During one of my so far 31 visits to the American Baseball Coaches Association Baseball Conventions, I was asked by a very good friend of mine, Tom O’Connell, former President of the ABCA,to join an elite group of coaches who started the International Sports Group over 29 years ago. This was such a great honor. It has always been a passion of mine to be part of helping coaches become better trained around the world. A special thank you to all the ISG board members at the time who allowed me to join their board. (http://www.isgbaseball.com) A special thanks to the founder of ISG Bill Arce, a legend in international baseball who I first met in Belgium when I was coaching the Belgium national team. He really gave me some good advice about coaching internationally.
Later the ISG Board had enough confidence in me to appoint me Vice President. I cannot believe it;thanks to the ISG Board. We continue to work hard looking for sponsors which will allow us to expand around the world.
Tom O’Connell, President
Peter Caliendo, Vice-President
Randy Town, Secretary-Treasurer
Jim Jones- Past President
Rick Steen
Bill Mathews
Pat Doyle
Founder and Senior Consultant:
Bill Arce
More on the history of ISG is listed below.
Our Story
International Sports Group, Inc. (ISG) is a non-profit organization (details below) founded in 1985 by internationally renowned baseball coach Bill Arce. Bill’s passion to assist in the development and growth of youth baseball internationally led to the birth of ISG.
This dedication to the development of youth baseball internationally initially consisted of two programs: the first, organizing youth and COLLEGE
age teams to provide quality competition and player clinics in various European countries, and the second – in recognition that baseball would improve only when coaching improved – addressing the need for increasing the numbers and continuing the education of coaches of all levels. ISG confronted that challenge by conducting preseason instructional clinics in response to requests by many baseball and softball federations in Europe.
This dedication to the development of youth baseball internationally initially consisted of two programs: the first, organizing youth and COLLEGE
age teams to provide quality competition and player clinics in various European countries, and the second – in recognition that baseball would improve only when coaching improved – addressing the need for increasing the numbers and continuing the education of coaches of all levels. ISG confronted that challenge by conducting preseason instructional clinics in response to requests by many baseball and softball federations in Europe.
In the past decade, the off-season instructional clinics have become the main focus of ISG and have created a rich RESUME of exposing European coaches to some of the finest American college and professional coaches. Over the years the speakers have covered a wide variety of topics ranging from individual and team techniques to the psychological and biomechanical aspects of the game. Today’s speakers keep the European coaches up to date with the latest “cutting edge” teaching methods in the ever-evolving games of baseball and softball.
Internationally, baseball has grown rapidly. ISG’s mission is to aid individual clubs and federations in their rapid growth and development – assisting them with their coaching education programs by improving their lines of communication with baseball and softball experts.
The scope of ISG’s programs — dedicated to reaching these goals — is dependent upon corporate sponsorships and individual contributions. The current level of financial support has recently supported eight to nine winter coaching clinics as well as a few in-season programs. None of ISG’s personnel are salaried. Continued support of our sponsors assists in ISG’s commitment to the continued improvement of international baseball coaching.
ISG would not be able to host all these coaching development programs around the world,. Europe, Latin America and Asia with out the help of our sponsors. We are looking to expand around the world. If you like to be an ISG sponsor contact me at petercaliendo@att.net
International Baseball Behind the Scenes 