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Re-Release: Jon Gwizdala · From the Coach's Mouth

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At the end of it, when we won that silver medal, the head
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coach turned to me and said, you know, I hope, you know, you were
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a big part of this and, and like, thank me for being there
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and doing that And that that meant a lot to me.
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And it stuck with me. And it's something that I try to
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pay it forward a little bit. You know you can contribute
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without being on the field. Welcome to the From the Coach's
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Mouth podcast with your host Jay Bolden and Ken Krause.
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Hello and welcome to From the Coach's Mouth.
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This is our softball podcast talking about all things related
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to fast pitch softball. I'm Ken Krause from Softball
1:10
Success. With me today is my buddy Jay
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Bolden. Be bold and fast pitch, as well
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as a coach at Saint Xavier University here in the Chicago
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area. Hi, Joe.
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Everybody, Hey, how you doing, Ken?
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Hello, everybody. Thanks again for joining us this
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week. Super excited about our guest
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this week has some serious softball knowledge.
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Definitely somebody that's been around for a while and I can't
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wait to get this episode going, Ken.
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But before that, how are you doing?
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I'm doing great. You know, things are rolling
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along. It's the start of high school
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season here in Illinois, so it's been kind of a light week of
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lessons for me as the girls are out there doing their tryouts
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and all of that. How's the weather up there in
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Chicago? Cold, cold.
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We got a little bit of snow last night, you know, blowing snow,
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icy, all that kind of good stuff, you know, the stuff that
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we love about living here in this area.
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Oh yeah, so then it must be the start of the high school season
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since all that weather is coming in.
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Exactly. That's a funny thing.
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You know, sometimes the parents will say, you know, yeah, I was
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looking at the schedule and we have so many games scheduled and
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a lot of games here in March. And I said, ah, they just do
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that in case there's a nice day, you know?
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But they schedule those with the expectation that they're going
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to lose them so. Yeah, well, let's hope the
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weather cooperates for the both the the high school seasons
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coming up. So hey Ken, why don't you do us
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a favor and give us some background on our amazing guests
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that we have for us this week. All right.
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Well, our guest today has a very broad and interesting
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background. His love of fast pitch softball
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started early when he served as a bat boy for his family's team
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in Michigan, a team that was coached by his father and uncle
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and included his brother and cousins.
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Nice to have a little family business going there.
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He later became a player himself, playing at the highest
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levels of men's fast pitch, including the US Men's National
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Team. Among his achievements with Team
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USA was winning a bronze medal at the 2022 WBSC Softball World
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Cup in Auckland, New Zealand, which is the first medal the US
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had earned in that competition in 22 years.
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In his collegiate years, he also was a baseball pitcher at Delta
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College, where he played on the school's first varsity team.
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He later returned to Delta to launch his coaching career as a
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volunteer assistant for the softball team.
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From there, he served as a pitching coach at several
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schools including Davenport University, Western Michigan
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University, and the University of Toledo.
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He has also worked as a private instructor.
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This year he has returned to his home state as he starts his
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first season in the big chair as the head softball coach at
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Jackson College in Jackson, MI. Ladies and gentlemen, please
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give a warm from the coach's mouth welcome to John Gwisdala,
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hey? Thanks for having me.
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Thanks again for joining us today.
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Was I, I really appreciate your time.
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I know you're busy. We're all busy.
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So putting this together today was just was a chore itself.
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But man, I, I can't thank you enough for for the time you're
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going to give us today. So if you don't mind, I just, I
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want to jump right in if you're OK with that.
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Absolutely. Awesome.
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So if you don't mind, just give us a give us a little bit of
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explanation or tell us a little bit about like how your sports
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journey began, where you started playing baseball, you know, you
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play in high school and then where did the the men's fast
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pitch thing kind of, you know, start for you.
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Well, yeah, as as you said there, I was a a bat boy growing
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up, right? Even even in baseball, I was
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following my my dad coach, my older brother.
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So I was always the, you know, ballpark rap, just run around
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chasing foul balls, bothering people, making people play
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catch. And that's how softball started.
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I started throwing on the side when I was a bat boy.
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I was playing catch with people and making them catch me and
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trying to figure out how to pitch on my own with my dad
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teaching me in the in the in our spare time.
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And then he came home from a coaches meeting one day at 16
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and under tournament that my brother was playing in.
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I was a bat boy and came home from the coaches meeting with a
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Dunham's bag with new cleats and some ball pants and a hat and
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shirt from from one of the coaches of the 10U team and said
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you're you're playing tomorrow. So that's where it started.
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Never really looked back. Played baseball and softball the
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rest of my life until after my sophomore year at college and
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and hung up the baseball the baseball hat and traded in for
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full time softball. Did you originally grow up out
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in Sioux City, IA or were you just out there for a tournament?
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Or so that's the the interesting thing.
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There was no like youth fast pitch in our area.
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And I think there was some out there because, you know, that
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was commonly a place that would host the the boys fast pitch
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nationals. So they would have 10 and under,
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12/14/16 and 18. And so it was, it was in Iowa,
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Missouri, South Dakota pretty much every year and there was
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nothing around here. So I'd play a Little League
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baseball or Pony League and my high school and then just
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practice for a few weeks just on my own, play some catch with a
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buddy and and go out and play nationals with a team from
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Missouri or South Dakota or Iowa.
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And until I got enough buddies around here, probably more.
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High school started taking 16 and under teams full of local
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kids that were high school baseball players and some kids
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that just just wanted something to do in the summer.
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Was it difficult? You know, I mean, you were
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pitching for both, so was it difficult going between fast
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pitch softball and baseball? I think the biggest thing that
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made it doable for me was how much time my dad and I put in
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when I was young. When I was, you know, 12/13/14,
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I was, I was throwing couple hundred pitch bullpens at times,
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you know, getting ready for going out and throwing four
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games, going out and throwing all weekend because that was, I
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didn't have games to get ready. I didn't have a build up.
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And so I got a lot of reps in and I, and I built some good
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movement patterns. And once I got to high school, I
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didn't do both. I did baseball and then softball
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was my summer thing. And so I would, I would only
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play softball a couple times a year.
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So it's, it was, I didn't really do both until I was in college
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at the same time, at least. I, I, I was baseball, then
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softball growing up. And so it was challenging for
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sure. But I think the only way that I
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could have done it was the amount of reps that we put in
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when I was younger. I I it was like riding a bike.
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So you could just kind of walk into it and and just start
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going, yeah, funny thing about that with practicing, right?
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Right. John, you said your your dad
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played a lot too. What?
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What are some of the teams that he played played with back in
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the day? Who did?
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Who are some of the some of the people he went up against?
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So he would always tell me that, you know, he just played local
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ball and all that. So every town had their leagues
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back in the day. And he didn't play a ton of the
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higher level travel stuff, from my understanding, until my dad
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and uncle ran teams later on into the, you know, later 90s,
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earlier 2000s, where they would have a bunch of young guys and
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my uncle would bring in a couple of young foreigners.
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And during league stuff before the foreigners got here to
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pitch, my dad would help out and my brother and cousins would
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pitch. And, you know, if they needed
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somebody to go in that wasn't a young hot head and just throw
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some strikes, my dad was going to go give him innings.
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And then we had a pitcher actually get detained at the
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border because he was from Australia and his paperwork
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wasn't wasn't renewed in time for him to go into Canada.
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And my dad had to pitch in a world tournament.
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And without anticipating it, he was going to coach.
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And hope you brought your glove because you're pitching tomorrow
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against, you know, the Farm Tavern and Broken Bow.
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Who? I'm not sure if you're familiar
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with either of those teams, but they were, they were legit.
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Yeah, I know. I heard you guys talked with
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Rick about the farm. So Yep.
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But Broken Bow was was was one of the teams for a few years.
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I think they were the the Champs that year.
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My my dad got to open up with them.
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How did he do? Did he held his own?
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He did he he held his own for a time or two through and then
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kind of hit the fan. But I was still proud.
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It was, it was, it was the coolest thing in the world for
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me to see him out there pitching against, you know, the team
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that, you know, I at the time, I didn't know like the legends in
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terms of the players, but I knew they were legit.
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Yeah. Yeah.
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You could probably see that just watching them.
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Yeah. So I think it's interesting too,
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you know, I don't know. I think, you know, for at least
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a portion of our audience, they're not even aware that
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men's fast pitch is a thing. Has it been something that you
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know you've had to, you know you've been trying to promote?
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Is it tough to find players or do you think it's it's got a
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chance of maybe growing? So I do try to promote it and I
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try to, you know, get some players involved and, and get
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players on the teams and, and in leagues that already exist.
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I probably need to do more of it personally.
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And I'm on the boys and men's fast pitch committee that is
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hoping to help keep it afloat and promote it for USA Softball
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actually as a player Rep. So yeah, I, we, we do try,
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right? I had a, a young kid reach out
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to me the other day asking about a league here in Michigan and,
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and if I can get them in touch with somebody and put them on a
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team. So, so it's still, it's still
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going. There's a, a few leagues here in
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Michigan and a couple other states around the country.
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You have pretty good pockets of it.
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Let's I want to jump back into your into a little bit of your,
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your playing days back there at Delta State.
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If you don't mind with with baseball.
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Any memories from from back in that day that you want to share
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with us or just something that sticks with you and resonates
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over the years that something that you took away that's helped
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you maybe even as a coach during that time that you didn't even
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know? Yeah, honestly, it was a really
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interesting experience because it was a junior college baseball
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in Michigan similar to my setting that I'm coaching in
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now, right? But my first year we were a club
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team. It was our last year as a club
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team. And I, I actually took over for
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somebody that had had moved on as our club president as a
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freshman. And then I was a starter and I
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started a lot of games at first base or pitching.
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I didn't play first base in high school.
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I, I was APO in high school. So but I've swung in in
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softball. So I wasn't completely
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unfamiliar with that, you know, aluminum thing that they put in
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my hand, but I call them stretching sticks now as a PF.
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That's. Great.
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But no, I, I went from a guy that was in the line up every
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day starting every other game to my sophomore year.
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You know, we had, we had some scholarships, we had a lot of
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guys that were recruited and we were a lot better team.
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And so I was a bullpen guy that didn't throw a ton of innings
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very sparingly used. So I went from in the lineup all
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the time to on the bench a lot. And and that has helped me as a
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coach, honestly, I've been that guy in softball as well.
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I've been the best player on the team.
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I've been the guy that sits on the end of the bench and and
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waits his turn or just cheers everybody on and and does what
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they can as a teammate. So I've been where my players
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are, wherever they are. But the memories that I take and
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the same thing I try to impress upon my players is like, yes, I
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remember some games, some wins and some losses vaguely.
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But I remember the people, I remember the connections I made.
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I remember, you know, the travel.
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I remember, I remember working fundraisers and like the fun
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that we had behind the scenes, just kind of goofing around at
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some of the fundraisers, like the tedious stuff that you have
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to do that you don't really want to do in the moment.
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Like that's the stuff I remember.
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So when our girls don't want to do fundraisers, I'm like,
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listen, I get it, but just make the best of it because you're
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going to look back and remember going through all that stuff
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that you thought was nonsense and and laugh and look back on
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those memories fondly. What do you think was your
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biggest take away so you know you're at when you were, say, a
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bench player, what did you pick up there?
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What was something that really stuck with you that has impacted
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your coaching throughout your career?
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Well, you know, some of my early experiences with the national
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team I had we, we won a, a big game.
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I don't remember where it was. I think it might have even been
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the silver medal. We won the silver medal at Pan
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Am's and I was an alternate so I couldn't even suit up.
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I threw some bullpens throughout the week just to stay ready in
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case of an injury and things like that and to vent some
14:31
frustration, you know, throw a ball pretty hard a couple times
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just to feel good about something.
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And at the end of it, when we won that silver medal, the head
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coach turned to me and said, you know, I hope, you know, you were
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a big part of this And, and like, thank me for being there
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and doing that. And that that meant a lot to me.
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And it stuck with me. And it's something that I try to
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pay it forward a little bit. You know, you can contribute
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without being on the field. You can contribute by keeping
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the energy up, by helping your teammates have their stuff, by
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doing all those things to, to keep people in the game, by
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paying attention to patterns from their pitchers or, or, or
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ours and all the different things in between.
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There's a lot more to it than just those nine players out on
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the field. Every single person in in in
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that dugout can be contributing to the success or lack thereof,
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of a team. More often it's the lack, right?
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Like if you don't have the dugout, the 9 starters, as soon
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as there's a struggle, it's you're done.
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If you've got a good dugout, you've got a good support
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system, it's easier to bounce back.
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And so that, that was one of the biggest things that I took away.
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And I try to help keep that dugout in check myself and, and,
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and encourage those players and let them know like you have
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value. You are more than just a
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softball player, but you're you're a great teammate.
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So what was the transition like going from player to coach?
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I mean, you'd been playing and even if, you know, you
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described, you know, being on the bench, but that's a little
16:01
bit different still, it's a different expectation.
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How did you feel, you know, when all of a sudden you found
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yourself actually, you know, actively coaching?
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It's hard, right? You look out there and see
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somebody struggling and you can't just go out there and do
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it. You can't just throw the ball
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for him. And that's the first time that
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that's ever been the reality where like there is nothing I
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can do physically to just help take over.
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I have to give them the tools I have to give them the skills I
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have to help them be mentally prepared to go into these
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situations. And you know, you take your
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experiences, right, All of the different things I've gone
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through as a player and help them, you know, try and learn
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from your mistakes or learn from your successes by sharing the
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experiences and the perspective. But as much as we're in control,
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right, we, you know, it's our program, we run things we're, we
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don't have control over outcomes as a, as coaches a lot of the
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time. And it's, it's the cool thing,
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but it's also kind of the frustrating thing, especially
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early on when it was like, I can't just throw the strike for
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you. So it that was the biggest
17:15
adjustment was like the itch to just go out there and pitch.
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When we get into a bind, it's like, gosh, I just want to go
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throw some strikes right now because we can't get across the
17:25
plate or, you know, anything like that.
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So the other thing I was wondering about with that was
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did you have, I mean, would you say you had more natural
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ability? When we talked to Lauren Hagar
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last week, she was talking about her transition to coaching and
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just how how she couldn't understand how somebody couldn't
17:44
just do something, she said. I was always able to just do it.
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Was that you and was it difficult then to try to figure
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out maybe somebody that didn't have that ability naturally to
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explain how to do what you were trying to get them to do?
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I, I think yes and no, right? Like I, I, I would say, yes, I,
18:02
I can usually kind of just do it and figure it out when it comes
18:05
to like pitching at least, right.
18:07
But as a hitter and, and even as a baseball player, there was a
18:10
lot that I really struggled with to, to be able to do it.
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So I understand that too. The biggest thing to me right
18:18
now, and it still frustrates me to this day, is the inability to
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see spin. And I just don't understand how
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you can't tell what your ball is doing.
18:27
I mean, I do now like, but it's still like just watch it.
18:33
Yeah. That's the biggest thing that I
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feel like, and I don't know that it's natural, right?
18:37
It's not like, oh, I just can do it.
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And I've always been able to. It's because I've done it since
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I started, right? And that's I, I'm giving lessons
18:45
to 1012 year olds right now. And like, pay attention to what
18:48
your ball is doing and always pay attention to it forever
18:50
because it it'll, it'll catch up to you if you don't.
18:54
Who is? I want to, I want to ask you a
18:57
quick question here and I think this will kind of lead into what
19:00
you're talking about a little bit here too.
19:01
Now you learned how to pitch, right.
19:05
You didn't, you didn't go for lessons.
19:07
Did you know your dad didn't say, hey, let's send you to this
19:09
certain guy because he's going to teach you how to throw a ball
19:12
and spin the ball, right? You did you do that?
19:14
Did your dad send you someplace or did you just kind of figure
19:17
things out? You know, as you're warming up,
19:19
as you're working with your dad a little bit, throwing in the
19:21
backyard or to your buddies that you talked about, how did that
19:24
work for you? Is 99% that second part right?
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Playing catch with my buddies, goofing around, throwing with my
19:31
dad. I always felt like change ups
19:34
are the biggest thing. That's like a super personal
19:36
thing. It's like person to person, they
19:37
they vary. That was just like, I'm just
19:40
going to play catch and figure it out.
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I'm just going to goof around with different grips and
19:43
different, you know, releases and try and figure it out.
19:47
But I did go to Doug, Doug Gillis used to be asked by by
19:52
the by some local guys and, and, and some other pitchers would,
19:54
would do clinics from time to time at different events.
19:58
So it'd be like not lessons, but like go to a clinic.
20:00
Some they just show up to a park and and work with some pitchers.
20:03
So I went to a couple clinics, probably 3 or 4 over the years
20:08
when I was younger. And then I I went to Doug maybe
20:11
twice as like a check in before I went to a tournament at one
20:15
point when I was a teenager just trying to work through a couple
20:20
things. And then my uncle hooked me up
20:22
with Jimmy Doyle, who I'm not sure if you've heard of, but
20:28
from most accounts, Jimmy Doyle was one of the best rise ball
20:32
throwers for a long time and he pitched forever.
20:35
And he was just a competitor and a gamer.
20:37
But my uncle tried to get me with Jimmy to help me work on
20:40
figuring out how to throw a rise ball when I was a young teenager
20:43
because I struggled with it. It's still not my best pitch,
20:46
but it's it's better, I guess, than it was, I hope.
20:51
But yes and no. I did go work with a couple
20:54
people, you know, that were quote UN quote experts, right?
20:56
And, and I went and and and and did do that to try and refine
21:01
some things or break down some walls that I wasn't necessarily
21:04
progressing through naturally with playing catch and trying to
21:07
figure it out. But for the most part, yeah, it
21:09
was like, hey, I'm going to figure this out.
21:11
I'm going to learn this. I worked with my dad and we just
21:14
threw, we played catch and worked on feeling smooth and
21:20
that's, that's what it was, you know?
21:22
And I think the, the reason I asked you that is just because
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you know, as, and I'm sure you, you realize this too, working
21:27
with some people doing instruction.
21:30
I get the goofiest looks when I tell kids and parents, hey, I
21:35
want you to just play catch underhand with your dad today.
21:38
And they look at me as if I have like 4 eyeballs and four ears
21:42
and, and I'm like, you just, you have to feel what's going on.
21:46
And it also helps you read your spin.
21:48
And they look at me, I'm like, you're a pitcher.
21:50
Why would you not be playing catch underhand?
21:53
Just to see how you feel with what's going on, how your body's
21:56
moving, where your foots going to land when you throw and play
21:59
catch underhand instead of just pitching.
22:02
And, you know, I think, you know, those are some takeaways
22:05
that that that I use with them all the time.
22:07
And it's just the the the looks I get is just incredible.
22:11
And I'm like, does this make sense?
22:13
You're a pitcher. This is what you should be
22:15
doing, how you learn. So that's kind of why I asked
22:18
you that, you know, And I also think too a little bit and you
22:21
know, I'm going to get into your coaching background here a
22:23
little bit too. I think in the softball world,
22:25
Ken and I have a really good friend and I think you might
22:27
know Darren Dobsky, He he made a comment one time in this group
22:32
that that we collaborate with that the difference between
22:36
baseball players and softball players is that there's too much
22:39
hand holding going on in softball, baseball and, and, and
22:44
especially during the summer in the men's when, when you watch
22:47
the men's game, you're not going down to talk to your third base
22:50
coach when you got runners on 1st and 3rd, you know what I
22:53
mean? Like, and I think that's that's
22:55
why I asked you as like, you know, sometimes I always say,
22:57
you guys, you got to kind of figure it out and go and do put
22:59
this time in in, in yourself. And I feel like at the softball
23:03
level, I agree with Darren. Like, I really feel like, you
23:05
know, we almost hand hold them a little too much.
23:06
How do you feel about that? Yeah, I I think that's that's
23:10
the quote UN quote natural ability is like, does it do you
23:13
move naturally? Can you just play catch?
23:15
Do you just play catch? That's it.
23:17
That's a huge point. I'm glad you mentioned that
23:20
because that is something that I try and to make our kids do and,
23:23
and even college girls, they'll come in and, and I'm like, let's
23:26
just play some catch. And I'm like, what?
23:27
And they, and they get super robotic and mechanical and they
23:30
got to go through their full pre pitch delivery to play catch.
23:34
And I'm like, no, but we're playing catch.
23:36
So, you know, it's, it is a skill, I guess.
23:38
And it's something that we, we work on and it does help you
23:41
just move naturally. It's like, I want to see what
23:43
you actually move like, not what you think you should be moving
23:46
like when you're trying to be a robot.
23:48
And, and, and that is huge. But one of the things that I
23:52
actually heard Trevor Bauer talk about the same thing in baseball
23:56
with pitchers. And he's like, I watch how
23:59
middle infielders warm up and they just go play catch in there
24:01
and they're moving and throwing on the move.
24:03
And just like catch it, you catch it down low.
24:06
You, you throw it down low. Like they throw from different
24:08
arm slots. They throw off balance.
24:11
And that's how they're able to like you, you, you take a
24:15
position player and you put them into pitch and they can throw
24:17
strikes. Pitchers can struggle to throw
24:21
strikes more than a position player at times.
24:22
And it's because a position player is just used to just
24:24
throwing off off balance and off schedule.
24:26
Like it doesn't have to be perfect.
24:28
And so many pitchers, if anything's not right, if it's
24:31
not perfect, I can't pitch. I don't know how to make an
24:34
adjustment. I don't know how to just over
24:37
overcome that little imperfection in my emotion right
24:39
now. And, and it's because I don't
24:42
just play catch. I don't throw off balance ever.
24:44
I don't throw, you know, when my timing's a little bit off ever.
24:48
Because I don't just goof around.
24:50
I I'm a robot. Well, I mean, how many softball
24:54
pitches have you seen that struggle to, you know, they give
24:56
a comeback or and they struggle to throw it to first base, You
24:59
know, they got to throw it 30 feet that.
25:01
Happens sometimes, you know, I'm better when I got to throw 50 or
25:05
60 feet than I am when I got to throw 20 or 30.
25:07
I'm I'm better off taking, I'm going to fire a strike at their
25:11
shins from 30 feet away and they're not going to be happy.
25:17
So you got to have a good first baseman there.
25:20
It's funny, you know, John, I'm going to bring this up.
25:22
When I saw you out in South Bend a few years ago when you were
25:25
pitching and I'm watching 1 of this, I forget what other team
25:28
was out there playing and I saw a play made by the first baseman
25:34
where the ball kind of squeaked away from him.
25:36
He grabbed that ball and he didn't even throw over him.
25:38
He just threw it. He threw a strike to the to the
25:40
catcher underhand for a perfect play for A tag on a home plate.
25:44
And I was just floored. I'm like, that's it right there.
25:47
You know that guy. I mean, that's all he does when
25:49
he when when you're warming up, he's picking up and they're
25:51
chucking it underhand everybody. And it was a strike.
25:54
If he would have tried to throw that overhand, he probably would
25:57
have missed and never would have got to play at the plate.
25:59
It was it was awesome. It was fantastic to see things
26:02
like that. And that's I think what you're
26:03
talking about, like mess around a little bit.
26:05
I think that's a great thing. Exactly if.
26:08
You don't mind. I do want to start breaking up
26:09
getting into when you got involved in coaching at, at the
26:14
softball level, you, you went to to Central Michigan and you were
26:18
a volunteer coach there. What were, what were some of
26:21
your roles there at Central Michigan and how was it moving
26:25
from that baseball side to softball?
26:26
I'm I'm guessing pretty easy since you did both, but go ahead
26:28
and let us know about that experience.
26:30
I was actually a practice player there, so didn't really do
26:34
coaching. If I noticed things here and
26:38
there, I would tell Margo coach, coach Yonker legend at at CMU,
26:43
if she told me, you know, if if I noticed anything like to let
26:47
her know and and and we'd talk through it.
26:49
And there were a couple times where she'd be like, all right,
26:51
yeah, you go ahead and tell her that.
26:52
And then there are other times where she'd just kind of take
26:55
take it, take take note of what I was saying.
26:59
But no, I mostly caught bullpens.
27:00
I threw batting practice occasionally and just watched
27:04
and observed and was part of practices.
27:07
So I got to see how things ran at that level and how, you know,
27:12
practices were structured and, and how they went about their
27:15
business as a business. And, you know, took that and
27:19
compared it to my own baseball background.
27:21
Like my high school, my high school, basically western high
27:24
school, we had great baseball and softball.
27:26
They still do. My my practices there were more
27:29
structured than my college practices and they're more
27:32
structured than some of the college practices I've been a
27:34
part of as a coach. And so those things kind of
27:37
helped me in transitioning into it.
27:40
Being a coach is like, I've seen practices of different,
27:44
different levels be organized different ways.
27:46
And, and I've, I've seen things that I like and don't like and
27:50
taken, taken them and, and run with them.
27:52
But working under Margo there and Jessica Bracamante, who was
27:57
my head coach at Toledo, really helped, you know, see, how they
28:02
just conducted themselves and how they interacted with their
28:04
players was the biggest thing. And then did they give you any
28:08
kind of, you know, like sort of training or intro to this sort
28:13
of ease you into it or give you guidance along the way or was it
28:16
more you just kind of observed and synthesized a?
28:19
Lot of trial by fire and and trial by error, right?
28:22
A lot of just figuring it out. Even even when I started with
28:26
Delta, I worked at the outfielder some I'd hit hit the
28:31
worst fly ball fungo in the world for a few days and then
28:34
kind of got better and figured it out and worked on drop step
28:38
drills and and some stuff was catching, catching balls over
28:41
their shoulders on the run and things like that, that I just I
28:44
saw some of the outfielders that I played ball with doing and
28:47
tried to take it from there. And you know, there's YouTube
28:49
and books and stuff out there, but just trying to figure it
28:53
out. And then as I went into, when I
28:55
got started in coaching full time, I was teaching, I was
28:59
teaching high school science and giving lessons.
29:01
And the guy that ran the facility that I gave lessons out
29:04
of got a phone call. He gave me a phone call at like
29:06
9:30 at night. I was like, I'm in bed.
29:08
I'm an old, old person and a young person's body.
29:12
And he's like, listen, I got a call from the new head coach at
29:16
Davenport University and they asked if I knew anybody would be
29:19
interested in being a pitching coach.
29:20
And I gave her your name, if that's OK, and I'll let her know
29:24
if she can call you tomorrow. And went from there and started
29:29
out as a full time coach. And it was really like figured
29:34
out. But she was very demanding in a
29:36
good way in terms of like, you had to have the practice plan
29:40
figured out and explained. Like I had to explain the
29:43
practice plan for pitchers daily to her and the other assistant
29:47
coach. And, and they explained what,
29:49
what they were doing in turn with, you know, the infielders,
29:51
outfielders and hitters. And it was like, we, we all
29:53
talked through all parts of the practice plan.
29:55
So we knew exactly what it was going to be, which really
30:00
probably helped me have to make sure I wasn't flying by the seat
30:03
of my pants because I'm a big improv guy.
30:06
I, I, I can work with things on the fly.
30:09
And it made me not do that, which was good, but I still had
30:12
the ability to do that if needed, but I wasn't doing it
30:16
every day. What when you put together a
30:18
practice plan now, do you like when I used to coach teams, I
30:22
would actually put times in there.
30:24
I'd say from, you know, 4:00 to 4:15, we're going to do this
30:28
4:15. And it didn't always work out,
30:30
but at least it gave me something to track.
30:32
Do you do things like that? Yeah, yeah, I try my best to
30:35
right at times. Right now we have a little bit
30:39
more free flow stuff and less timing and we just kind of
30:43
rotate off of, you know, and I pick kind of which drill we're
30:47
rotating off of. Like which one I I think is
30:49
going to be the the time demand one.
30:51
These ones you're just doing for reps and this one you're doing
30:54
for the amount of reps I give you.
30:57
And however long that takes is how long it takes and then we
31:00
rotate in. But I, I, I do like trying to
31:06
lay it out time wise, the best laid plans though.
31:11
So it's tough. But, but yes, I'm, I'm in the
31:15
middle of a big adjustment right now with that and, and trying to
31:19
practice plan for the number of kids I had on my roster this
31:22
year was something that I thought would be easier than it
31:25
was. I would come up with all these
31:28
great grand schemes and get to practice and have, you know, one
31:33
or two people missing from our from our team and with our small
31:38
roster size, I was like, well, I am not able to do that that or
31:43
that. So let's figure something out
31:45
here really quick. So that was a struggle for me
31:47
this this year so far. But we're getting how.
31:50
Many kids do you have on the roster.
31:53
Matt 11 Wow. Yeah.
31:55
So we had a, we had an interim coach last year who, who they,
32:00
they did a great job with what they had.
32:02
They, they had 11 girls and got through a season.
32:04
Then they, they, I think they went like 21 and 20 or 20 and
32:09
19. They were, they're like a game
32:11
above 500. And they got through it well.
32:14
But we didn't really have much recruiting coming in.
32:16
And I got hired fairly late. So recruiting was pretty much
32:20
done. Like I got hired and it was time
32:23
for practice and so getting people in it wasn't really a
32:27
thing I could do. You know, I shook, shook a few
32:29
trees, but but nothing came out. And so we're, we're we're at 13
32:35
to start the year and then ended up with 11 after break.
32:40
And one of our players is actually doing great at A at a
32:45
NAIA school right now. She, she got a spot, you know,
32:51
at the at the semester break and, and had to take it.
32:53
And, you know, I can't really falter.
32:56
It's, it's, it's a great opportunity for her to go to a
32:58
four year. That's one of my biggest goals.
33:00
And she's actually doing really well right now.
33:01
She's off to a great start. So really proud of her and happy
33:04
for her. That's great.
33:06
I'm glad to hear that. So John, I want to talk to you
33:08
real quick just a little bit since you brought up a little
33:10
bit about the recruiting. I want to talk to you if you can
33:14
give us some experiences or your your thought process when you
33:18
were at Toledo when you're out looking for pitchers compared to
33:22
how maybe that's changed or it hasn't changed now as being a
33:25
head coach at Jackson. Yeah, I think that's one of the
33:29
biggest changes is I'm trying to kind of reinvent a whole staff
33:32
all at once right now. But when I was at Toledo, you
33:38
always try and recruit to, you know, fill what you already have
33:44
and, and make it the best you can and make it better, right?
33:46
So taking our staff that we had that we were recruiting to try
33:51
and bring people in to join and projecting out like where our
33:55
freshmen and where our incoming freshmen will be and, and what
33:58
everybody's going to look like. We know we we kind of had to try
34:01
and you want to recruit complimentary pieces.
34:03
You don't want four or five of the same pitcher per SE on a
34:06
staff because that can it's a bad match up.
34:09
It's a bad match up for everybody.
34:10
And you know, you know, you don't want that.
34:12
So trying to get complimentary pieces and then recruiting kids
34:18
that that could work within a staff and be good teammates was,
34:21
was, was one of the most important things for us there.
34:24
Seeing how they competed and went out there and, you know,
34:27
had a we wanted kids with a chip on their shoulder a little bit
34:30
and kids that had the athleticism and and the the
34:33
physical ability to compete at that level.
34:36
But also, you know, the mentality to go out and, you
34:39
know, fight and try and beat somebody that's supposed to be
34:42
better than them. And then, you know, I still want
34:44
that here. You know, you always want that
34:46
for for your kids is you want to have somebody that's going to
34:49
want to compete and go out and be be happy with being the
34:53
underdog and be happy with beating up on somebody too.
34:57
But really trying to bring in athletes that could do a lot of
35:01
things has been important to me here.
35:02
Whereas at Toledo especially, we were looking to we're trying to
35:08
take that team to the World Series, right?
35:10
That's that's everybody's goal. That's my goal here, was my goal
35:14
there. It's a little bit different
35:15
World Series when you're looking, you know, NCAA Division
35:19
One, trying to go out and we want to see Oklahoma, right And
35:24
so. You got yes and yes.
35:27
You got to get kids that want to go do that.
35:31
Not everybody's that kid. And so that that was the that
35:35
was the challenge there was trying to get kids that believed
35:37
in that mission and bought in and, and, and weren't just happy
35:42
to go play, but happy to, they wanted to go.
35:45
They wanted to go prove a point and and and do something cool.
35:48
You talked about that with, you know, being at the Division One
35:52
level now you're in the junior college.
35:55
Has that been an odd transition? I know you started, you know,
35:58
Delta was a junior college as well.
36:00
So you, it wasn't totally unfamiliar territory, but was
36:03
it, You know, now that you've had the taste of the D1 life,
36:08
what does it feel like now coming back to the junior
36:11
college level? And what's different?
36:12
What's been challenging? It's a little tough.
36:14
The biggest challenge has been, you know, the expectations that
36:18
players have for themselves and the standards that that that
36:22
that they're accustomed to. I don't see a reason that we
36:25
shouldn't have Great Expectations for us, for
36:27
ourselves. Wherever we are.
36:30
There's a lot of resign to the fact that we're just a JUCO that
36:35
you can get. I'm not saying it's everywhere.
36:37
I'm not saying it's everyone, but I've I've seen that as a
36:40
possibility. I've seen that as as a potential
36:43
thought process at times. And that's something we've had
36:46
to work through and we've had to to try and grow out of.
36:50
And it's something that I'm trying to change as our culture
36:54
here and, and get, you know, more kids that believe and more
36:57
kids that want to be a dog. You know, I'm I'm going to
37:02
fight, I'm going to scratch, I'm going to claw, I'm going to be
37:04
better than the next kid over. And I'm going to prove that I
37:09
belong. That's been my biggest struggle
37:12
is the expectation. Like we're OK with not being
37:14
good and we don't expect ourselves to be good is the the
37:22
mind boggling and and agonizing 1 for me.
37:25
Is your ultimate goal to be, you know, to kind of be viewed as a
37:30
conduit to some of the bigger programs?
37:33
To say, you know, a kid that comes in, maybe isn't quite
37:36
ready for a four year school yet, comes in, plays a couple
37:38
years for you, gets themselves ready.
37:41
And then you would be able to help them land at perhaps a
37:44
bigger school than they might have just, you know, going
37:47
straight out of high school. Really, I, I do, I do see that
37:51
as, you know, kind of a goal and a realistic one.
37:56
Honestly, I've spent a lot of time coaching at really
37:59
competitive division two school and pretty darn competitive
38:02
Division One schools. You know, some, some, some
38:04
really strong mid majors. I've seen those levels and I
38:08
know what it looks like and I know what it takes and I can
38:10
help you get there and I can help you kind of find where
38:15
where that is that you might fit.
38:16
And also you're not going to face much better pitchers than
38:21
you're going to see in practice hitting off of me live.
38:23
If you're not going to work with many better pitching Staffs,
38:28
then we're hopefully going to have.
38:30
And and I do feel like I've had some some modest success at
38:34
division two and Division One levels as a pitching coach.
38:37
Like I don't see why we can't get those players that maybe
38:41
they're a really strong D2 player, but they want to be AD
38:43
one player and it's not there for them.
38:46
Hey, come on out and let's coach you up.
38:48
Let's get you where you want to be.
38:50
I will say this for for anybody who's listening, I have two 2025
38:56
commits that are going to Toledo.
38:58
And as a pitching instructor, knowing where they're going and
39:05
who they're going to be with for me is something that's probably
39:08
at the top of my list. And if anybody is listening that
39:12
wants to get better, specifically at pitching, but
39:14
just in general with softball, then you need to make sure that
39:17
you check out Jackson College with John, because my 2 pitchers
39:21
that committed to go to Toledo or ecstatic and loved John's
39:25
feedback, help them with some of their pitches, all that stuff.
39:28
So if anybody listening to this is, you know, down that route,
39:32
they're, they're thinking about junior college and they, they,
39:34
they're looking to get better, then look no further than than
39:38
John, because I'll tell you what what, no, I don't want to say
39:42
this bad, but when you left, I had some very concerning
39:45
pitchers that were, were nervous and they're happy with Kylie.
39:49
Like Kyle is great too and Jess is fantastic, but you know,
39:53
knowing me, knowing that they were going to be in in great
39:56
hands with you really, you know, I think helps sell sell the deal
40:00
for them and they're excited about Kyle as well.
40:03
But just speaking, if anybody's looking for, you know, that
40:06
junior college route, which is a great route to have and really
40:09
looking to get better as a pitcher, then really check out
40:13
Jackson College. You will not be disappointed in
40:15
what Gwiz will do for you. So.
40:19
Just want to give you a little plug there, John, because you,
40:21
you know, my kids were super excited when, you know, when you
40:25
were there and the feedback every time they came back from
40:27
there. And it's not just them, there
40:28
was others that went to some of your camps.
40:30
You would always give great feedback and tips and things to
40:33
work on. And I was like, yes, this is
40:35
what I'm talking about. Somebody who's looking to make
40:37
these kids better in the next 4 years that they're that they're
40:40
there. Well, I, I really appreciate
40:43
that those are, you know, really, really great words to
40:46
hear from you and, and, and to hear about hearing from them.
40:50
I was very excited for both of those kids.
40:53
That was that made my day. Both times I heard that they
40:56
were coming, you know, right, like when, when they committed,
40:58
it was, you know, phenomenal news And, and I was very excited
41:02
for them and I am still very excited for them.
41:04
I'm really, really looking forward to seeing what that,
41:07
what that team can do these next couple years.
41:10
Those they're, they're going to be a really strong next year and
41:13
they're strong this year and, and I'm really excited for them.
41:16
But coach Brock Jess is one of the best coaches of people I
41:21
have ever. She is a phenomenal culture
41:24
builder. She's a phenomenal coach working
41:26
with the outfielders, working with the hitters, but just
41:28
working with the people and helping them grow off the field
41:31
as individuals and as teammates, as students, as just as people.
41:35
That's bar none. I, I aspire to be more like her
41:41
in my day-to-day, But you know, they're in phenomenal hands with
41:44
her and Kyle's, you know, like you said, Kyle's, Kyle's great.
41:47
So they're, they're going to be, they're going to be in really
41:50
good hands. I'm excited for the for that,
41:52
that group and to see what they can do.
41:54
Oh, and Kayla is also phenomenal.
41:56
She's a great group of people as well.
41:59
She's a big part of that culture.
42:00
And yeah, you. Guys are, it was just a great
42:02
staff, I mean, and it still is, but you, you know, it was great.
42:06
All you guys there. If if you don't mind, I do want
42:09
to Fast forward a little bit and I want to talk about your, your
42:13
experiences with Team USA and what that meant to you.
42:18
If you can tell us maybe some memories about that run.
42:22
What, what was it like when you found out you were going to be a
42:24
part of that team? And then that team comes
42:26
together and wins a bronze medal, which I mean is huge for
42:30
men's fast pitch. If you can share some of that
42:32
with us. The the very first time I put on
42:34
that uniform, my first start was against New Zealand, who was
42:39
coming off of was it back-to-back or they were they
42:42
were the defending world champs and you know, the boogeyman,
42:47
right? They were, they were it, they're
42:49
intimidating. But I actually got asked like
42:53
the week before, like I think I had maybe 10 days before that
42:57
tournament. Like it was, it was, it was
43:01
quick. It was an Invitational
43:05
tournament. It was coming up after, after an
43:09
ISC. And you know, I threw a game at
43:13
ISC that went the other way. I think we lost like 1, nothing
43:17
or two to one. But it was, it was a tight game.
43:21
And I, you know, I guess I was told a couple years down the
43:26
road after that, that that was that was what kind of got, got
43:30
me on the radar. Was there, they were waiting to
43:32
play their next game. Some of the coaches, coaching
43:35
staff for the men's team were coaching their club team there.
43:38
And they saw that. And we're like, we should see
43:41
what this kids got. And yeah, I got to go to an
43:44
Invitational and got to start against New Zealand.
43:46
And I was very disappointed in myself.
43:49
We lost like 5 to 2. I, I was, I thought I was the
43:54
worst pitcher in the world after leaving that game, you know,
43:56
giving up a couple big home runs.
43:58
I was like man, but learned a lot from it and and got invited
44:03
back to participate in the World Championships.
44:07
The next two cycles didn't start a game and that next one came in
44:13
in relief three times, I think two or three times.
44:19
And then that bronze medal run was incredible.
44:23
It was, it was so cool to be part of that team.
44:26
And I was kind of the veteran pitcher honestly, in the, in
44:31
that, in that staff. I I was on the team the longest,
44:35
but you know how? Old were you at that point?
44:38
Oh, shoot, 29, maybe 2930. There's a young pitcher, he's in
44:46
his early mid 20s is Bradley Kilpatrick.
44:48
He's a pitching coach at Washington right now, an
44:50
emerging star in the coaching scene.
44:52
Really, he's having a lot of success with their pitcher
44:55
pitching staff right now. He's, he's in his early mid 20s
44:58
and he was, he was our, our horse that, that that week.
45:03
We were just doing our best to keep him in the dugout when we
45:06
could so he can go out there and give us all he had when we
45:10
needed them. And he threw the best game I've
45:12
ever seen him throw by a long shot.
45:14
And that's not a slight that's he threw a whale of the game in
45:17
the bronze medal game against Argentina.
45:20
Any time we'd get in a little bit of a pinch, I was, you know,
45:23
throwing in the bullpen trying to get loose to make sure I was
45:25
ready to go. And coach just yells down to me.
45:27
He's he needs you in here because I'm the loud, obnoxious,
45:32
you know, go get him teammate. I'm that guy.
45:35
I'm the biggest cheerleader on the team.
45:37
He says he needs you in here. This is his game, you know, and,
45:40
and he was right. It was he, he, he locked down
45:44
and just shut that team down. And they were a phenomenal team.
45:47
Argentina. They're still one of the best
45:50
teams in the world. But he he had, he had their
45:52
number that day and it was, it was a great time.
45:54
Patrick, he moves the ball so well, like he's got the speed
45:58
to, but man does his ball absolutely move.
46:01
He does, and he's one of the it's not as uncommon as it
46:05
actually once was there. There was a time ages ago where
46:09
curveballs, you know, Mike Piaknik threw a great curveball,
46:13
but a lot, a lot of the best pitchers in the in the men's
46:16
game are up, down, change. Bradley uses his curveball
46:19
effectively a lot. He used it really well, and so
46:23
does kind of the new #1 or #2 pitcher in the world from
46:28
Australia as well, Jack Bessgrove.
46:29
He uses his curveball phenomenally, and his rise ball
46:32
and his curveball come off of each other.
46:34
And you know, you don't know which one's which until it's
46:36
either a striker jumps above your head or hits you in the
46:41
ribs as a lefty. But.
46:45
You do not want to get hit by him.
46:47
No, he throws hard. I will never view a sporting
46:51
event the same like standing for the national anthem at a
46:54
sporting event has. It doesn't feel the same and it
46:56
never will. Since putting on that uniform
46:59
and, and standing there for that first, that first time, you
47:02
know, it not it, it get, you get emotional almost you get choked
47:06
up. And it's, it's a great point of
47:08
pride and something I'll forever be grateful to have had the
47:12
chance to do. I'm not going to be competing in
47:15
the, the the World Cup this summer for the national team and
47:23
wish them all the best of luck there.
47:25
We got three young, young horses and the new format kind of
47:29
doesn't really necessitate a fourth arm, especially if you've
47:32
got, you know, an 18 or 19 year old and a 2122 year old and a
47:36
2425 year old. They can they can throw some
47:40
innings. So they're they're they're
47:44
poised for success. But watching that Four Nations
47:48
face off hockey tournament and, and hearing Mike Eruzione talk
47:54
before the game about playing for your country and I was just
47:57
like, he nailed it. It was spot on.
48:01
It's, you know, it's the biggest honor and it's something that
48:04
I'll always take a lot of pride in and it's changed me.
48:08
Any thoughts or hopes of maybe coaching with that team someday?
48:12
Oh, I would absolutely love to coach with that team someday.
48:15
So that's something that I actually asked our men's team
48:19
coach about the coaching pool and how it all works for for the
48:23
EU nineteens for the junior men's team, You know, with
48:27
working with pitchers and and helping people grow and, you
48:31
know, being closer in age in a good way to try and help spark
48:35
some interest and and get some guys going.
48:37
I thought that that would be something I would really love to
48:39
try and do, you know, and it'd be a good experience as a as a
48:42
coach as well. Like honestly, it would help me
48:45
grow as a coach as much as it would help me give back.
48:49
But you can't do you can't be in the coaches pool and the players
48:52
pool at the same time. So I'm going to keep my hat in
48:55
the players pool for as long as I can and and try and give it a
48:59
couple couple more runs at it. But I'm not I'm not ruling that
49:03
out. If they would ever want me to to
49:06
be around as a coach, that would be something I would absolutely
49:09
trip over myself trying to trying to jump at.
49:12
OK, so there you go, selection committee.
49:15
John has put his hat in the ring not for this year, but for the
49:19
future. So keep an eye on him.
49:21
John, one thing I did want to ask you, so you know, a lot of
49:24
what you have done in your career up until now has really
49:26
been a, well, you know, just a general assistant or especially
49:29
a pitching coach. How's that transition been to
49:32
being a head coach? Has it been difficult to kind of
49:35
take your eye off of specific aspects and have to look kind of
49:39
at a much broader spectrum as you go along?
49:42
You know, I've thought about it for a few years, not necessarily
49:45
because I wanted to jump ship and try and be a head coach, but
49:48
I always thought, like, how would that work, right?
49:51
And one of the thoughts that I had had was that I want to bring
49:54
in somebody that either caught or pitched for a team I had
49:58
coached to be my pitching coach to help me not have that
50:03
hangover, my head right, to help me feel comfortable letting them
50:07
run some pitching stuff and work with the rest of the team.
50:10
Our fall was really weird with we didn't really have a healthy
50:15
pitcher to start the year. So we had to position players,
50:17
audition essentially to throw our fall ball games.
50:20
And it worked out really well. We got through our fall ball
50:23
games. It was really competitive
50:25
pitching from those kids. They gave us their all and
50:28
stepped up huge for us. It's funny because I have a, you
50:31
know, a couple of girls that they want to play in college,
50:33
but they're like, you know, I don't know, I'm kind of done
50:36
with the pitching thing. And I said, don't totally give
50:38
up your skills because you just never know.
50:41
You know, you're never more than a couple of injuries away from
50:43
the coach coming and say, has anybody here ever pitched and
50:47
won a game in high school? Yeah, or in.
50:50
Travel. We had some time, some moments
50:52
at Toledo when we we lost a kid to Med school and so we wanted
50:57
to make sure we had some emergency backups prepared
51:00
before we got to be the in emergency situation.
51:03
So we had a couple kids throw bullpens early on in the spring
51:07
just to see if they could do it. And then we never ended up
51:11
having to use them. But but yeah, we've been there.
51:14
So it wasn't anything completely unfamiliar to me, but didn't do
51:17
a ton of hands on like one-on-one time or, or coaching
51:21
bullpen sessions because we didn't really have pitchers that
51:25
were dedicated pitchers to do so.
51:26
So that almost helped. Didn't, I wouldn't say it was
51:29
helpful, but it helped me not focus too much on my pitching
51:33
pitching coach hat. But I love throwing batting
51:36
practice now too. That's something that I did a
51:37
lot at Toledo that I didn't do at many of my stops prior, but
51:41
I, I, I threw a lot of VP there and I feel like it, it can be
51:45
really beneficial. So I, I tried to do that.
51:47
I did it a couple times, but I had a torn up knee this summer
51:52
that I pitched on until the end of the US season.
51:56
So we played in a game this fall and, or a tournament this fall.
52:00
Sorry you the group stage event. So it's kind of a prelims for
52:04
the World Cup and we won our event and qualified for the
52:08
World Cup. And I was lucky enough to be
52:12
part of that squad. But two days after I got home, I
52:15
had my knee cut open and worked on and I, I spent most of the
52:18
fall on crutches. So that was more of a challenge
52:21
than than than not being able to pitch or work on work on
52:26
pitching, right. So trying to coach from that,
52:29
from that standpoint made it even harder because I'm, I'm
52:31
used to just trying to show a lot.
52:34
So I had to explain a lot more and, and explain better.
52:36
And, and I really, I feel like I've had to grow this this year
52:41
as a coach in my, in my tool tool belt has had to grow
52:44
because I can't just demo. I can't just show you and, and
52:47
tell you how to do it and let you go do it.
52:50
I really need to be able to explain it more and, and use
52:54
more scaffolding to get you there in instruction and break
52:58
it down into the parts and instruction more so than in
53:01
showing you. And, and, and so it's been, it's
53:04
been good. It's been bad, but it's been
53:06
good. The focusing on everything
53:09
outside of the field, on field stuff.
53:12
I, I was pretty confident I was going to be good.
53:14
I can handle most of that. It's the, you know, scheduling
53:18
practices, scheduling games. I need to start getting on my
53:21
schedule more right now and then make sure I've got, I've got a
53:24
fair bit of pitching coming in next year.
53:26
So I need to get us as close to 60 games as I can.
53:29
And you know, the fundraising, the all of the other hats that
53:34
head coaches wear, You know, you're the academic, especially
53:36
at a junior college where you don't have as much for
53:39
assistance or, you know, different departments to, to
53:44
lean on. I'm an academic advisor.
53:46
I'm the strength and conditioning coach at times I'm
53:51
the. Community VA is on.
53:53
So, so it's been, it's been an adjustment, but it's been good.
53:57
We did a lot of things with community and with academics at
54:01
at Toledo. And so that was big, you know,
54:04
being able to lean on some of those experiences.
54:06
And then when I was at the division two level, I I spent a
54:09
a fall as our strength coach for our softball team.
54:12
And that's what I went to school for.
54:13
So I was just pulling, pulling from all the jobs I've had to do
54:16
at different times and put them all together, especially without
54:21
a assistant coach for the fall. So it's the learning curve is
54:26
steep, but it's it's been a fun, fun challenge and a fun journey
54:31
so far. It'd be boring if it was all
54:33
just easy to do, right? Yeah, who doesn't like a
54:37
challenge? That's why we play this game,
54:38
right? If it was easy to do, it
54:41
wouldn't be softball. It wouldn't be Amen that ball
54:44
sport. Yeah, Hey, real quick.
54:47
First of all, thank you again so much for for your time today.
54:50
John, Ken and I absolutely appreciate it and your knowledge
54:53
and, and things that you've put out there for the coaches.
54:55
We we really appreciate that. I just got a couple more
54:58
questions for you, if you don't mind.
55:00
One is are you playing this summer?
55:04
Who are you playing for? Are you anywhere in the Midwest
55:06
that people would go see you actually throw that ball?
55:10
And then two, where could people find more information about
55:14
Jackson College or get a hold of you to find out about the junior
55:17
college that you coach at? Yeah.
55:19
So to answer the first one, playing for the Midland
55:23
Explorers, it's a team that used to be around as a as a major
55:26
team in in Midland, MI and throughout the Midwest kind of
55:30
went away for a few years. But I worked with a couple
55:34
people to kind of get it back off the ground and and and kick
55:36
start getting it going here. And we are in our fourth year
55:43
back I believe, so I'll be with the Midland Explorers we're
55:46
going to be playing in. It's a very different summer
55:49
with the World Cup and the World Games both happening this
55:53
summer. The World Games are in China
55:55
this summer, this August, which is normally when our nationals
55:59
and our club club worlds are. So we'll be playing in Kimberly,
56:04
WI in early June and Mankato, MN in July.
56:12
That'll be our, our, our World Cup, our, sorry, our world, our
56:16
World Championships for the, for the club teams will be at the
56:18
end of July. And then we get to play at
56:20
Oklahoma City at Devon Park in mid-july for the men's
56:27
nationals. So that'll that'll be huge.
56:30
We're going to play a pretty short schedule.
56:32
So just a couple other weekends, we're going to be in Ontario,
56:36
where the game's still a little bit bigger in Canada than it is
56:38
most of the US. But in terms of Jackson College,
56:41
you can go to jccmi.edu. That's our college's main
56:46
website and you can navigate through there.
56:49
We just got brand new facilities that you can check out as well
56:54
on the athletics website, which is available through that link,
57:01
JCCM i.prestosports.com. But you can you can navigate
57:08
from from our main website to the athletics page and showcases
57:11
our beautiful new facility. We'll try to make sure we put
57:15
that in the notes for you there too, in case somebody's looking
57:18
in interested. And I'm on Twitter as well,
57:24
pretty easy to find there that that's unfortunately,
57:28
unfortunately a lot of recruiting world has gone to
57:30
gone to Twitter got you. You almost have to have a
57:32
presence there now. What?
57:34
What's your handle there? That's a great question.
57:36
It's kind of like, you know, your own phone number these
57:39
days. It's like, Oh yeah, it's, I know
57:41
it. Sorry, didn't mean to stomp you.
57:45
You never call yourself right. Right, right.
57:48
At JOGWIZ, throwback to the AOL Instant Messenger days.
57:54
Nice, nice. Nice.
57:57
Yeah. So, John, I just have one more
57:59
question for you. And it's just it's a recruiting
58:02
question. You know, you see a lot of talk
58:04
in Facebook groups and all that about how you really need to
58:07
watch your attitude and all these other things and and, you
58:11
know, when you're there and you never know who's watching.
58:13
And a lot of times they say the coaches will pass on a talented
58:17
athlete if they don't think that they have the character.
58:20
Is that something you feel is true?
58:22
Or, you know, what's been your experience do if you're talented
58:25
enough? Can you be a jerk?
58:27
Yeah, and that's a great question.
58:29
And you know, at a lot of places, there's probably there's
58:33
a scale there, There's a there's a scale of how you know how much
58:37
of A jerk you can be versus how talented you are.
58:39
But to be honest, yeah, I would rather take 9 great kids, you
58:45
know, great humans and, and try and win with them.
58:48
One of the biggest things that I truly do enjoy seeing is how a
58:53
kid responds to failure and how a kid responds to being on the
58:56
bench or put in a role that they isn't isn't necessarily their
58:59
favorite. Right.
59:00
You're a pinch runner today or you're, you're, you're sitting
59:03
on the bench. How are you going to be as a
59:06
teammate? How can you contribute to the
59:08
success of your team as a as a bench player?
59:12
How do you handle striking out? How do you handle getting hit
59:15
hard? It's great to go see a kid and
59:17
watch a recruit dominate, but you don't see anything there
59:19
because is that a is that a team that you're going to be pitching
59:23
against in college that you're pitching against right now?
59:26
Most times, probably not. You know, maybe one or two of
59:28
those kids are are at the level that you're hoping to go play,
59:30
right. So how do you respond when when
59:34
you get rocked? Can you handle that?
59:36
Can you bounce back and and get the next kid?
59:39
Can you bounce back and, you know, cheer on your team and
59:42
help motivate the rally to come back from the three run deficit
59:46
that you just put your team in, right?
59:50
And then how do you compete? So it's, those are the biggest
59:53
things to me is like, how do you compete?
59:55
How do you go out there and just refuse to lose, even if you're
59:58
not the best athlete on the on the field?
1:00:00
But and then how do you fail? How do you take failure?
1:00:05
Because it's a part of this game.
1:00:06
And if you can't fail and, and, and stay happy and stay a
1:00:10
positive teammate and stay motivated to move forward, then
1:00:15
you're not going to be able to compete at the next level.
1:00:18
And that's something that. Kids can learn and they can
1:00:21
develop and you can grow and you can grow here in that, in that
1:00:25
realm, but I'd rather you do it before you come here.
1:00:29
And I, I know like how you interact with your coaches and
1:00:32
your parents is huge. It is, it is huge, but a big
1:00:36
part of that is, is, is that same piece, that adversity
1:00:40
piece. I you can watch them get along
1:00:43
really well with their coaching parents when things are going
1:00:45
great, really easy. Everybody's having a good time
1:00:48
when we're all having a good time.
1:00:50
But but when things go get rocky, are are you going to be a
1:00:55
part of the solution or part of the problem when things get
1:00:57
tough? And, and that's, that is huge.
1:01:00
That is the, the reason it's talked about is because it, it
1:01:04
is real to an extent and it, and it does exist.
1:01:07
So yeah, I, I, I look for kids that that can bounce back.
1:01:13
Ken, thanks again today John, for all your time and and
1:01:16
everything you've shared with us.
1:01:17
Ken, you got any other questions for John before we let him out
1:01:20
of here? No, I don't.
1:01:22
I think we've taken up enough of the man's time today especially.
1:01:24
I'm sure he's got games to get ready for, so sort of games,
1:01:29
practices, whatever. Yeah, Yeah.
1:01:32
Well, I appreciate you guys having me on like I said and and
1:01:34
appreciate your time. I know you know you guys just I
1:01:38
still have a lot going on as well.
1:01:40
So it's been a great, great time talking to you and and really
1:01:44
appreciate you having me on. Well, thank you, John and Jay,
1:01:48
thank you for setting up with John.
1:01:50
I think this was a great conversation from the From the
1:01:54
Coach's Mouth podcast. We appreciate everybody
1:01:56
listening. Be sure to like us.
1:01:58
Be sure to share this with your friends.
1:02:01
Lots of good insights here. Try to, you know, get the word
1:02:04
out. There's a lot of folks that can
1:02:06
learn a lot of things from the people that we're talking to.
1:02:09
Jay, good luck in your games. Thanks guys.
1:02:13
Have fun down South Down there where it's nice and warm.
1:02:16
We. Plan on it.
1:02:17
All righty. Thank you, everyone.
1:02:18
We'll see you soon.