September 29, 2024

By Melissa Verge

Canadian Baseball Network

Eternally grateful.

Those words were written in a card to coach Marco Bianchi one season from the parents of a young boy who had lost his love for baseball.

Under Bianchi’s coaching style, he learned to love the sport again.

That was a memorable year for Bianchi, a coach with the Toronto Playgrounds Association, when he looks back on his time coaching. The player was one of two kids who came to him that winter, going through the motions, having lost the enjoyment they once had for the sport.

By the end of the winter, the passion they once had for baseball was reignited under his patient and encouraging coaching approach. That’s always been the real reward for Bianchi, who was recently awarded an Ontario Coaching Excellence Award from the Coaching Association of Ontario.

Their smiles were back, and so was their love for the game.

“It was never about the winning and the losing,” Bianchi said, who runs his practices in a lighthearted manner that helps develop a camaraderie on the field. “I’m there for the players, the athletes to help them reach their goals.”

The 36-year-old, who has been a youth coach for a decade, has made an important impact with the Toronto Playgrounds Baseball Association. For 10 years he’s been helping young ball players in the province reach their goals on the baseball diamond.

Although it’s more than just about the stats for him, he’s had quite an impact on those as well during his time coaching. He took his team with the Toronto Playgrounds Baseball Association from a .500 season at 10u A to a 37-8 season at 11u A, going on to win a bronze at the provincials.

Bianchi was one of 15 recipients of the coaching award, which included Kathryn Carlone, Sergeant Derek Brown, Renee Bausch, Katja Mathys, Micha Patenaude, Jack Sasseville, Roger Slomke, Tristian Reid, Yulissa Agudelo, Sarah Steinke, Mark Zaragoza, Kaylee Wedge, Micah Bradnam and Jeff Francis.

Francis, a former major leaguer and Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer, coached his daughter with the 15U Lucan Ilderton Athletics. The pitcher played 11 seasons in the majors, including with the Toronto Blue Jays.

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For Bianchi, his love for baseball began as a young kid playing t-ball.

Although he retired from his playing days before he was 15 after the fairness of the coaches came into question, that love never went away.

He thought about it, and regretted leaving the sport every day, he said. After university, he began his coaching career, with his own experiences influencing his current approach on the diamond.

Fairness is at the core of his coaching practices, he said.

“Everyone is going to have the chance to be a starter, have the chance to get the most repetitions in if they work the hardest and they put the effort in,” he said.

It’s a coaching style that’s been applauded and recognized with many awards. Coach Bianchi was also the recipient of the Baseball Ontario Coach of the Year in 2019 and 2022.

The recognition is nice, but for him, the biggest reward is in helping players accomplish their goals and have fun on the field.

“Seeing all these kids that came and trusted me with their development, and then me being able to help them reach their goals…that’s got to be the whole package there,” Bianchi said.