Beyond the Scoreboard

USSSA ALL-ACCESS EDITION No. 07

Happy Friday,

There's something about this time of year that feels like a reset.

New school years are starting. Fall seasons are getting underway. Calendars are filling back up, and routines are shifting.

This week's Beyond the Scoreboard has a little bit of everything that comes with that new-season energy.

We're continuing The Countdown with a part of Chad's speech written directly for the parents in the stands. A Hype Fire contest. A Player of the Week who reminds us what it means to make your way back to the game. And a Car Ride Home question that's going somewhere we haven't taken it before.

Let's get into it.

01 USSSA × EASTON

"Bring The Hype" Reel Contest

Who wants a 2027 Easton Hype Fire?!

USSSA x Easton just launched the Bring The Hype Reel Contest, with a brand-new 2027 Easton Hype Fire as the grand prize!

From August 20 to 30, film a short Reel at a USSSA-sanctioned event by answering one of the three contest questions or showing off a team celebration, then post it publicly on Instagram using #USSSABringTheHype and tagging @usssabaseball and @eastonbaseball.

POST YOUR REEL WITH

#USSSABringTheHype

Tag @usssabaseball · @eastonbaseball

Parents, my advice: hand your player the phone.

Kids are wildly creative with video these days. Let them run with this one. If they're answering one of the contest questions, encourage them to let their personality come through. And if they're showing off a celebration, give us the dugout energy, the inside jokes, and help them with that ridiculous transition they insist is going to look cool.

Entries are judged on hype, creativity, editing, and engagement (relative to follower count).

Bring the personality. Bring the creativity. Bring the Hype! 🔥

🔥 WHAT'S UP FOR GRABS?! 🔥

🏆 GRAND PRIZE

2027 EASTON
HYPE FIRE

Valued up to $449.99

Brand-new. Fresh out the wrapper.

2ND PLACE

$100

EASTON GIFT CARD

3RD PLACE

$100

EASTON GIFT CARD

4TH PLACE

$100

EASTON GIFT CARD

ENTRIES CLOSE AUG 30 · WINNERS ANNOUNCED SEPT 2

So, if you're headed to a USSSA event before August 30, you've got a Reel to make. Make it Hype Fire worthy. 🔥

📄 VIEW THE OFFICIAL RULES

02 A QUESTION FOR YOU

The Car Ride Home

This week's question came to me on my own car ride home.

I dropped our boys off for their very first day of school this past week.

We've homeschooled their entire lives, and after years of spending our days learning, traveling, exploring, and simply being together, suddenly I was sitting alone in the car.

I looked at their empty seats in the rearview mirror, then back at myself and realized that for weeks, I'd been thinking about everything this new school year would bring for them: new teachers, new friends, new teams, new challenges.

But sitting there alone, it occurred to me that somewhere in all that change for them, was also a transition happening for me, too.

Whether you're heading into work, working from home, caring for younger kids, or suddenly finding yourself with a quieter home like me, we're all adjusting to a new rhythm in our family life.

And before the afternoon rolls around and we become shuttle drivers to practices and activities, oversee homework, figure out dinner, and do everything else again, I think it's worth taking a minute for ourselves.

To breathe. To exist. To remember that we're people outside of all the things we do for our kids.

So, this week's question is for YOU:

CAR RIDE HOME · FOR THE PARENTS

"What's one thing I want to make more room for in my life this school year?"

Maybe it's getting to the gym a few times a week.

(Built Different Mental Fitness for the whole family is coming back soon… maybe hold off on that gym membership). Or drinking your coffee while it's still hot. Starting something you've wanted to do. Having dinner ready before practice. Seeing friends more. Sitting in silence for twenty minutes. Getting ready for deer season. Whatever.

It doesn't even have to require more time. It could simply be something you want a little more of in your life.

For this one, you're allowed to answer selfishly.

So sometime this week, as you pull into the parking lot to pick up your kids from school or practice, look at yourself in the rearview mirror and ask the question. You don't need a profound answer or a five-point plan.

I asked myself that question on their first day of school, and honestly… I'm not sure yet.

I've never experienced this parenting milestone before. For the first time in years, I have a little extra space in my day that's just mine, and I don't think I want to decide what to fill it with yet. Maybe that's what I'm making room for this year… the freedom to explore, try new things, and see where this new season takes me.

Then Turn It Around

And if you want to keep the conversation going when the kids climb back into the car, turn it around:

FOLLOW-UP · FOR THE KIDS

"If this school year came with one 'try something new' ticket, what would you use yours on?"

I asked my boys. Their answers were learning to play an instrument and making Minecraft video builds for their friends. And just like that, I'm researching music lessons and how to record video games…

I have a feeling the answers to these questions will be all over the field for parents and kids alike. I'd love to hear yours. You can share them with me at [email protected].

We spend a lot of time here looking beyond the scoreboard for our kids. Maybe every once in a while, it's worth doing the same for ourselves.

03 FROM THE PLAYBOOK

📚The Countdown

Part Three of the opening ceremony speech.

Last week, the countdown became real.

About 300 games left. Somewhere in those games, a last one.

This week, the countdown moves from the field to the stands.

Chad asks 2,200 players to turn around and find the people who helped get them there.

← Missed Part Two? Catch up ↗

PART THREE

THE PARENTS

Opening Ceremony Speech · By Chad Scott

Players, I need you to do something a little uncomfortable.

Somewhere in this stadium tonight are the people who got you here.

Find them. Go on and find them in the crowd.

JUMBOTRON SLIDE

THEIR COUNTDOWN IS
SHORTER THAN YOURS

Because here's a number for the moms and dads:

You've got a countdown, too.

Yours is the number of times you'll get to watch that kid play.

Every tournament weekend can feel endless with the coolers, the hotel breakfasts, the sunburns, the folding chairs.

And then one day, it just… ends.

By the time a kid graduates high school, so much of the everyday, in-person time they'll spend with their parents has already happened. What comes after starts to look different.

Players, those people in the stands drove you at five in the morning today. They paid for this.
They froze in March and burned in July for a game they don't even get to play.

So tonight, when you see them, say thank you like you mean it.

That's not a suggestion.

That's your first assignment as an All-State athlete.

EDITOR'S NOTE A MESSAGE FROM MARY

Beyond the Speech

There are a lot of things our kids never see.

They put on the clean uniform. They don't see the load of laundry that ran the night before.

They climb into the car before sunrise. They don't see how much earlier our morning started.

They play the tournament. They don't see the calendar rearranging that happened to get them there.

And that's okay.

They probably shouldn't notice all of it yet.

They're kids.

Parenting isn't a ledger we're keeping. We do the things we do because we love watching them do something they love to do.

And I think there's something valuable in teaching our kids to occasionally look beyond their own experience and notice the people behind their opportunities.

That's what I love about what happened in that stadium.

For ten seconds, 2,200 players stopped looking at the field.

They turned around.

They searched the stands for the people who drove them, paid for this, sat through the rain, packed the coolers, and kept showing up.

And Chad didn't ask them to understand every sacrifice that was made.

He asked the players to do something much simpler.

Notice them. And say thank you like you mean it.

Maybe that's something worth practicing beyond the ballpark, too.

Teaching our kids to notice the people behind the scenes in their lives.

Not just their parents, either.

Their coach who got there early.
Their sibling who spent another Saturday at the ballpark.
The umpire. Grounds crew. Whoever.

They won't always see everything people do for them.

But they're old enough to start noticing…

And every once in a while, we should remind them to turn around.

NEXT WEEK · WHAT TO DO WITH THE COUNTDOWN

04 THIS WEEK'S SPOTLIGHT

Player of the Week

The long road back to the game he loves.

LANDON JOHNSON

Lookouts 9U · playing 8U AAA

Two years ago, six-year-old Landon Johnson was hit by a truck while riding his bike, breaking his tibia and beginning a long road back to baseball.

After six weeks in a cast and hours of physical therapy learning to walk normally again, Landon worked his way back to the field.

Today, at 8 years old, he's healthier, stronger, and helping his team wherever he's needed. His family says his mindset is entirely focused on baseball, and after everything it took to get back to the game he loves, we think that's something worth celebrating.

Congratulations, Landon!

👉 READ LANDON'S FULL STORY

As we wrap up this week, I keep coming back to two moments from this issue.

Players, turn around and notice the people in the stands.
Parents, look in the mirror and notice yourselves.

This week was about noticing. Noticing the people around you, and the person you sometimes forget to check on.

Keep showing up for them. And every once in a while, remember to show up for yourself, too.

SEE YOU NEXT FRIDAY

📬 WRITE BACK

Answered the Car Ride Home question yourself? Made a Bring The Hype Reel we should see? Or just something you want us to know?

Send it our way. We'd love to hear from you.

✉ [email protected]

"Bring The Hype" Reel Contest

🔥 WHAT'S UP FOR GRABS?! 🔥

The Car Ride Home

Then Turn It Around

📚The Countdown

Beyond the Speech

Player of the Week