Healthy athletic development.
SkanStrength Baseball & Softball Programs
Player development for young athletes who love the game.
The SkanStrength Coaching Philosophy
Healthy Development in a high pressure day-and-age.
Our Programs Are Built for Families Who:
Want their child to keep playing and improving — without the pressure and commitment of travel ball. Who have a kid that watches YouTube to learn a new pitch grip, dedicates time to practice on their own, and just needs guidance. Who maybe watched their player struggle with confidence this season, wrestle with fear of failure, or start to pull back from a sport they clearly love — and wants a coach who can help them find their footing again.
No tryouts. No year-round obligation. Just quality coaching for young athletes who care about the game.
How We Approach Development
Development is the long-term progression of a young person — physically, mentally, and emotionally — through sport. Our approach is rooted in psychologically healthy coaching, age-appropriate physical progression, and fun.
We set high expectations and hold young athletes accountable — but we push them through encouragement, confidence-building, and helping them develop their own drive to get better, not through fear, shame, or tough-love tactics.
We meet each kid where they are, respect that they all grow at different rates, and keep things flexible so they can play other sports, take breaks, and stay healthy. The goal is a young athlete who works hard because they want to, loves the process of improving, and stays in the game for years to come.
Coaching Professionalism
Our lead coaches hold advanced degrees in exercise science, sport pedagogy, and education, with professional backgrounds in collegiate athletics, strength and conditioning, and youth development.
We've studied how young people grow, how skills develop, and how confidence is built — and how quickly it can be broken by the wrong approach.
We bring that knowledge to every session, paired with the kind of coaching that makes a young athlete want to come back tomorrow.
Upcoming Camps, Clinics & Programs
Coach Dan Flanick, MS
Dan Flanick is the Associate Head Baseball Coach at Cayuga Community College and has been around the game his entire life — over 25 years of playing and coaching. A former catcher who earned a scholarship to play D2 baseball at Molloy College, Dan stepped away from the game after losing a family member and experiencing burnout. That time away gave him perspective — and when baseball called him back to the diamond, he brought everything he'd built in the years between with him.
Dan went on to become a Strength & Conditioning Coach working in the collegiate sector at Cornell University and Baylor University as a graduate assistant, followed by opening SkanStrength where he trains youth through several professional athletes and everyone in between. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Exercise Science from Ithaca College and a Master's degree in Sport Pedagogy from Baylor University.
His combination of physiological and strength & conditioning understanding, pedagogical background, and baseball acumen make the programs highly unique and comprehensive — including all facets of the game from catching competency, hitting approach and technique, strength and conditioning, and heavy doses of sport psychology best practices built into the programs he runs.
Coach Phil Madvek
Coach Phil is a coach with 25+ years of experience with pitching and instruction. Phil grew up in Northwest Indiana where he began playing baseball at 6 years old and eventually earning a scholarship to Division II Purdue Northwest University.
In 2017, Phil earned his Bachelor of Science-Biology from Purdue University, where he then began his coaching career with the Pride. He worked with Dave Griffin and Shane Prance to develop a velocity and strength program for the Pride.
After his stint at PNW, he had the opportunity to coach in Palm Springs where he coached top
prospects through NCAA/NAIA/Junior College Athletics. His time there was developing collegiate athletes to move them on with their already recognizable statistics and to provide them the opportunity to move onto conferences throughout the country.
Madvek’s summer opportunity brought him to Ohio, where he was a strength and conditioning
coach and assistant pitching coach as a graduate assistant at Tiffin University. With the Dragons, he was under Joe Wilkins and Brandon Cantrill, where he worked together with them to develop a strength/velocity program to get them to winning the conference tournament his first season. His experience kept the team in the running with statistics all around conference and injury free throughout the season.
Madvek’s latest experience brough him to D-Bat Mokena as a pitching instructor/coach. He moved to New York in 2020 where he is currently a Science Teacher in the Syracuse City School District and a pitching instructor throughout Onondaga County (SkanStrength).
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