Coaching at Faith Academy allows baseball coach Ellis to share the game he loves

CAPTION: The Hill Country Renegades, a select baseball organization started by new Faith Academy of Marble Falls baseball head coach Rob Ellis (back row, fourth from left), has five teams including this one. The squad includes Cade Osloond (front row, left), Zane Conley, Owen Martin, Wade Butts, Braxton Dicken and JA Whittle; coach Brian Tiemann (back row, left), Kade Landry, Braxton Blair, Ellis, Austin Ellis, Weston Starke, coach Kyle Landry and Crawford Mattox. Courtesy photo

New Faith Academy of Marble Falls baseball head coach Rob Ellis repeated the question as he mulled his answer.

“Why the Faith Academy job?” he said. “I have a multitude of other things going on that are baseball related. My son is going to Faith for the first time. There’s a couple of boys I’ve been coaching for a decade. It’s an opportunity to continue to be around these young men. And I don’t have the time for a job at a university.”

Baseball has played a significant role in Ellis’ life. He grew up south of St. Louis, Mo., where the St. Louis Cardinals are to that state what football is to Texas, he said. As he grew older he played in the American Legion Baseball, which offers a variety of teams for players ages 13-19. At 17, he joined the military. After that, he started a softball team and recruited high school coaches to play with him.

When he made his way to the Highland Lakes, he wanted to give boys the opportunity to play the sport without having to pay the high cost. That’s when he started the Hill Country Renegades that now has teams for five different age groups. And that’s when he made the decision to charge about a third of what families would pay to play for other select teams. The Renegades also committed to helping families raise the money if they needed it.

“It’s a labor of love,” Ellis said. “I recognized that young men in the area didn’t have the opportunity to play travel ball because of economics. We don’t want money to be a reason why they can’t play athletics. Select ball is done once they reach 14. I’d been coaching my son’s team for several years. We’re transitioning into high school. I’ve been (coaching) for a long time. I’ve never taken a paycheck. I do pay the coaches.”

Meanwhile, he realized that in order to provide the complete experience to the Renegade players he wanted, creating a facility was a priority. So he and his wife built their own field of dreams complete with an indoor facility, batting and pitching cages and other accessories common to baseball clubs.

“They have a place to keep working out,” the coach said. “We were competing with teams and didn’t have the same resources they did. I designed the plans, how big it was. My wife and I rolled out all the turf and glued it. I will never do this again. I wanted a place for people and young people to have a place to go and be active.”

That’s really where the lab work begins, he added.

“I’m totally fascinated with athletic moments, performances and how to teach people to maximize their bodies,” he said. “I still play competitive sports. I’m intrigued with biomechanics. Baseball gives me a classroom. It gives me the opportunity to stay connected with athletics.”

The Renegades travel throughout the state to face solid competition. At the same time, the organization continues to give Ellis the joy it always has. And he believes coaching the Flames will allow that joy to overflow.

“Baseball in my adult life has allowed me through coaching to stay connected to the game I love,” he said.

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