For more than a decade, Jason Sekany has always found his way back to USA Baseball.

His roles have changed, the age groups have changed, and the players have changed.

But the purpose has remained the same: help players learn, develop, compete and ultimately give them an opportunity to represent their country.

Sekany first joined a USA Baseball national team staff in 2013, when he was selected to coach the organization’s inaugural 12U National Team. Looking back, that first opportunity to join a national team staff in 2013 was just the beginning.

“It was an incredible honor to be asked from the get-go,” Sekany said. “The opportunity to be able to travel internationally and the opportunity to be able to represent the country is something that I was very excited about and certainly wanted to contribute to as much as I possibly could.”

Since then, he has been a part of six national team staffs and helped Team USA capture five gold medals along the way, as that first experience established a connection that would continue for years.

When asked what has kept him coming back to USA Baseball, Sekany joked that the answer was simple.

“An inability to say no,” he said with a laugh.

Behind the humor, however, is a genuine connection to the organization and its people.

“I’d say that the community that’s created within the organization, not only the administrative staff, but also the coaching staff, and then the opportunity to not only work with super talented players, but to be able to take that talent and mesh it together in a team environment with a singular goal to go win a gold medal in international play is just something that you can’t find anywhere else,” he said.

Winning gold has certainly become part of the experience.

“After winning that first gold, it’s an experience that you can’t really describe, but that you want to continue to chase,” Sekany said.

But that’s not the only reason he continues to return.

“More than that as a coach, you really want that experience to be offered to and given to players that haven’t had it before,” he said.

Over the years, he has coached players ranging from 11-year-olds to members of the 18U program, and, in 2026, the Women’s National Team. Each group has brought a different perspective, but one quality has remained consistent.

“The thing that’s consistent, I’d say, across the board, is obviously the talent level,” Sekany said. “But the desire for information and the interest in learning is really what’s intriguing as a coach.”

That willingness to learn is what allows Sekany to share the knowledge and experience he has gained throughout his own playing and coaching career.

“That’s really what we want to be able to do, is share the knowledge and experience that we have,” he said. “Not only from our own outside coaching and playing experience, but what we’ve gained through USA Baseball and to have a platform and an audience that really desires that.”

While working with players across the organization, Sekany has also had the opportunity to watch some of them progress to the highest levels of the sport.

One of the most memorable examples came during the 12U National Team 2015 gold-medal run in Taiwan, when Sekany served as an assistant coach and worked with Nick Kurtz. Kurtz took the mound in the gold-medal game and was the winning pitcher, but it was a moment after the game that stayed with Sekany.

He remembers a picture of Kurtz sitting on the team bus with an American flag wrapped around his shoulders, completely exhausted after giving everything he had to the game.

“The level of exhaustion and having just given absolutely everything that he possibly could to win that gold medal or to contribute big time to winning that gold medal was just kind of an exemplary moment of what everybody is willing to do,” Sekany said.

Another memorable player came much earlier in Sekany’s USA Baseball journey with the inaugural 12U National Team in 2013.

“We had Anthony Volpe on that team as our second baseman and probably was the smallest player on our team,” Sekany said. “An outstanding competitor, but to see him move through the system and move through the process, and obviously make it to the big leagues, is outstanding.”

Watching players such as Kurtz and Volpe progress through the sport has provided some of the most recognizable examples of what can come from a USA Baseball experience. But their stories are only part of what Sekany values most from his time with the organization.

Many of the players who come through the USA Baseball pipeline go on to have successful careers at the highest level, but those behind-the-scenes moments are what stand out most.

“The conversations that we have about the small stuff during these events are really, I think, the things that stand out,” he said. “That exposure and that information, helping some of those guys to move on to the next level is probably bigger to me than the individual big-name exciting players.”

Years of working with players at different stages have also shaped how Sekany teaches.

His experience coaching at the youth level, along with his experience working with his own son as he came through the game, has helped him understand that development is not simply about giving players as much information as possible. It is about understanding what each player needs and finding the right way to communicate it.

Finding that balance has become an important part of Sekany’s coaching philosophy.

“Being able to put it into terms that is palatable, that is applicable for them, given the level that they’re at,” Sekany said. “So, it’s really striking a balance between not limiting their development, but also not overwhelming them with too much information.”

That approach now carries into another important part of his USA Baseball career.

As the Northwest Regional Director for the National Team Identification Series (NTIS), Sekany has the opportunity to identify and develop players who could one day become the next generation of Team USA athletes. Through the NTIS, Sekany helps introduce those players to an incredibly unique experience that could provide once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.

“Being directly involved with sharing that opportunity, sharing that experience, and exposing those players to how USA Baseball is a different opportunity and experience than what they get through tournament play or some of the other larger organizations that are more focused on the individual player,” Sekany said.

“This is truly about the common goal and about the team,” he continued. “And so, to be a grassroots part of that is something I really value.”

That value of paying it forward to the next generation can be seen in the players he has helped develop, the coaches he has worked alongside and the relationships that have continued long after a tournament ended.

Looking back on more than a decade with USA Baseball, Sekany hopes he has been able to give the organization the same level of commitment it has given him.

“I hope I’ve been able to reciprocate the commitment to not only the greatness, I guess, for lack of a better word, of the experience for the players and the commitment to a gold medal standard, which is what we’re targeting,” he said. “There’s nothing short of that.”

At the same time, he recognizes how much the organization has given him in return.

“I’m grateful for that opportunity, for the belief in my ability to contribute at so many levels of the organization, and the number of things that I’ve taken away from the relationships with staff and players,” Sekany said.

Sekany has been there as new programs began and through many championship moments. He has coached future Major Leaguers, shared knowledge with players at every stage of development, and helped them understand what it means to be part of a team representing their country.

While many things have changed throughout his more than decade-long USA Baseball career, Sekany’s purpose has remained the same: help players learn, grow, and discover just how far they can take the game.

And after all these years with USA Baseball, Sekany is still saying yes to new opportunities, new players, and another chance to give back to the game that has given him so much.