ABCA 2026 Downloadable Schedule

Posted on by David Navarre

The American Baseball Coaches Association conference will be January 8-11, 2026, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio.

This is my second year creating a version of the schedule you can give to your coaching staff that the can fit in their pocket to decide which sessions to attend. The subject to modification, but this is the current compiled version. This is likely most useful if you’re bouncing between session types, but it can also be useful just to keep track of your own schedule. I find something useful in each type of session. If you’re not an ABCA member and want to join, click here!

How it’s organized:

All sessions – main stage, expo stage, youth sessions, panels, FCA events, and diversity workshops – are all listed on the 4-page spreadsheet. They are sorted by start time. Sessions are not all the same length. There is a column at the right, so that you can mark down who on your staff is going to which session.

What I did:

I used ChatGPT to build the spreadsheet, with guidance and editing by me. It was much easier than last year’s cut-and-paste.

Here it is as a PDF you could print:

abca-2026-scheduleDownload

As a spreadsheet you can edit:

abca-2026-scheduleDownload

ABCA Trade Show

This year, you also get easy access to the Trade Show floorplan. I highly recommend making your list of vendors to visit — you can print a list from the floorplan — and make sure you allocate plenty of time to walk the Trade Show floor to see what’s on offer and meet old & new friends.

Vendors, there are still spots available! Reach out to Juahn Clark, ABCA Trade Show Director
at (336) 821-3143 or jclark@abca.org, pictured here with small vendor Michael Dobre who sells a great breaking ball trainer (https://dobrebreakingballtrainer.com/)

Meeting New Vendors at ABCA 2025

Posted on by David Navarre

Every year, I hunt around the Trade Show floor trying to find innovative products and interesting vendors. I want something useful, and a story to go with it. This year is no different!

RITEND Bat Weight

Almost hidden in the corner of the Trade Show Floor is RITEND Bat Weight, staffed by new President, Jakob Lindemann, son of the founder, Skip Lindemann. Skip always stressed getting your hands through the ball when coaching his son and his teams. So, he developed a bat weight for the right end of the bat – the RITEND bat weight is down on the knob. Jakob’s recent engineering change to the weight was to go from aluminum to steel, allowing a more compact weight. It’s easy-on, easy-off and is worth a look to see if it’s the tool for you. See them in Booth #152, in the corner.

Dobre Breaking Ball Trainer

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Back in Asheville, at Bob Lewis Ballpark, I ran into Michael Dobre, who was showing and selling his Breaking Ball Trainer. One of the things that sparked my interest was that Mike is a veteran. He was an Army Ranger (airborne-qualified, too) who was in the 2017 Best Ranger Competition (one of 53 teams of truly qualified soldiers). His trainers are baseballs with a ridge on them to allow players to learn the grips and how to throw the pitch with the best movement. He’s in Booth #118

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I spent some extra time, talking to his Dad, who served in the Marines. I always carry my coin for Jordan Haerter, so I shared with him the story of Haerter and Yale in Ramadi – the “Six Seconds” speech that General Kelly gave. It was great to be able to share that story and talk about developing youth both through Scouting (I was a Scoutmaster before I was a baseball coach) and through baseball.

While I was there, Juahn Clark, who is the ABCA Trade Show Director, happened by to share how much his daughter enjoys using the trainers that Mike developed for softball. Designing his softball trainers involved a lot of research and Juahn testified that they both work AND are liked. He noted that a good tool that players don’t like might as well not exist.

Trade Show Coaches Social

Don’t forget, the Trade Show floor will shut down for an hour to give them a break before reopening for the Social Hour at 4:00pm. Your drink tickets are attached to your badge!