The Olympic Camp in Surprise, Arizona, which sees a group of twenty Italian prospects at work, in particular pitchers and catchers, together with an extended technical staff, guests of the Kansas City Royals, is also an opportunity to seal, after the one with the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club Foundation, a very important partnership for the inclusion of Italian athletes in the American scholastic and academic world.
The collaboration between the
Italian Baseball Softball Federation and MyNextPlay, a non-profit organization
that has taken on the task of helping high school students achieve their goal
of playing baseball or softball in college, has in fact been made official. The
mission is to connect high school students with the planning and recruiting
resources that can support them on their journey to college.
Founder Brian Grey, a veteran of Information Technology in the San Francisco area and a lifelong passion for baseball, created MyNextPlay.org (a California public benefit corporation) to help high school student-athletes more easily access the college planning and recruiting process. Having spent many years in leadership roles in digital media and sports technology, Brian brings a diverse range of experience to help address the biggest challenge facing youth sports today: ensuring every kid has the opportunity to play the sports they love for as long as possible.
Grey, who used the Olympic Camp opportunity to first connect with players from Club Italia LA28, explained: “As a big fan and developer of technology for developing and distributing information for the college planning and recruiting process, I realized how difficult it is for so many talented kids to be considered, to enter the college pipeline. The reasons are often the lack of resources, of experience in the family, of opportunities to access recruiters in general and I have worked hard to build a system that can partially open more access. If these obstacles exist for many in the United States, they are even more so if they are faced by those who come from abroad, from completely different school systems. MyNextPlay was created precisely to help them, providing different types of support. This structured collaborative relationship with the Italian Federation is the first of its kind and I trust it can produce interesting results in the medium term.”
How does the system work?
“First of all, I would like to point out that the fundamental part always remains the direct relationship with the kids: there is certainly a format, but each case, each person presents their own specific needs and I and those who collaborate with me always keep this in mind. The main elements through which the MyNextPlay tutors, the MNP Advisor program, are first of all the kids themselves; we provide them with specific and personalized advice that starts in high school and we walk with them through the process of being chosen by colleges for baseball and softball, we help them build their profile, to present themselves in the best possible way to recruiting coaches, to choose the options that are best for them, to never give up, because failures are to be made part of the daily routine, but at the same time for every door that closes, there are many others that can open, if we truly believe in ourselves. We also explain our program to parents and we want them to always be involved, aware that the opportunities to grow as athletes and people are many and at various levels, that access to a simpler school program can still be the best choice at a certain point and then become the springboard for the kids. We also provide coaches from different organizations with information on students/athletes and, of course, we are continually looking for donors to support our scholarships and give concrete help to families along the way.”
Specifically for Italy, how is the project structured?
"Here in Surprise - Grey replies - we are getting to know and collecting information on athletes who are already permanently in the Club Italia program, several of whom already have important experiences. This type of player is obviously not excluded from the MyNextPlay/FIBS collaboration. The main model is however focused on athletes in the first years of high school, who have a strong desire to follow this path with us. The Italian system, with a five-year high school, integrates perfectly with the American system, which has four. In fact, it is possible to aim for a fourth year in the USA, to learn English well and graduate, being able to then return to Italy and attend the last year, with the final high school diploma and during this best prepare and realize the college career in the United States.
This is the path in which we want to support those who want to commit to follow it.”
In signing the collaboration agreement, FIBS President Andrea Marcon wanted to thank Brian Grey for the opportunity: “I am very pleased and grateful to Brian for choosing us as a pilot country. For us it is a responsibility that, I am sure, our kids will not disappoint. As a Federation, it was clear from the first contacts in August that having an organization at our side that shares in synergy with us every step of the various training paths and fully understands the problems that a student/athlete finds himself facing when he wants to try to fulfill his dream overseas is a very important added value. The transparent cultural approach proposed by MyNextPlay, which follows kids and families from the beginning, from the first idea of trying, and follows them step by step even in the small daily things is fundamental for the final success, but also to understand as soon as possible if it is actually the right path. It will be a great growth experience for our talents and I am sure that very incisive ‘technical’ fruits will arrive for the Azzurri events, but also for the entire movement.”
Brian Grey will be present at CON-X
2025 to illustrate in detail to the athletes, their families and coaches the
various steps of the FIBS College Pipeline and the support work made available
by MyNextPlay.org.
MyNextPlay
Photo: Brian Grey with Matteo Bocchi in the Surprise Stadium (gcpfilms)
Marco Landi
