GameChanger Baseball & Softball Podcast

Today on the show we have the head coach of Creighton Baseball, Ed Servais. Coach Servais is a graduate of Wisconsin La Crosse. After college he found his first collegiate coaching job as an assistant at Saint Mary’s in Winona Minnesota. He then moved on to start the baseball program at Viterbo before returning to Saint Mary’s as the Head Coach where he stayed for seven seasons. During his time at Saint Mary’s he was named the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. He then moved on to his first DI Coaching position at Iowa State in 1996. He stayed for two season before serving as an assistant at Creighton from 1998 - 2003. He was then named the head coach at Creighton for the 2004 season. Coach Servais is starting his 17th season at Creighton where he’s taken the team to four NCAA Tournaments. He is the winningest coach in program history. During his time as head coach, his teams have committed the fewest errors in the nation while leading the country with a .977 fielding percentage. Coach and i got a chance to talk about a lot of things like changing culture, dealing with conflicting philosophies, creating a team identity and much much more.

Today on the show we have Troy Silva. Troy played baseball at Cuesta College and Lewis-Clark State college before being drafted by the Cleveland indians. He played professional baseball for six years before being forced to retire after two arm surgeries. He then started teaching at Rijo Athletics where he teaches baseball and softball players hitting and fielding. He also teaches coaches and parents about how to teach and motivate their players and children. Troy also runs the baseball family podcast where Troy and his wife share their experiences as a baseball family. We talk more about the podcast today on the show along with how coaches can make baseball fun for their players, how to build confidence, how to avoid unrealistic expectations, and much more.

Today on the show we have the head coach of Tennessee Tech Baseball, Justin Holmes. Coach Holmes was a graduate of Georgia University which is where he started his coaching career as a volunteer assistant. He then moved on to be the hitting coach and first base coach at Mercer. After Mercer he was the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Tennessee Tech before moving up to become the head in June of 2018. Coach Holmes and I got a chance to talk about a lot of things on today’s show like earning respect, investing in your work, focusing on what happens next and much much more.

Today on the show we have the head softball coach at Roosevelt University, Aaron Moore. Coach Moore just finished his 3rd Season as head coach at Roosevelt. Before Roosevelt, spent 7 season with the Chicago bandits of national fast pitch softball as the general manager. Helped guide the bandits to 3 NPF world championships. And, back to back titles in 2015 & 2016. Today on the show Coach Moore and I got a chance to talk about a lot of things like accountability, leadership as action, learning when to focus and much more.

Today on the show we have the head Coach of Florida State Softball, Lonnie Alameda. Coach Alameda is a graduate of Oklahoma University where she played both Softball and Volleyball. She started her college coaching career at Barry University, before moving on to be the assistant coach at Stanford. She then took over as the head coach at UNLV before becoming the Head Softball Coach at FSU. She’s now on her 11th year at FSU. In 2018 her coaching staff won the National Coaching Staff of the Year award, and FSU won the programs first national championship. Coach and I got a chance to talk about a lot of different things like, honesty, transparency, failing forward, connecting and networking, and much much more.

Today on the show we have Moncia Abbott. Monica is a graduate of Tennessee where she was Tennessee Softball’s first softball All-American. She was a four time First Team All SEC. Three-time SEC Pitcher of the Year. She was named to the All-Women’s College World Series team three times. She was named USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year in 2007. She finished her career at Tennessee with 23 no-hitters and six perfect games. She set career and single season NCAA records her senior season with 189 victories, 2,440 strikeouts, 112 shutouts, 253 appearances, and 1,448 innings pitches. In 2002 she was a Gold Medalist in the Pan American Championship where she was named MVP. And she won gold medal again in 2007. She won gold medals at the WBSC World Championship in 2006, 2010, and 2018. And, she won a silver medal in the 2008 Olympics. Her list of accomplishments just goes on and on. Monica and I got a chance to talk about a lot of things like, learning to refresh, her time in Japan, her advice for younger players, how she keeps her arm healthy, and much more.

Today on the show we have a special interview with the Head Coach of the 2018 Little League World Series Championship team, Gerald Oda. Coach Oda was the head coach of the 2018 Honolulu Little League team. He and I got a chance to talk about a lot of different things on this episode like, teaching players to accept different roles, the concept of we, greater than me, keeping his team focused, life lessons, and much more.

Today on the show we have Kelsey Stewart. Kelsey is a graduate of Florida University where she was a two-time First Team All-American, three time All SEC, and SEC Player of the Year in 2015. She’s a 2018 & 2016 WBSC Women’s World Championship Gold Medalist, and 2014 Silver Medalist. She’s currently a member Team USA Softball. Kelsey and I got a chance to talk about a lot of things like working on weaknesses, focusing on the fundamentals, becoming a well-rounded player and much more.

Today on the show we have Valerie Arioto. Valerie is a graduate of the University of California. Her collegiate accomplishments are almost too long to list so I’ll only talk about her senior year where she was an Easton Softball First Team All-American, an NFCA First-Team All-America, and a Pac-12 First Team All-American. She was also the Pac 12 Player of the Year, named to the USA Softball Top-50, Top-10, and Top-3 watch list for Player of the Year. She’s won 2 Silver and 2 Goal Medals at the WBSC World Championship. She’s a 4-Time World Cup of Softball Gold Medalist. And, she’s currently a member Team USA Softball. Valerie and I got a chance to talk about a lot of things like her support system, getting an outsiders perspective, keeping things simple and much more.

Today on the show we have the head baseball coach at the University of Houston, Todd Whitting. Coach Whitting is a graduate of Houston. He started his college coaching career as an assistant at Houston before moving on to be the assistant, and then the associate head coach at TCU. In 2011 he came back to Houston as Head Coach. During his career he’s been a part of programs that won 21 conference regular-season and tournament championships, competed in 17 NCAA Regionals, six NCAA Super Regionals and one NCAA College World Series. In 2018 he was named the American Coach of the Year. Coach and I got a chance to talk about a lot of things like the will to win, life skills, the mental side of the game, what it takes to build a program, and much more.

Today on the show we have the Head Softball Coach at Texas A&M, Jo Evans. Coach Evans is on her 23rd Season at Texas A&M. During her time there her teams have been to the NCAA postseason 19 times including 3 trips to the College World Series. She’s had 22 thirty win seasons with 18 straight since 2002 and she’s had 11 seasons with 40 or more wins. She’s been named the Big 12 coach of the year 3 times and she was inducted into the NFCA Hall of Fame in 2015. Coach Evans and I got a chance to talk about a lot of things like humility, getting outside your comfort zone, doing the hard thing, and much more.

Today on the show we have the head Coach of Florida State Softball, Lonnie Alameda. Coach Alameda is a graduate of Oklahoma University where she played both Softball and Volleyball. She started her college coaching career at Barry University, before moving on to be the assistant coach at Stanford. She then took over as the head coach at UNLV before becoming the Head Softball Coach at FSU. She’s now on her 11th year at FSU. In 2018 her coaching staff won the National Coaching Staff of the Year award, and FSU won the programs first national championship. Coach and I got a chance to talk about a lot of different things like, honesty, transparency, failing forward, connecting and networking, and much much more.

Today on the show we have the Head Softball Coach at Bethel University, Penny Foore. Coach Foore is a graduate of Concordia University where she was a 2-time captain and fourth all-time in Home Runs. She started her college coaching career at Appalachian State where her team broke records in 11 different hitting categories during her tenure as hitting specialist. She then moved on to become the Head Coach at Bethel. She’s now on her 5th season as head coach. During her time with the team she led the Royals to the 2015 MIAC Championship, the first in the program’s history. The program also set a new overall winning percentage record of .651. Today on the show Coach Foore and I got a chance to talk about a lot of things like getting to know your players, setting boundaries, team and player expectations and much more.

Today on the show we have the head coach of Texas State Softball, Ricci Woodard. Coach Woodard started her playing career at Central Arizona and graduated from New Mexico State. She started her coaching career at the high school level before moving on to be an assistant coach at Oregon for 4 years. She then moved on to be the head coach at Texas State University where she’s on her 19th season as head coach. During her time at Texas State her teams have won 12 Conference Championships and 8 Regional Championships, and she’s been named Coach of the Year five times. Coach Woodard and I got a chance to talk about things like learning to pick the right battles, getting buy in from your players, team standards, learning to listen and much more.

Today on the show we have the Head Coach at Stetson Baseball, Steven Trimper. Coach Trimper is an alumni of East Connecticut State where he was part of the 1990 Division III national Championship team. He started his college coaching career at Vermont before moving on to bed the head coach at Manhattan College. He then moved on to be the head Coach at Maine before being named the Head Coach at Stetson in 2016. Coach Trimper is on his third season at Stetson. In 2018, Stetson tied their school record for most wins in a season with 48. And they finished the season ranked in every national poll. Coach Trimper and I got a chance to talk about a lot of things like relationships, core values, the compete factor, connections, loyalty, and much more.