The Benedict College baseball team's effort to build the on-campus baseball field received more media attention recently. The national magazine Coaching Management featured the story of the field which was built by baseball student-athletes and coach Selwyn Young.

Below is the article in its entirety:


When a coach talks about building, it usually involves establishing tradition, helping players master new skills, and developing leaders. When Selwyn Young, Head Coach at Benedict College, discusses building, you will hear about shovels, rakes, dirt and grass. In the four years since he took over the Benedict program, Young has built new homes for his team, converting an overflow parking area into a field by setting small goals and involving players in the construction process.

When Young was hired in January 2009, the team's on-campus baseball “facility” consisted of one portable batting cage in the school gymnasium. Benedict played its home games at a local municipal stadium and practices were held at a variety of nearby high school field in Columbia, S.C. Bouncing from high school to high school for workouts grew old quickly, and Young decided the  team needed its own place to call home.

As part of its master plan to build new athletic facilities, the school had previously designated a parcel of land for a baseball and softball complex. However, after the football stadium was completed, there was no funding left for baseball/softball project and the land was used to accommodate overflow parking for football games.

“I knew that the land was reserved for us, so I asked Willie Washington, our Athletic Director, if I could get started on building a field,” recalls Young. “I don't think he thought I was serious. He told me, 'Go ahead, but we don't have any money to help out with it.'”

Undeterred by the lack of financial backing, Young gathered his team and explained the situation. “I told them, 'Unless you want to keep driving around to practice, we have to get started on creating ourselves a field,'” says Young. “So that fall, practice consisted of players lining up with buckets to remove piles of rock and debris from the field, which was on a rough, rocky stretch of soil.

“Getting started was the hardest part,” he adds. “There was so much to do and it was hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel. The amount of debris was overwhelming.”

Working side-by-side, the players developed camaraderie and team chemistry. They also got to know their new coach and his way of thinking. “When the players first looked at that piece of land heard my idea, they thought I was crazy,” says Young. “But after a few days working together, they started to see the vision and began to buy into what we were trying to accomplish.

“To get buy-in for a project like this, I learned that planning it with your kids and addressing it slowly, section by section, allows them to see the vision a little more clearly,” he adds. “It starts with letting your players know that the project is designed to benefit them.”

Young says setting small goals was the key to keeping the project on track. “Every week, I would write down what I wanted to accomplish,” he says. “For instance, on our first day after cleaning debris, I decided that I wanted to build the pitching mound-if a pitching mound was there, it would be recognizable that we were building a baseball field.”

As work progressed and the facility began to take shape, others began to notice and became interested in helping out. One alum donated $35,000 over the course of two years and a number of boosters joined in for weekend work sessions. Young has contributed $4,000 to $5,000 out of his own pocket each year.

By fall 2010, the field was operating as Benedict's full-time practice facility and hosted the team's alumni game. Mean-while, Young and his players continued making improvements with hopes of one day hosting regular-season games.

“Schools officials didn't want to approve it for competition right away because it was rough around the edges,” explains Young. “Then in early March 2012, our school president told me he wanted to tour the facility. We walked around and he said, 'There's really nothing wrong with this. I didn't know you were this far along with the project. What do we need to do to play?' I told him all I had to do was chalk the lines and we'd be ready to go.”

On April 21^st, Benedict hosted Claflin University in the school's first-ever on-campus baseball game. Though the Tigers lost both ends of a doubleheader, according to Young, they did so with smiles on their faces.

“It was a moral victory for sure,” he says. Having a home field gave it a whole different atmosphere-instead of 20 people watching, there were close to 200 of the players' families and classmates watching them play.

“Next year, we'll be able to play all of our home games there,” continues Young. “I'm looking forward to having it be a fan-friendly experience with an announcer, tailgating, and kids running around as part of a family atmosphere.”