PHOTO PROVIDED - Longtime Marshalltown High School baseball coach Steve Hanson works on player development skills with youth from the Marshalltown Baseball Club’s 8-year-old Travel division. Twenty-five kids in the 8-9-year-old division started development skills on Tuesday at the Al Hoop Hitting Shed at Marshalltown Little League Park.

Excitement is building at the Marshalltown Little League park as the board embarks on a mission to increase youth participation, enhance baseball development, and address critical safety issues within the park.

This offseason, these kids have been gaining valuable real world life skills by addressing safety concerns, including assembling new bleachers and helping to rebuild the dugouts. Now, they’re also receiving player development to enhance their skills for the upcoming season.

As of the end of January, over 125 kids have signed up to play baseball, with more registrations expected before May, making Marshalltown Baseball Club/Little League the hottest youth sport in Marshalltown and attracting a diverse group of young athletes eager to learn the game.

Among these, more than 60 kids have enrolled in a travel baseball program in Marshalltown, which offers opportunities for those seeking to further their development during the offseason and face more competition.The travel program includes teams ranging from 8-year-olds to 13-year-olds.

Integral to this initiative is a development program that has officially begun this winter with practices at the Al Hoop Hitting Shed at Little League Park. Steve Hanson, Anthony Everman and Allen Mann are leading the player development of the youth programs.

This past offseason, responding to community feedback, Everman collaborated with successful youth baseball programs and visited in person to learn and observe best practices. He identified a replicable model for our community.

From this research, Everman brought to the board a three-tier system to implement to allow kids to participate at their desired level:

• Rec (Little League): Focused on beginners and fundamental skills.

• Rec Plus: Competitive games among Marshalltown teams and surrounding communities.

• Travel Baseball Teams: For those seeking more development and advanced competition through travel tournaments.

The player development role within the board is a dream team consisting of Hanson, who had a remarkable 45-year career coaching high school baseball. Under Hanson’s direction, the Marshalltown baseball team made state tournament appearances in 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2008, 2009 and 2018.The Bobcats won the Class 4A State Championship in 2002 and finished runner-up in 2000, 2001 and 2008.

Hanson won over 600 games as a varsity head coach and was inducted into the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame in 2011.

Everman who has coaching experience that includes stints at Division I schools — Virginia Tech, Kansas State, Arkansas State, and Northern Colorado. He was also a head baseball coach for seven years at Marshalltown Community College and three years at Benedictine College.

While an assistant at Kansas State, he helped guide the Wildcats to a berth in the 2010 NCAA Tournament. He also brings experience from NCAA-sanctioned summer leagues, managing the Covington (Va.) Lumberjacks for two seasons, winning the league championship in 2005.

In addition to his collegiate coaching background experience, Everman has previously served as an associate scout for the Oakland A’s and the Cleveland Guardians.

Mann, who is the head strength and performance coach at Marshalltown High School, has 14 years of coaching experience, including 11 years at MHS. He has coached athletes from the middle school through varsity levels and served as the interim head coach at Marshalltown in 2023. His coaching experience includes a state tournament appearance at Marshalltown in 2018 and a state championship at Johnston in 2017.

The group is working to rebuild the youth baseball program from the ground up through player and coach development, structured processes and most importantly accountability.

For more information or to register, go online to www.mtownlittleleague.org or email mtownbaseball24@gmail.com.