Kado's reviews are a mix of 5s and 1s for all the right reasons. It's like Snowbird's 1star ad campaign about being "Too Advanced" or having "No Easy Runs". https://www.struck.com/work/snowbird-one-star/ At Kado, my kids learn on every play in practice and games. Their baseball IQ surpassed mine before age 11. They do conditioning at practice and even between ABs at the cages. There is not a wasted moment. Coaches Tim, Vince and Kado alums hold players accountable for their effort and mental focus. It's the opposite of coddling. Some kids thrive (5s). Some can't hack it (1s). read more

Kado baseball has been a Game changer for my 10-year-old son. The coaches know baseball on a professional level and successfully pass this on to all of their players. They are no frills, direct, and straightforward in training players to become athletes. Kado not only teaches them excellent baseball technique, but life skills that will help my son become a strong, respectful and respected human being. This team is not for someone who likes to have their kids coddled by a coach. Just come out to the field and you will be amazed at the organization and teamwork with baseball drills and the unspoken level of respect from the players to the coaches and back. Thank you Kado for helping my son become a man. read more

My son joined this club last year and so far I've been impressed. I am not able to take him that often but all the times I've been able to, all I witness is professionalism and expertise. Yes, they're tough and hard on the kids but it's never rude, offensive nor belittling. My son will be the first one to defend his coaches if asked about these false claims. This is actually what we need as he's already been in enough sports clubs where he's coddled and rewarded for mediocrity. This may not be the club for you if you want your child treated like a baby. He's now interested in the sport more than ever which directly translates to his growth both in the sport and his adolescence. Also since Kado encourages them to watch their brother's back, he has formed genuine friendships with most of the kids in the team. Lastly, I've always felt what we're paying is fair for the impressive growth my son is going through. Pls keep up the great work Team Kado! read more

My son joined Kado travel ball last year. The coaches are professional, straightforward and strict. The playing positions were arranged fairly with each player given the equal opportunities to try out. At tournaments the coaches were active with mistakes addressed directly and feedback given immediately. My son has ultimate respect towards his coaches, so do I. I have spoken with parents who have followed Kado for years with their children and come from hours away, only heard great things about the coaches and organization. If you are looking for coaching with TLC, Kado might not be for you. If your child is in for the hard work and growing to be a stronger player mentally and physically, try Kado. read more

I'm pleased to be an early reviewer of this organization. I know that glowing and positive reviews are surely coming and they will be the result of Donny arranging them. The Kado coaching culture is one of insult, humiliation and intimidation. Doesn't matter if the player is 8 or 18. Donny sets this culture for the entire organization. There's a reason he was fired from Palo Alto High School's baseball program after just one season. Donny berates his players and intends to publicly humiliate and demean them. I have heard him repeatedly curse at his players and ask humiliating questions of them, like "Do you speak English?" Donny seems to care about more about money than anything else. Most of his emails (full of typos, run on sentences and spelling errors) are about money. He adds players to very full rosters to collect more money. I have seen tournament rosters of 18+ kids. Donny teaches his players how to cheat at the game of baseball. He instructs these KID pitchers to intentionally hit other KID batters. Again, KIDS. Ironically, this is how he thinks the game should be played. Donny takes credit for all of his players successes, but accepts no responsibilities when there are short comings. If his team wins a tournament, it's due to his amazing coaching. If they lose a game, it's because they're out of shape, lacking dedication, lacking baseball smarts, or simply unable to properly play the game of baseball. When Donny's players receive accolades, he takes all the credit. Really though, some of his players arrived to his program, having been well trained by prior coaches and their own fathers. He is not solely responsible for their development and deserves no credit. In fact, Donny does not really care about development at all. He says he does, but his actions do not attest to that. An 11 year old makes a small error, he gets berated and benched. Clearly, 11 year olds are not fully developed players and should be taught, not berated. Donny runs a business, where cash payments get discounts. Come to your own conclusions about that. Donny is vindictive. Parents are constantly kissing up to him (and I'm sure some of those parents will write glowing reviews here) because they fear negative repercussions for their son. If you, the parent of a player, somehow upset him, he will take it out on your son. And your son will be penalized with playing time or publicly humiliated. When Donny talks about Kado being "ohana" - that doesn't apply to everyone. It only applies to people he likes. Everyone else is just there to pay his bills. Donny mocks and makes fun of his players, especially the weaker ones. He does not do this to be light hearted or funny. He's a mean bully. If your son is not a strong player, just know that Donny is making fun of them, mocking and humiliating them in front of other players and coaches. He is a bully. He depletes the love of baseball from these kids. Players come to him, believing his speeches about development and training. The emotional bullying and verbal abuse cause players to dread going to practices and games. Eventually, a game they once loved, becomes something they hate. Avoid this organization. Avoid their camps, clinics, tryouts and everything they're associated with. Donny is a TERRIBLE role model and should not be around kids (or morally grounded adults for that matter). read more

We joined the Kado Baseball 12U Columbia team this year. Baseball has always been my son's favorite sport and he was so excited about joining his first "club" team. We were initially impressed with Donny because at the first meeting he spoke about team work, respecting each other and building strong fundamentals. He also mentioned a few former Kado baseball players that went on to play college and professional level, but that didn't matter so much to me. My point is that he put together an impressive first speech. It went all downhill from there. I don't know much about baseball so I didn't know how to gauge a well-run club team vs a bad one, so I'm writing this review to warn any parents that are considering Kado to seriously think twice before investing a lot of time and money into an organization that is poorly run, an owner that berates his young players, is disorganized, and doesn't deliver on what he promises. Take practice for example, at any given field practice, Kado has at least 4-5 teams practicing on one field. There is only so much a player can do to develop their skills or for the team to practice real game situations. Very rarely did we see any pitching practice. Due to the limited space on the field, they primarily focused on pick-offs and fly balls. We found out once the season started, that the long running joke with Kado's 12U team for the past two years is that they have been mercied almost every game and that was certainly our experience this year. We won one game and were mercied on all the others. Not even lost, but mercied. We were required to pay for two tournaments a month but we rarely made it past four innings. Regarding the coaching, we usually had only one coach at the games. I'm not sure if that is the norm or not, but we noticed that other club teams had 2-3 coaches. My impression is that Donny is only concerned about the money. He could care less about developing players. Almost every email was about upselling or money. Towards the middle of the season, our son did not see the point in going to the practice because he wasn't getting anything out of it and had no excitement for the games either. However, we made him stick with it because he made a commitment to the team. We're glad this season is over but it was a lot of wasted time and money. read more

One issue with Kado is that Donny has a really bad attitude. The biggest issue is that he passes it on to his players. We played for Kado for one season. Not only do they not teach teamwork, they LITERALLY pit the kids against each other. When one of the other kids started a fight with my son the coach not only didn't stop the fight, they were laughing and seemed to enjoy the fact that the boys were fighting each for a spot in the infield. The turnover on this team is incredible so I am not alone in my assessment. I could go on and on with stories, but I will just say that there are plenty of teams out there...keep looking. The vast majority of people who play for Kado leave and regret the experience. My son says that he would rather quit baseball than play for Kado again. That's a huge statement...he loves the game. read more

Kado Baseball is a pay-to-play travel ball team. The coaches regularly encourage parents to sign up for private lessons (with Kado coaches) in addition to the regular practices. Kids who pay for the private lessons tend to play more and play key positions, even if they are not the strongest players. Cash is preferred by the coaches. The head coach moved to Hawaii, but his lieutenants are trying to sustain this club (and their income). read more