of the student,” said Smith. “That onlycomes with communication and understanding.”

Often, he said, that trust is the key to getting physical results.

“Once they figure that out, there’s a lot of growth,” he said.

PRESERVING THE PASSION

While all Smith Baseball Academy coaches have passion, they also have full-time jobs— including Smith. While the Academy has thrived in its 13 years, Smith said he has no plans to make it his career.

“Right now, we all love to coach,” said Smith. “We treat it like a passion.”

Because he doesn’t have the capacity to grow any larger, Smith doesn’t advertise his business. Other than his website, his sole marketing funnel is word of mouth.

“I want to keep it as a passion rather than a full-blown, high-risk business,” he said. “The reward is the student athletes and seeing the progression and change from where they started—even from just a half- hour lesson—from where they are to where they’re going.”