When it comes to high school baseball, most college and professional scouts tend to focus primarily on private and suburban schools. While the majority of the top players come from these schools, prospects in the city don’t get much attention.
That’s where organizations like Intentional Sports come in. It is a nonprofit that provides opportunities for Chicago’s youth, not just athletically, but also educationally. Intentional Sports has a 10-acre sports complex in the North Austin neighborhood with 150,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor facilities.
The Jason Heyward Baseball Academy, whose namesake is the former Chicago Cubs outfielder who was a member of the Cubs’ 2016 World Series championship team, is part of Intentional Sports. But its director is Sam Incandela, a 1995 Fenwick High School graduate. Incandela, who was a member of the school’s last all-male graduating class, played baseball as a middle infielder for legendary Friars’ coach Dave Hogan.
“My junior year, we were preseason-ranked number two and my senior year we were preseason number one,” Incandela told Wednesday Journal in a phone interview. “The biggest thing was that Hogan and all the coaches made me feel comfortable from the very beginning. I feel like coach Hogan helped influence my style and philosophies.”
After graduating from Fenwick, Incandela joined the Indiana University baseball team as a walk-on. During his freshman year, the Hoosiers won the Big Ten championship. In his senior year, Incandela earned a scholarship, was named a captain, and was voted IU’s Most Valuable Player. He made the Big Ten All-Academic Team three consecutive years and upon graduation joined the Hoosiers’ coaching staff for two seasons.
“I had some opportunities to be an assistant coach at other colleges,” Incandela said. “But then I met Ron Coomer, who was playing for the Cubs at the time. He had an academy in the south suburbs, and I became a hitting coach there. It was another opportunity for me to learn a lot from Ron and other big leaguers.”
His experience with Coomer encouraged Incandela to create his own baseball and softball academy, based in Glenview and Northbrook. For 15 years, he developed players of all ages and skill levels.
In 2020, he served as assistant baseball coach for Northwestern University. It was there that he developed connections which would lead him to Intentional Sports.
“[Intentional Sports’] CEO [Andy McDermott] and president [Austin Carr] graduated from there, as did the soccer coach and basketball director,” Incandela said. “They were looking for a baseball director, and my name came up as a good fit. The rest is history.”
Incandela, who has been at Intentional Sports for almost a year, became the director of Heyward’s baseball academy.
“Jason was heavily involved in the creation of Intentional Sports,” Incandela said. “When I came in to interview, I met Jason and [McDermott], and we kind of hit it off.”
On Jan. 20, Heyward and Incandela conducted a free clinic for Chicago middle and high school players. There were 16 participants, which Incandela thought went great. The idea was for the participants to display their skills while the staff created videos to send to college coaches.
Incandela believes the clinics have excellent growth potential in attracting more student-athletes.
“We’re only getting started,” he said. “The goal is to get players from the Chicago Public School system that might not be able to afford the high costs associated with travel baseball nowadays and marketing themselves to college coaches. It’s a start. And for them to be able to meet Jason, Curtis Granderson [retired Major League Baseball player who’s from south suburban Lansing], and Roger Steele [Chicago golfer] and talk with them while getting advice and words of wisdom afterward was even more special.”
Incandela says he immensely enjoys helping youth from underserved communities, and he can’t think of a better way to do it than by teaching the sport that opened doors for him. The best part for him is that Intentional Sports’ programs are low-cost and affordable.
“In many sports, it’s becoming expensive to play travel,” Incandela said. “We’re changing the narrative around a little bit, understanding the kids need a place, they need an outlet. There’s a lot of talent, and if we give them that avenue, they will be getting the recognition like the private and suburban schools.”
For more information about Intentional Sports, visit intentionalsports.org.