Meet Coach Duke
Coach Duke Baxter
- CEO/FOUNDER of ZONED Inc. & Dominate the Diamond -
With 4 decades of baseball experience, Coach Duke’s knowledge is deeply rooted in all aspects of the game. Duke has played baseball both collegiately and professionally where he’s received numerous accolades and awards.
Today, he dedicates his career to developing athletes both at Zoned Sports Academy in Bridgewater, NJ, the training facility he founded, and through books and videos with Dominate the Diamond®. His love of the game translates into his coaching philosophy and approach. Whether he’s teaching kids, parents or other coaches he’s inspiring, motivating, fun and humble. His positive coaching approach has been a great motivator for players, parents and his peers. Coach Duke has instilled his philosophy of teaching and sharing in the creation of Dominate the Diamond® Courses as well as videos all over social media.
His goal is to help every baseball and softball player, coach, and parent get educated, motivated, and then dominate on and off the field!
Residence:
Zoned Sports Academy Bridgewater, NJ
Youth & High School
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Bridgewater-Raritan High School
College
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University of North Florida
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At the University of North Florida, Duke holds numerous hitting records. He led the nation in doubles with 31 in 1997.
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Graduated with a degree in Business Management & Health Administration.
Professional
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3 years of professional baseball with the Madison Blackwolf & Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League.
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‘Rookie of the Year’ for Madison Blackwolf.
Achievements & Other Notes
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Amazon #1 Best Selling Co-Author- ‘Taking on the Title of Coach’
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Coached and Trained over 50,000 baseball and softball players for over 2 decades.
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Duke holds 2 United States patents for baseball and softball training aids.
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Has trained All-Americans, US Olympic players and all levels of collegiate athletes.
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Creator of 'Dominate the Diamond®'
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Professional Hitting, Fielding Instructor at Zoned Spots Academy for (15+ years)
Amazon #1 Best Selling Author
Central New Jersey’s own Duke Baxter and Steve Nikorak have joined forces to tackle one of the most daunting tasks of parenthood, taking on the title of Coach. Every parent that has stepped up and accepted the responsibility to coach their child’s youth baseball team has felt that warm sense of pride and excitement, soon to be replaced by sheer terror. What am I going to do with a bunch of 7-year olds!
This book is for anyone trying to be an exceptional coach and every parent who has taken on the title of “Coach” but didn’t have a clue what to do next. Duke Baxter, former professional baseball player and CEO of Zoned Sports Academy and Steve Nikorak, former professional baseball player and Coach at Zoned Sports Academy share their coaching wisdom in a simple 5-step guide for even the most reluctant of sports parents.
Taking on the Title of Coach covers everything from running an efficient practice, development through fun drills and skills, and in-game management. It teaches coaches how to communicate with their players and how to impart the different life lessons the game offers. These coaching insights are the grit that makes the difference in coaching. For example, when one of our players hits a line drive to the center fielder and it’s caught, the stats book says 0-1, but we count it as a quality at bat, or QAB. We need to keep the game fun so we can get kids off the video games and electronics, outside and playing hard.
