- July 11, 2025
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The traditional high school experience isn’t suited for everyone, and it certainly doesn’t have to be the only option.
That’s what brought Lakewood Ranch resident Mark Prisco Jr., a rising ninth-grader, to a crossroads.
He moved from Boston to Lakewood Ranch with his family in August. He said he has thrived better as a student in smaller environments.
That led the Prisco family to try homeschooling, but the time constraints of helping their son with his schoolwork was too much for the parents, Lauren Prisco and Mark Prisco Sr., who both hold full-time jobs.
So now Mark Prisco Jr. will enroll in Omnia Sports Academy based in Palmetto.
At Omnia, Mark Prisco Jr. will pair his baseball abilities with a small group educational environment.
Mark Prisco Jr. is ranked as a 7-grade prospect by Perfect Game, which is defined as “a college prospect, possible future draft pick with development.”
Omnia Sports Academy is led by former MLB player Kory DeHaan, who also served as the hitting coach for the Bradenton Marauders during the 2012 season.
DeHaan’s coaching team includes Nick Pressley, a former strength and conditioning coach at the University of Tennessee and the Bradenton Marauders, and Vic Black, a former Major League Baseball pitcher and the current coordinator for minor league pitching skill development and rehabs for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The day at Omnia includes three hours of baseball training and three hours of an accredited virtual school setting to give its students a well-rounded experience.
Lauren Prisco, who has built a career in corporate curriculum development, has been hired by Omnia to round out that experience even further.
Prisco has been involved in adding a trade school element to Omnia that includes training in other professional avenues of baseball, including umpiring, scouting and coaching.
Those classes will be accredited in the same way as any other elective class in high school such as art, theater or law — giving future baseball hopefuls different ways to stay involved in the game they love.
“I always look at it as, ‘What else are you providing them as part of the academics,’” Lauren Prisco said. “If they’re only getting a small portion of academics versus what they get in high school, what are you filling that with? So that’s where the scouting and umpiring come in. It’s called experiential learning, so they’re learning by doing.”
Students at Omnia will have the chance to learn from professionals in the industry. Lauren Prisco has helped Omnia partner with former MLB umpire Ted Barrett and current professional scout Larry Broadway.
They will learn how to use a radar gun, write scouting reports, and have the chance to shadow umpires and scouts in a professional setting.
“These sports academies will help you with the whole recruiting process, but in my opinion, with bare minimum academics,” Lauren Prisco said. “Florida Virtual alone will not get you into a good college, no matter how good of a ball player you are, so that’s why I’m putting these programs in where we’ll have actual capstone projects that the professionals in the industry will be grading and giving feedback on.”
Though her son has yet to start at Omnia, the possibilities ahead are already bringing about a difference.
“The past couple of years I kind of didn’t want to go to practice,” said Mark Prisco Jr., who added that not finding a fit in school was weighing him down. “I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to go do a three-hour practice on a Sunday.’ Now I can’t wait to go.”
Mark Prisco Jr. plans to play for the Lakewood Ranch High varsity baseball team this upcoming season. Though he will miss out on some parts of the high school experience, like being in class, and in-school activities, chasing his dream of becoming a professional baseball player outweighs anything he wouldn’t get to otherwise do.
“I don’t think I’ll be missing out at all,” he said. “I’ll still be playing high school baseball. All I’m doing is putting more work in.”
