Sports

Post 180 Aims to Prepare Players for College

Frank Werman focuses on teamwork, resilience when coaching American Legion squad

For Frank Werman, success in baseball is all about keeping a level head.

Werman, seven-year coach of American Legion Post 180, passes that lesson along to his team and leads by example.

On Tuesday, the Vienna team made more than its fair share of mistakes during the doubleheader against Post 129 at Oakton High School, where the team plays most of its games. But they still won, 7-4 and then 9-2.

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"My philosophy is to keep things low-key. You're going to fail in this game, but you have to be OK with that," Werman said. "You won't see me yell and scream, that's not the atmosphere I want to create. You can't let mistakes affect you later in the game, and they didn't do that. You have to learn to accept the defeat, but learn from it at the same time."

Though American Legion's competitiveness in this area has taken a bit of a hit because of new travel leagues looking to showcase players for college recruitment, Werman said it's on an upswing. This year it expanded from seven to nine teams in the 17th District.

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In the last couple of years, the Post 180 team has been able to rebuild and almost rebrand itself toward older players. Though the league is open to players aged 15 through 19, many of the Post 180 players are high school seniors or college freshman.

"Right now the whole recruiting process for college has changed tremendously. There are no community leagues per se with a lot of these travel teams around," Werman said. "I use a lot of things I've picked up from the college teams to coach these kids and that prepares them for what to expect or gives the ones already playing in college some consistency."

The appeal, Werman said, is Legion gives players a realistic feel of what it would be like to play on a college team. Games are nine innings, which alters coaching and playing strategy from what the players are used to with seven innings. There is also a goal to reach toward: The American Legion World Series.

"I've turned away superstar players because they're not team guys. My team is not about that," Werman said. "We want to work hard, together, to make it far in the playoffs."

But that does not mean the Post 180 players — made up of kids from Oakton, Madison and South Lakes high schools and Flint Hill School — fade into the background. Werman likes playing small ball, which ends up giving individual players a chance to shine because it's not about one swing of the bat.

"I like to bunt and steal a lot, delayed steals," Werman said. "We're always trying to do something. We want the other team thinking, 'What are these guys gonna do now because they're always doing something.' And that's the way college is."

So far, Post 180 is a solid team with its 5-1 record, which pleasantly surprised Werman, who was not as familiar with this year's team as he has been in the past.

"I just wasn't able to get out to too many high school games this season to see the prospects," said Werman, who spent much of his spring supporting his son Keith on the University of Virginia team. "I'm just really pleased with the talent on the team and the attitudes and character of the kids."

With players who have such a positive attitude, Werman is hopeful for a good season.

"We're getting better and better, and hopefully things will fully come together for the playoffs," Werman said.


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