













For
further info
or for a
Brochure
call:
(732) 528-5392
email:
bethebest
@bytheshore.com
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Softball Coaching Participants
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Mike Candrea
University Of Arizona
By the numbers, Mike Candrea's
credentials invariably trump his coaching colleagues across the country -
eight national championships in the last 18 years, 1,100 career Division I
victories faster than any coach in history, 20 trips to the Women's College
World Series over the last 21 years and a gold and a silver medal are tough
to argue against. Perhaps the most remarkable statistic is the virtual
guarantee that all four-year players at UA leave with at least one national
championship ring to their name. With the exception of just one senior
class, every four-year letter winner beginning with the freshman class of
1988, all the way through this year's UA team, has been a part of at least
one national championship. Last year's title secures the streak will remain
intact through 2010. To put that in perspective, this year's entire freshman
class was born after the 1988 frosh suited up for UA.
Particularly notable this year, are Candrea's
achievements that reach beyond the intercollegiate softball realm. As he
continues his role as the U.S. National Team head coach, Candrea is not only
responsible for maximizing the talents of the best players in the world, but
also serving as an ambassador for both his country and the sport of
softball. Since assuming the national team's head coaching position in 2002,
Candrea's Red, White and Blue squads have won every gold medal and
tournament imaginable. Under Candrea's watch the U.S. National Team has
captured titles or medals at the 2002 and 2006 ISF Women's World
Championships, the 2003 and 2007 Pan Am Games, the 2006 and 2007 Japan Cups,
the 2006 and 2007 World Cups of Softball and the 2004 Olympic gold medal.
Mike takes to center stage Saturday where he will
demonstrate the mechanics of hitting in one session and follow with 50
minutes on different offensive strategies and situations to use them.
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Lori Sippel
University Of Nebraska
Associate Head Coach Lori Sippel is a truly accomplished
player and coach. She has extensive experience, including at the
international level, where she is one of only 133 worldwide members of the
International Softball Federation Hall of Fame. As a head coach, she
recently guided Team Canada to a fourth-place finish at the 2008 Olympics in
Beijing, China, Canada's best finish ever.
Arguably the most dominant pitcher in Nebraska history,
Sippel competed for the Huskers from 1985 to 1988, earning All-America
honors twice as well as academic All-America honors. Her success as a player
has translated into the coaching field, where she is widely regarded as one
of the top pitching coaches in the nation, as well as one of the top
international coaches as the head coach of Team Canada.
Sippel has developed three All-America pitchers at
Nebraska where during the past 10 seasons, the Husker pitching staff has
compiled at least 350 strikeouts eight times, while posting eight of the top
nine single-season marks in school history.
Sippel will be part of a main session Friday where she
will offer step-by-step pre-season advice for conditioning and weightlifting
as well as pitching drills to keep sharp.
She then joins the staff for the Ultimate Rap sessions
where again pitching is her topic, discussing such areas as situational
pitching, fielding the position and how to throw the Drop.
The head coach at Nebraska, Rhonda Revelle, says she
thinks her assistant is something special.
“Lori is an elite pitching instructor in a category
with a select few,” said Revelle. “But she is more than a pitching coach.
She is a coach in all aspects of our program.”
A 13-year member of the Canadian National team, she was
inducted into the Canadian Hall of Fame in 1993. The next year she helped
get Canada into the Olympics. In March of 2005 she was named the head coach
of the national team.
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Ralph Weekly
University of Tennessee
Karen Weekly
University of Tennessee
They are an amazing combination of wit and wisdom
who work together as a well-oiled machine to change softball fortunes for
coaches everywhere. The amazing success that Ralph and Karen Weekly have
enjoyed sharing head coaching duties continues to defy all odds at
Tennessee.
In eight seasons as co-head coaches, the Weeklys have
completely transformed the program, taking it from just 24 wins in the
season prior to their arrival, to a school record 63 wins during the
2006-07 season and now have won at least 40 games for seven straight
seasons.
It was the sixth straight year they have led the Vols
to the NCAA Regionals.
All those battles have helped Ralph establish a strong
network of coaches who he has called upon annually to help put together
the “Be the Best You Are’’ softball clinics.
According to Karen, the duo forms a great coaching
tandem due to their respective strengths and weaknesses as coaches.
"Our strengths and weaknesses are kind of opposite,"
she said. "The things that he does well are the things that I’m not
necessarily fond of, and vice versa. And I think that's what makes this
work."
Ralph started his coaching career in 1986 at Pacific
Lutheran University. Karen had been a top assistant for Ralph there since
she graduated from the University in 1987. The two have been coaching
together since then at Chattanooga (1995-2001) and Tennessee (2002-
present).
With so much experience together as coaches, the
Weeklys have learned what it takes to balance their work life with their
marriage.
The Weeklys, as is the case with all good coaches, have
a method to their success, and it is a method that has been developed
through years of experience together.
That method is working quite well at the moment, as the
Weeklys and their team pursue the national championship, which has barely
eluded their grasp in recent years.
How they go about correcting hitting problems is just
part of the subject matter they will take on at Thursday Night Thunder
where Ralph will offer his top 15 drills for 18U athletes and his top 5
bat speed drills.
Karen will also be busy Thursday where she will spend a
session on manufacturing runs and championship because speed kills.
Karen returns Friday at the Ultimate Rap sessions where
she offers 25-minute capsules of basic plays from rundowns and relays to
coaching 1st and 3rd base with signals and strategies.
Ralph, who is nationally and internationally recognized
for his skills as a hitting clinician, was responsible for a variety of
national team duties, including the general management of USA Softball's
elite level international programs. He also served as a liaison to the
ASANational Team Selection Committee that is responsible for the elite
level selection process for Olympic and other USA Softball National Teams.
He worked closely with the U.S. Olympic Committee to
ensure that USA Softball received adequate funding for its programs and
was fully equipped with the technical assistance it needed.
Upon arriving in Knoxville, Karen brought a wealth of
experience gained from being an All- America softball player at Pacific
Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash., a national title-winning assistant
coach at PLU in 1988 and 1992, and a championship head coach at the
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for five seasons. During her
tenure, the Lady Mocs claimed five straight Southern Conference
regular-season trophies, four SoCon Tournament plaques and the team made
successive appearances at the 2000 and 2001 NCAA Regionals. After Karen
served as an assistant coach at UTC in 1995 and 1996, the Weeklys combined
their efforts to direct the Lady Mocs to the top of the SoCon in their
first two campaigns in charge of the program together. The 1997 season
featured an overall record of 32-19, while the '98 edition registered a
schoolrecord 47 victories and three players earned first-team All-South
Region accolades. While Ralph was on a leave of absence from Chattanooga
to handle his Olympic duties in 1999 and 2000, the Lady Mocs' program
continued to make steady improvement under Karen's tutelage. In her
initial season as head coach in '99, UTC led the SoCon with a .303 batting
average and a 1.47 earned run average en route to a school-best 48-18
overall record to go along with a spotless 16-0 mark in regular-season
conference play.
Having traveled all over the nation to spread her
knowledge about the sport, Karen has been a co-owner and director of
National Hitting Camps since 1988. She also has been a lead instructor at
ASA Elite Hitting Camps in Midland, Texas, and in Oklahoma City, Okla.,
and has been a featured speaker at several coaching clinics around the
country. She has spoken at the "Be the Best You Are" clinic during each of
the last seven years, covering such topics as developing power and bat
speed, the short game, scouting opponents and developing a rapport between
the coach and players.
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TIM WALTON
University of Florida For the
third straight year, the University of Florida softball coaching staff was
named Southeast Region Coaching Staff of the Year by the National Fastpitch
Coaches Association. Head coach Tim Walton led the Gators to a 63-5 season
and their first-ever appearance in the Women’s College World Series
championship series.
The Gators took home their second consecutive
Southeastern Conference regular-season (26-1) and tournament titles, while
turning in only the second undefeated conference road record in league
history. Florida hosted Regional and Super Regional action in the 2009 NCAA
Tournament as they put together a 29-game win streak, the longest of the
season in the country.
Walton was named SEC Coach of the Year for the second
time. He earned his 300th career win early in the season with a 10-5 win
over Pacific. He then became the winningest head softball coach in UF
history with a 7-0 victory over Tennessee, amassing 193 wins. He has put
together a 226-57 (.799) record in his four years at the UF helm and a
349-121 (.743) all-time head coaching record (seven years).
The 2008 Gators were the first team in school history
to reach the NCAAWorld Series where they finished with a 3-2 record,
reaching the semifinals. Florida won its first SEC title along the way.
Just how he got the Gators to that point will be his
main topic at a main session Friday when he explains how he went about
building a championship team. Then, at the Ultimate Rap sessions Friday
he’ll give a step-by-step approach to pitch selection, hitting to the
opposite field and effective game routines for the 18-and-under athletes.
Walton, the third head coach in the history of the
Gator program, came to Florida from Wichita State University in Wichita,
Kan., where he had been the head coach for three seasons. In 2005, Walton
led the Shockers to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 16 years as
they earned the first at-large bid in school history. Wichita State finished
the 2005 season with a school record 46-18 record and broke 30 school
records in the process.
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  Kate and Caryl Drohan
Northwestern
Northwestern softball has taken a unique turn with a unique coaching
situation in which this pair of sisters has found imaginative ways to make
Northwestern into a powerhouse. In 2007 the Wildcats became the first
private school ever to make back-to-back Women’s College World Series
appearances.
Kate, the head coach, and her twin sister, Caryl Drohan,
who serves as her associate head coach, have Northwestern rated among the
best programs in the country.
"I believe strongly in the philosophy of Northwestern
University and the vision of our softball program. Northwestern softball
offers an environment that challenges you to excel as a student, as an
athlete, as a teammate and as an individual. At Northwestern, you are
surrounded by people who understand what it means to be truly committed.
There are no limits to how far the student-athlete can go. The unique
experience of Northwestern University is second to none,” said Kate Drohan
who is entering her ninth season after building the program into one of the
nation's best and leading the Wildcats to backto- back Women's College World
Series semifinal appearances in 2006-07 and seven straight NCAA tournament
appearances. Drohan took over the Cats after serving as an assistant under
legendary head coach Sharon Drysdale for four seasons.
In 2009 the Wildcats broke team offensive records for
batting average, slugging percentage, runs per game and home runs. They were
among the top 10 in the nation in three of those categories while fielding a
team with a GPA of better than 3.0.
Northwestern won its first Big Ten title in 2006, its
first since 1987 and qualified for the Women's College World Series for the
first time in 20 years.
It was the second straight season the Wildcats won 50
or more games, a mark they had never reached before the Drohan sisters
arrived on the scene.
Kate has cemented her status as one of the best coaches
in Big Ten history, joining former Northwestern coach Sharon Drysdale, Carol
Hutchins (Michigan) and Gayle Blevins (Indiana/Iowa) as the only coaches to
ever take Big Ten schools to the WCWS. Drohan and Hutchins are the only two
to make the final pairing. After spending her first three years at NU as an
assistant, Caryl was promoted to Associate Head Coach prior to the 2005
season. She came from Hofstra University after spending five years on the
coaching staff there, four as an assistant coach and the 2001 season as the
Associate Head Coach.
So, how do you go about building a program on the
national level? What kind of drills do you use to reinforce the things you
teach? The sisters give their secrets of motivating and connecting with
today’s athletes and offer skills and drills for outfield play as part of
Thursday Thunder. At the Ultimate Rap sessions Friday the sisters take turns
on team communications, perfecting fundamentals, defending first and third,
and three non-negotiables in the Northwestern Swing.
Obviously their methods work. Big 10 dominance has become a
trademark. They have had topthree finishes each year including championships
in 2006 and 2008. They are 111-40, with a 78-16 record in the last five
years.
In the last five years (2005-09), six different
Wildcats have earned a total of 12 All-America honors -- including a trio of
freshmen. Also, NU has earned the last five Big Ten Player of the Year
winners (Garland Cooper in 2005-07, Tammy Williams in 2008-09), three of the
last four Big Ten Pitcher of the Year (Eileen Canney in 2006-07, Lauren
Delaney in 2008) and four of the last six Big Ten Freshman of the Year
awards.
Since joining the Northwestern staff in 1998, Drohan
has coached 27 National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-Region selections,
five NFCA All-America Scholar Athletes, and 37 All- Big Ten honorees. Five
Wildcats have been selected in the National Professional Fastpitch senior
draft in the last six years.
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Ken Ericksen
University Of South Florida
Ken Eriksen has built a reputation with his
success on the softball field because of his all around knowledge of the
game and his ability to teach all aspects. He will use that versatility at
the “Be the Best You Are” clinic where he will teach how to develop
catchers at Thursday Night Thunder, work on pitch recognition for both the
offense and defense in a Friday main session and mix in “How to” sessions
on throwing mechanics, defending the speed game and tie-breaking
strategies during the Ultimate Rap sessions.
Now entering his 14th season as USF head coach and his
25th overall with the softball program, Eriksen has shown an uncanny
ability to build winners.
Since Eriksen has been head coach at USF, only one of
his teams has ever ended a season with a losing record. He has led seven
teams to the NCAA Tournament and has won two conference titles. In all,
Eriksen has amassed a record of 587-303, the winningest coach in the
history of the program and the most among any active coach at USF. Eriksen
has guided USF to 12 winning seasons and a Big East championship in 2008.
He has served as assistant coach for the USA softball
team and helped them win their third straight Olympic Gold Medal.
Eriksen served as head coach for Team USA in the 2001
Pan American qualifiers and led the team to a gold medal.
During his playing career, Eriksen amassed a wealth of
international experience. He participated in eight ISC World Championships
and eight ASANational Major Championships. In 1988, he was a member of a
select team that represented the United States against the Cuban National
Team. In 1991, Eriksen was the catcher on the United States National
Fastpitch Team that won a silver medal at the Pan American Games in Cuba.
In 1992, he was named First Team All-World as a catcher and to the
All-North American Team. Eriksen played in three Olympic Festivals winning
a silver medal in 1993. In 1997, after retiring from playing, he was named
the head coach for the Men’s Team that represented the United States in
St. John’s, Newfoundland.
In 2001, Eriksen was named assistant coach with the
United States Women’s National Team that won an Olympic gold medal in
2004. Eriksen, who still holds his position with the national team, has
the primary responsibilities of pitching, catching and scouting for Team
USA. He recently led TEAM USA to the 2009 Canada Cup title.
He’ll offer a step-by-step look at Thursday Thunder
with a Catching-101 session. At the Ultimate Rap he’ll use all of his
experience on a wide array of topics that include footwork agility and
drills, as well as sessions on setting your defense.
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SCOTT WHITLOCK
Kennesaw State
A wise owl knows that you can learn new tricks. That is
what Scott Whitlock found out after living through the first losing season
of his career in 2009 when Kennesaw State finished its fourth and final
reclassification season with a 21-30 overall record and a 7-13 mark in the
Atlantic Sun Conference.
The winningest coach in NCAA softball with two national
titles and 13 regional crowns, he has more personal accolades than you can
mention as he has built Kennesaw State into a Division 1 program.
But nothing seemed to work last season. But Whitlock
has looked at the experience as a learning tool and offers the lessons he
learned from that losing year as a headliner at Thursday Night Thunder.
A lifetime of hard work, dedication and success led to
Whitlock being granted the highest honor of his profession when he was
voted into the National Fast Pitch Coaches Association's Hall of Fame in
2004.
After successful runs at the NAIA and NCAA Division II
levels, Whitlock has carried his success into Division I. In the Owls’
third year in college softball’s premier level of competition, he led
Kennesaw State to its second Atlantic Sun Conference regular season title
with a 36-17 record, 14-6 in conference.
His innate ability to get the most of players has made
him a force among coaches. He’ll show off some of those traits Saturday in
a main session when he explains how to teach players to manage situations
during competition. Friday, at the Ultimate Rap, he explains the art of
recruiting and how to maintain a positive environment as a coach.
USA Softball selected Whitlock as one of 16 coaches for
the Women's National Team in 2005 season. In 2006 he helped select the
National team. He also served on the support staff of the 2004 Olympic
Gold Medal squad
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Cheri Kempf
ESPN, Club K
Cheri Kempf is owner and Pitching Instructor at Worth Club K where she has
taught and trained thousands of athletes since 1991. Best known for her
pitching expertise, she has consulted with the Amateur Softball Association
and the United States Olympic Committee to develop universal standards by
which to teach fast pitch pitching.
She will use that experience as she puts together a
tutorial based on her book “The Softball Pitching Edge” starting with a
session at Thursday Night Thunder on workout plans, a Friday main session on
drills to develop the change up and follow with sessions at the Ultimate Rap
where she will teach how to throw a variety of pitches, including the rise,
the curve, and the screwball Kempf has more than 30 years of experience
playing and coaching softball at all levels. In college, Kempf was a
three-time All American and an NAIA National Champion. In amateur softball,
Kempf was an ASA National Champion in youth ball before moving onto the
staff of the world-renowned Raybestos Brakettes in the ASAWomen’s Major
Division. While on the Brakettes, the team captured two ASANational
Championships. In 1992, Kempf was a member of the United States National
Team that went on to win a gold medal in the World Cup competition in
Beijing, China.
Kempf has been inducted into the NAIA Collegiate Hall
of Fame, the Missouri State ASA Hall of Fame and the Missouri Western State
College Hall of Fame. Amember of the Women’s Sports Foundation and the
National Fast Pitch Coaches Association, she has done extensive motion
analysis research at the premier biomechanics lab in the United States, the
American Sports Medicine Institute in Birmingham, Alabama.
She has written a book and produced a DVD of the same
title, The Softball Pitching Edge. Along with Dartfish, the world-renowned
software company in sports, Cheri has created the most extensive and
intensive breakdown of the pitching motions involved in the fastball, drop,
rise, screw, and curve. She is also the inventor of the Spin Right Spinner,
a training device used to teach the correct mechanics of the pitching
movement to softball and baseball pitchers, and the Powerline Mat, which
provides distinctive marking specifically for pitching, along with a
consistent and safe surface on which to practice pitching.
Cheri also is recognized as a popular television
analyst for college and professional softball. She has been seen and heard
on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, Fox Sports, the YES Network, Cox Sports Television,
and Comcast Cable Network.
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For further information or for a brochure
call: (732)528-5392 email: bethebest@bytheshore.com
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