Nines Baseball Academy
Duke Zielinski
Duke began coaching little league while he was still playing in high school, leading to an early career of coaching baseball in high school and college. During his coaching career he coached alongside baseball coaching legends John Scolinos and John Goelz. Duke has spent almost 50 years coaching and consulting at every level including the Olympic and professional levels, the past 30 years working with athletes and teams in 30 different sports specializing in the mental aspect of performance. He has lectured all over the world and developed training programs for individuals, teams and countries on a variety of performance issues. He continues today to work with athletes at the elite levels. Duke is happy to have the opportunity to share and coach his love of the game with his son and grandson on the Nines. He feels fortunate to also be able to work again with players and coaches he has coached with in the past as part of the staff of the Nines Baseball Academy.
Our Story
The Nines Baseball Academy was created during the pandemic as a way for local families to ensure their children’s mental health. When the kids felt like they were having something taken away from them, we decided to give them something back. The term “boot leg baseball” was created. A handful of little league parents came together and decided it was the best thing to do for the mental well-being of their children. Mike Jahnke approached Duke Zielinski and asked if we could get together regularly for the boys to play outdoors and in the batting cage. The founding families of Mike Jahnke, Tom Peterson, Jake Olson, Raymond Castillo, JC Gonzales, Justin Bargagliotti, Sini Milojkovic and John Zielinski all got together and decided this is what we needed for our boys to maintain some sense of sanity. Under the leadership of Duke Zielinski and Lou Cesario, the Nines were born. A couple months after we began, we discovered another group of people with the same concerns and vision that was led by Zach Torrey, Jon Newberry and Randy Coddington. As soon as the pandemic subsided, our two groups merged and prepared for our first trip to Cooperstown. Since those very early days, we have continued to attract players from all over with families that share the same principles of our founding families. Our players’ mental and emotional well-being is always at the forefront our program.
Our Philosophy
Nines Baseball Academy is about creating a safe and fun learning environment. The culture of the Nines is to empower its players to become responsible leaders not only on the field but more importantly, in the classroom and the community. Baseball is our vehicle to help the players navigate their way through the lessons of life, especially their mental and emotional well-being. The best way for us to describe the culture of the Nines is to look at an aquarium filled with fish. The players represent the fish and we, the organization, represent the water…making it possible for the fish to thrive. This is the Nines Experience.
How did the Nines get their name?
The significance of the name goes beyond nine players and nine innings. The number nine itself symbolizes a spiritual and magical number that is timeless and is embodied in the mere fibers of our lives. Nines is also the approach and method created over a long period of coaching and consulting named: Neuromuscular Integrative Network Experience. It is an understanding of the complexity of human performance applied to teaching and learning.