Step, Hip, Hands / Base-All Student: Zack Graham (age 16)
When I first met Mike on the baseball field, just before the season was about to start, I was fat, out of shape, and had extremely low self esteem. Mike came up to me and told me I could be a great player. "Yeah right", I said to myself, "this is just another coach with a new batting stance for me to try out." I had tried out millions of batting stances before Step, Hip, Hands. Mike started to tell me how to do the technique, and we had some private lessons during which I would exercise for hours. By the end of the summer my self esteem had increased and I was in much better shape.But that is making a very long story short. Mike, without a doubt, has been a role model for me as well as the best coach I ever had. I remember seeing him help a boy on my team with his batting stance. This kid was really annoying. Nobody liked him because he had a horrible attitude and never listened when a coach told him to do something. Well Mike started to talk to him about having respect for himself as well as for others. In a week this kid was totally changed and everybody was friends with him. He became a major player on our team. Mike does that for everyone. He really has a way to find someone's best side and can always bring it out.
I've been working with Mike, on and off, for about five years now and everyone I see him teaching usually hits it twice as far as they first did before Mike. He is the reason for me wanting to play professional baseball. I've had times when I've lost this dream, but Mike always brings the baseball spirit back into me. There seem to be two kinds of coaches: the kind that believes in winning at all cost, and the coach that believes in making the child feel like a winner had having fun at the same time. Mike is the latter type of coach. Once I had a coach who was horrible; he was the kind of coach who only believed in winning. I am also an actor and my acting classes are Monday nights. This coach had practices scheduled at that time and because acting is my job, I couldn't come to practice. Despite practicing at other times with my Dad, I sat on the bench throughout the entire season. That's just one of my horror stories. I'm sure you have a few of your own, and I'm sure Mike has more than a few. With Mike there are no horror stories; I've never had a time when I've had practice with Mike and not had fun.
That's what a coach is supposed to do, make sure you enjoy yourself while you're out there. If you don't enjoy yourself, why are you playing the game? Baseball has opened doors for me and Mike has opened more. I get straight A's in school, and I'm studying to be a black belt in karate next year. I'm on a gymnastics team, and I believe myself to be a great actor. I know this sounds crazy, but I thank Mike for these things because he has given me the strength and confidence to be the best that I can be in everything I do. In the end I would like to say that Mike is more than a coach to me. He's my best friend. Isn't that what a coach should be?
Zack Graham
Step, Hip, Hands / Base-All Student: CJ Bartholomew (age 12)
Mike has taught me a lot about baseball and life in general. I've played Little League for 7 years, and have had a lot of coaches. I haven't had one of them tell me the same thing as another. It's always different. I do something wrong and I get yelled at. No one likes getting yelled at. Since I've known Mike, the only time I've seen him raise his voice was when he was singing. He sees the positive instead of the negative. If all coaches were like him, kids would really learn baseball.CJ Bartholomew
From Jess Whitehill (Attorney):
My name is Jess Whitehill. I am a 42 year old attorney and I have been playing recreational baseball for the past 14 years. I did not play any organized ball form the time I finished little league until I was almost 28. Needless to say, I did not receive any instruction during that time.I "rediscovered" baseball while sitting in a bar 14 years ago. I began talking baseball to the guy next to me while we were watching a game on TV. I was playing recreational softball at the time and he was playing hardball. He invited me to come check out their game, which I found to be a sandlot affair with players ranging from 8 to 40. This Sunday gathering became a weekly affair and evolved into us forming a team (albeit a bad one) the following year.
Through the years I have played on various teams in recreational leagues in both northern and southern California. I currently play in the Men's Senior Baseball League, which is composed of players over 30.
I first met Mike Boyd in September 1993. That was my first introduction to Step, Hip, Hands. Since then I have spent approximately twenty on-the-field hours with Mike as well as hundreds of hours talking baseball on the phone. Mike Boyd is a truly gifted teacher, coach, guru and friend. Step, Hip, Hands is a technique that has greatly improved my hitting. I finished my last season with my highest batting average ever thanks to a 7 for 14 streak that included three doubles and a triple. This directly followed a one hour session with Mike. I had worked with other coaches and instructors over the years, including a former major leaguer, but never with results like these. Needless to say, the better I hit, the more I enjoy my weekly games and the more my friends and family enjoy being around me.
The best thing about Mike's techniques is that they are teachable to anyone. They make efficient, logical use of body movements, which Mike has isolated after a lifetime of studying both the physical and spiritual sides of the game, hence his title "The Minister of Baseball". Mike Boyd is also a supportive person who delights in seeing his students improve. He also pitches great b.p. (batting practice).
Mike's thoughts on coaching ring true and accurate. His Step, Hip, Hands is a proven program that will enable players of all ages to learn sound fundamentals of baseball and directly increase their lifelong enjoyment of the game. I was a victim of "little league burnout" which ultimately deprived me of any opportunity or desire to pursue baseball through the high school, college or even professional levels. You, as parents and coaches, can prevent this from happening to your children by insisting that they learn Step, Hip, Hands.
Jess Whitehill
From Joseph Campanella (Father, Actor, Coach):
Michael Boyd is a rare individual. A man of strength, talent, grace, and a tremendous enthusiasm and love for life. He is a born teacher who could make any subject a delight to learn. Mike's subject is baseball and Mike's students are kids. And when Mike coaches them they learn to love baseball and love to learn baseball.Mike's charm and personality can assure even the most reticent pupil that he or she can be better and can enjoy this great game.
Do all of Mike's pupils become All-Stars? No. Some do - most don't. But all of them learn to love and enjoy baseball - the game - the sport - and none will ever forget their patient and loving teacher with the infectious laugh and happy smile.
Mike is the "Pied Piper" of baseball. Look for a bunch of kids surrounding a powerfully built man with a bat and a ball in his hands - that's Mike.
What Mike has done is to boil baseball hitting technique to its most basic elements. "Step, Hip, Hands!" breaks down the most difficult feat in Sports, hitting a moving baseball, to three basic steps. Drilling these steps into the hitter's muscle memory allows the batter to concentrate more fully on keeping the eye on the ball.
Yogi Berra, one of the greatest "instinctive" hitters in the game once said, "Who can think and hit at the same time?". When Mike ingrains "Step, Hip, Hands!" into a student - it becomes a reflex - freeing the hitter to trust his body to do what it has been taught to do - and allowing greater concentration on the pitch.
It would behoove many "grown-up" hitters to check out Mike's agenda.
Ken Burns' magnificent documentary, "Baseball" is a parallel and an integral part of the social history of the United States. Mike Boyd's life is also a part of that social history.
Only the great moral fiber of a strong family unit could give enough love and discipline to a young man to carry him through our nation's struggle to attain Civil Rights for all its citizens. Mike Boyd is a survivor - without rancor or envy - because he knows he is a man. A man with an undying faith in God and himself to live with a smile doing what he loves to do - Coach!
My two youngest sons are very talented baseball players. Did Mike make them better baseball players? Yes! But, more important - he helped make them better people. We have been fortunate to have Mike as our Coach.
Joseph Campanella
Step, Hip, Hands / Base-All Student: Heather Bartholomew (age 9)
Mike Boyd taught me almost everything I know about baseball in just a few hours, and I'm only nine. He taught me how to hit with Step, Hip, Hands. Even though I'm a girl and it was my first year of playing, he taught me how to hit, play outfield, catch, throw, and lots more. He taught me that perfect practice is perfect listening, perfect watching, and perfect imitation of what you see done right. If my friends Shelly, Jessica, and Royanna took lessons they could play as good as the boys. No offense boys. Mike also taught me that if you do the job right, you won't have a bad attitude about it.Heather Bartholomew
From Dennis Eland (Business Owner):
With the demise of the after school sports programs in the public schools, children are participating more and more in organized youth athletics. Whether it is Little League, AYSO, or Junior Football, there seems to be no doubt that parents believe sports to be an important part of a child's development. It, therefore, stands to reason, that the coaches and teachers of these activities play an important role in the life of a youngster.In this regard, Mike Boyd stands head and shoulders above the rest. For sure, Mike teaches his students to be better skilled athletes. However, the essence of his efficacy lies not in reaching a child's muscles through repetition, although this is important. The essence of Mike Boyd is that he has a special gift; a gift to touch a child's heart.
From David Cowgill (Daytime Drama Star "Cliff" on "The Young and the Restless"): Step, Hip, Hands not only brought my batting average up a full 90 points (from a .306 to almost .400) but it also gave me a better eye at the plate and as a result my on base percentage increased dramatically. I hit the ball harder than I have ever hit it in my life and my slugging percentage increased five fold. It also gave me the most important thing I could have hoped for; confidence.
Dennis Eland
STEP, HIP, HANDS/BASE-ALL • P.O. BOX 3497 • GLENDALE, CA 91221-0497
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