Conversation with Timothy Lee – Co-Founder of the Shoreline Royals Baseball Program

Coach Tim volunteered to help Shoreline Little League with a skills clinic.
Photo Courtesy of Shoreline Little League

Nicole Schultz, President, Shoreline Little League, sat down with Coach Timothy Lee to ask a few questions

 

Q: Can you give a brief background of who you are and why you started the Royals?

A: I graduated from Shorecrest in 2011 and the UW 2015 and was lucky enough to be an assistant coach at Shorewood School while I was finishing my senior year at the UW. I wanted to find a way to give back to Shoreline while an opportunity to coach a bunch of 12 year olds happened and it evolved from there. The east side of Shoreline never had a “select” baseball program so Brian Hamshaw (then President of North King County Little League) and myself merged our teams to create the Shoreline Royals.

Q: What’s the end-goal?

A: The Royals were built to fill a void in this area of Shoreline. To give an opportunity to play competitive travel baseball at an affordable price. We are able to keep our costs 2-3x lower than anyone else because we are entirely volunteer based – from our back-end admin to our coaches, myself and Brian included.

Q: Besides the pricing – how else are you different from anyone else?
A: I think because our coaches are volunteers, they are doing it for the right reasons. Other coaches do it because it is their job but with our coaches and myself in particular, our hearts are in this for the kids. We also have this family-feel to the program where every player in our program knows every coach and player. For example, we have all our catchers work with Mark Green, a former-professional baseball catcher for the Mariners so they all learn the same concepts and they do it together – whether they are 11 or 17 years old.

Q: How successful has it been?

A: The program has grown and we get more interest from families outside of Shoreline every year to play with us. I am really proud of our retention rate of players being over 90% in the entire program, meaning our kids who are Royals want to continue being Royals. They are having fun here and enjoy the high quality coaching that we provide. But we also win a few tournaments here and there too.

Q: How many teams do you anticipate on having next year?

A: Six teams; it is surreal to think we started this with just one team and we’ve grown this much and this quickly. Hopefully we can fill a 10u, 11u, 12u, 13u, 14u and 18u team next year.

Q: Are you connected with Shoreline Little League?

A: The Royals are not directly affiliated but the majority of our players play for both the little league and Royals. We’re absolutely supportive of them and we often partner with them on coaching clinics or skills clinics. We have the exact same mission of providing high quality baseball to kids in the area.

Q: Why is baseball so important to you?

A: When I was 12 years old, I told my mom I was done with baseball because I just was not having fun anymore. She convinced me to play one more year of little league and that was when Brian Hamshaw coached me for the first time. I fell back in love with the game and then played another four years at Shorecrest. I’m not sure if I’d be where I am today without the experiences and the people I have met through baseball.

Q: If someone is interested in the Royals – how do they join or get more information?

A: Our website has all of that information. We have tryout dates posted already and they can sign up online.