Sunday Morning Chat: West Broward Head Coach Sergio Ambros

West Broward head coach Sergio Ambros took over the program last summer, and his enthusiasm has spread throughout the Bobcats team. West Broward brings a 15-3 record into the final two weeks of the regular season, and this week, Ambros sat down with Anthony to discuss his aggressive coaching style, a loose attitude around the team and various charitable events that the Bobcats team takes part in. Enjoy!

Anthony: Alright, you’ve been a well-respected assistant coach for a long time. Tell me what emotions you were feeling this past summer when you got the head coaching position at West Broward?

Coach Ambros: It was a goal of mine, that if I could come back to being a head coach, that West Broward would be the ideal place, knowing the school so well and the kids. The seniors I have now been with for three out of the past four years. So, it was very emotional that I was given the opportunity to get this job, and it just worked out. And this is the only place that I would want to come back to be head coach at.

Anthony: You followed the team last year and like you just stated, you knew most of the players coming in. What was the first thing you changed when you took over?

Coach Ambros: Our conditioning program. In the past, coach Moss had more of a running type of program, more long-distance running. He also was a cross country coach here, so a lot of the baseball players would also train with the cross country team. I went back to hiring a conditioning coach who works with JD Martinez and a bunch of ex-major leaguers and stuff like that. He came in with a specific program just for baseball players including speed drills, agility drills, all baseball-oriented. He also had a program for the pitchers. So that was the one thing that we changed almost immediately when we came in.

Anthony: How about discipline? Was there anything that had to be adjusted there? Is there anything that you’re doing differently in regards to discipline?

Coach Ambros: No, not really. I mean, they basically self-discipline themselves. We have what we call a jar. There are predetermined disciplinary actions, self-punishments, from running a mile to doing wheel barrel runs, among other tedious chores or drills. The players know if they break one of our team rules, I don’t issue the punishment, they pick it themselves out of the jar. They go in there and without looking, whatever comes out, they self-discipline themselves. We try to treat it that way, where they know what they are getting into, going in.

Anthony: Changing gears to on-the-field coaching style. How would you describe your style of coaching to someone who has never seen your team play?

Coach Ambros: Aggressive. Expect the unexpected. Without giving too much away, there are things we do that are not very conventional sometimes. And I think sometimes when teams first see us, they get caught by surprise. Once teams have seen us a couple of times, then they expect the unexpected from us.

Anthony: You’re an emotional coach in the dugout. And from what I’ve seen this season, your players feed off that emotion. At times, it has been a good thing, but is there also times that playing at such a high level of emotion can be detrimental?

Coach Ambros: Sure, absolutely. You have to really scale it back sometimes, and know your players, and know who you’re dealing with when it comes to the emotion. Obviously, you know if you have a senior, you can push them a little harder. Today we’re calling up a freshman and I know I can’t get too over excited, or too emotional. I have to keep an even keel. You’re right, they feed off of me and I like to give the appearance that nothing really effects me, and they feed off of that. I’m not too high, not too low, but if I need to get on them, I will. And they know that.

Anthony: You look like you have a lot of fun on the field when you’re out there. What is it that brings that joy about?

Coach Ambros: Aw, it’s a game, and we try and tell the boys, baseball is a game, lets enjoy it. This is what we’re here for. I try and bring a summer type of atmosphere. In the summer, we’re a little bit looser, we can have fun, we can enjoy the game. If we’re always brow-beating them and all that stuff, we’re not going to get the optimum out of them. We like to make them feel a little more comfortable, and if they’re a little bit more laid back, not laid back, but comfortable, they’re able to, I think, perform for you and be loose in general. But absolutely, yeah, I love having fun. I tell the kids that I’m the first one that likes to have fun, but I’m also the first one to let them know when it’s time to get to work.

Anthony: Following up on that, do you think maybe that’s a mistake that many high school coaches make, where they differentiate so much from the summer, and they put a more strict plan in place for the high school season?

Coach Ambros: Absolutely. Lets be realistic. These young men realize that the most important thing right now in today’s type of high school baseball is summer ball. So, one of the things I try to instill here is make it as fun as possible, to bring back the school pride, to play for the school pride. And along the way, we’re going to have fun. If you brow-beat them, they’re gonna say, “Coach, I don’t need this. I’m gonna play summer ball and that’s where I’m going to be seen most of the time anyway.” So you try and make it fun. You try and make it family-oriented. We do a lot of things together, you know, off the field both charity work and fun stuff. You know, today we had breakfast. We had breakfast at 7:30 together, all of us here at school. So, we do stuff like that to try and make it as fun as possible.

Anthony: Being a summer coach also and now coaching high school, do you have any thoughts that you’d like to see the high school game become more prevalent again like it has been in years past?

Coach Ambros: Yes, of course. Obviously, in a lot of your previous Sunday Morning Chats, the coaches have discussed this issue. We need to get to a system where we get those games back that have been deducted. We need to get these young men into that minimum 25 games exposure. 30 would be ideal. And that gets you closer to a summer number and more exposure.

Obviously, colleges cannot visit as often during the high school season because they are in season as well, and they’re limited by their recruiting rules and stuff like that. But yeah, we have to find a way, whether it’s playing double-headers on Saturdays, or something else. If it truly is about the cost and that’s what the BCAA and the state is concerned with, then let’s schedule double-headers. Let’s get the softball team to travel with the baseball team and save on that transportation cost. So those are ways to offset the cost and be able to get us back to that 25-30 games. But absolutely we’ve got to get to that summer number. We’re not going to get 50-60 games, but if we can get 25-30 games, we would start getting back to making the high school season the most important of the year once again. We need to. We need to.

Anthony: Having been around the county now for a couple years on this side of things, I’ve learned that what you’ve just suggested is easier said then done. What do you think the realistic chances are of creating a movement where you can get those games back?

Coach Ambros: Probably none. I mean realistically, it’s probably none. I would like us to, but it doesn’t seem possible. So, we have to do other things, where it’s more showcases, to get these kids exposed. To give them the same type of, or as close to, a summer feel as possible. Whether it’s more showcases, I know Pat McQuaid does a good job with the BCAA showcase, but that’s not attended like it needs to be attended. So we need to do some during the year. Maybe it’s Spring Break Showcase, stuff like that to expose the kids. Or maybe right before the season starts. I know you guys (High School Baseball Network) have done a great job with your leagues, your tournaments, the fall tournament and preseason tournament were great, and the home-run derby’s, and all those fun things. Hopefully those things will start feeding off each other, and you can organize showcases and stuff like that as well.

Anthony: Moving along to your biggest rivalry. West Broward and Flanagan have become one of the best rivalries in the county over the past few years. What is it that makes these two teams go at each other with such ferocity?

Coach Ambros: The demographics is certainly one reason. Being so close together, there could be two kids that live on the same street and one lives across the street and one lives in the Flanagan zone. The other kid lives across the street, and goes to West Broward, so it’s a natural rivalry. Another reason is it’s always been a competitive game when these teams have met the past couple of years. I go back to 2010, we’re in the district championship game and we go back and forth and end up losing 16-14, and there’s seven or eight home runs and it’s always been one of those things. Then, we play them two weeks later in the regional final and end up losing on a walk-off home run. So, yeah, it’s always been competitive. As of late, they’ve been more competitive against us and have handed it to us a little bit, and we hope to turn that around in the future.

Anthony: Give me one thing that’s unique that you think you do on the practice field that other coaches around the county may not do?

Coach Ambros: Ha, there’s a lot of things, but…well, just out of fun, our coaches, we come out and work out in shorts, and we let the kids work out in shorts. We have a lot of fun. Just this past week, we got our running in after practice with the sprinklers on. Dodging sprinklers, just having, again just going back to having fun. Unique. People say, “Oh, this guy’s just running a circus, a joke out there.” But again, it goes back to being relaxed, having fun, school pride, them wanting to do something. And they know that we are always going to do something different. We spent an hour and a half at practice the other day just doing bunts. Just bunt drills, bunt drills for an hour and a half. And we do that a lot. We separate individuals into individual groups. We treat it a lot like a camp where catchers will work together for an hour, infield for an hour, outfield for another hour. And then they will come and join practice. We work on defense everyday. So, stuff like that.

Anthony: You seem to have good grasp on the fact that these are 16-, 17-, 18-year-old kids, and they respond to certain things much better than maybe the strict discipline. How are you able to, with so many coaches out there trying to impose their will on their players, how are you able to recognize that may not be the way to get through to kids these days?

Coach Ambros: Just seeing a lot of these kids over the summer. Seeing that with our summer organization that I coach, the South Florida Elite Squad, we have gotten the most out of them in a high-atmosphere type game, high-pressure game without having to control every little thing. We get them to be calm, loose, and I see how that works in the summer, so why not have that attitude in the spring? It’s not like we do exactly like we do in the summer, we still have the structure, but we try to keep it loose. We have to keep it loose for them. And I think that’s the biggest thing for them and they really have responded for us with that.

Anthony: Your team is kinda flying under the radar despite it’s 15-3 record. Why do you think that is?

Coach Ambros: Probably strength of schedule. I don’t think we have the respect yet. A lot of people would say we haven’t really played anyone. I beg to differ somewhat. If you look at the overall record, yeah, the teams that we’ve played, as a group are combined are below .500, but with teams with a .500 record or above, we’ve still gone 6-3. In games of less than five runs, we’re 8-1. So in the close games, we’ve played well. McArthur was a district champ last year. So, when the schedule first comes out and you look at the paper, you go, “Hey, that’s not bad.” We have a couple weaker teams in our district, so that off sets a lot of things as well.

Anthony: Taking over during the summer last year, you didn’t have as much control over your schedule. Is your strength of schedule something you are going to try and change moving forward?

Coach Ambros: Absolutely. Our weakest part of our schedule, if I have as much control as I would like for next year, will be our district schedule.

Anthony: You haven’t lost much this season and this is just your first year as a head coach. So give me some of the things you have second-guessed yourself about so far?

Coach Ambros: Well, a coach will always second-guess themselves every day. I mean I do that even after wins. If anything, I second-guess some of my own decisions in key situations, whether I should of hit-and-run or bunted. I know a lot of coaches with the new BBCOR bats are going to more small ball. I still believe in my kids that they can get the hit and drive the ball. I see them do it in practice. So, we haven’t bunted as much as other teams, or play small ball. If I have to second-guess myself on any one thing, it will probably have to do with the small-ball factor, that maybe I should be playing a little more small ball.

Anthony: You focus just as much with off-the-field achievements of your team as on the field. I know you talked to my brother in the fall of how proud you are of some of the charity work your team does. What are some of the things that you guys do to help the community?

Coach Ambros: Besides coaching in our, and helping the kids in our local miracle league, the disabled kids, the kids with Down syndrome, we’ve brought kids out from our own special ed program here at West Broward, and have them come to practice with us. They come out to the plate meetings at JV games. Sometimes the throw out the first pitch. We’ve gone and take toys to Joe Dimaggio, to the kids during Christmas in the oncology department. We take candy during Halloween and sat down and played games with them and shared our time with them. I think that is so important to give back and the kids really, it gives me goose bumps talking to you about it, know because the kids get so much out of it. When they leave these places, they are fill with so much pride, and they always say, “Coach, when can we come back and do this again?”

Anthony: Lets finish with some word association right now. I’ll give you statement, and you give me the first word or couple of words that come to your mind.

Coach Ambros: OK, this should be fun.

Anthony: West Broward…

Coach Ambros: Building traditions.

Anthony: Flanagan…

Coach Ambros: Tough.

Anthony: Mike Moss…

Coach Ambros: Leader.

Anthony: Best coach in Broward County…

Coach Ambros: That’s a tough one, I know you only want one word, [laughing] but that’s a tough one.

Anthony: Give me two.

Coach Ambros: The obvious choices would be Pat McQuaid and Rich Hofman, but I respect those guys that work and do a lot with so little. Guys like Onel Garcia at Somerset. Guys like Jorge Miranda at Coral Glades. They have to constantly compete with teams like Douglas and Coral Springs for players and stuff like that. So I respect those type of guys that are coaching without the big talent, but they get the most out of their players and are having great years.

Anthony: You snuck four in on me there.

Coach Ambros: Yeah, I guess I did. (Chuckles)

Anthony: If I weren’t coaching, I would be…

Coach Ambros: A statistician

Anthony: And the last one is…a state title…

Coach Ambros: Soon.

Leave a comment using your facebook account!