Past Editions:
11th EBCA Convention
2014 PRAGUE (CZ)

SPEAKERS

  • John Vodenlich

     John Vodenlich enters his 12th season at the helm of the UW-Whitewater baseball program. He has taken the Warhawks to heights unreached prior to his arrival on campus. While the Whitewater program has had longstanding success, Vodenlich has set a new standard, turning the Warhawks into a NCAA Division III college baseball power.
    During Vodenlich’s 11 seasons as head coach, the Warhawks have won eight WIAC championships, qualified for the NCAA Championships 10 times and appeared in the NCAA Division III College World Series five times, including winning the 2014 and 2005 NCAA Division III National Championships. Vodenlich earned his 400th career victory during the team's 2014 World Series appearance. The Warhawks knocked off SUNY Cortland (N.Y.) 9-6 to make Vodenlich the second coach in program history to reach the milestone.
    Vodenlich has been on the coaching staff for all 11 of Whitewater’s winningest seasons, with nine of the 11 coming during his time as head coach. During the 2000’s, Whitewater had the 11th most victories in NCAA Division III. Off the field, Vodenlich has been honored as the WIAC Coach of the Year six times, was named the NCAA Division III National Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association in 2005 and 2014, and was honored as the NCAA Regional Coach of the Year in 2004, 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2014.
    In 2007, Vodenlich was inducted into the UW-Whitewater Athletic Hall of Fame and was awarded with the WBCA College Coach of the Year in 2004, 2008 and 2011. He was tabbed the WBCA’s Man of the Year in 2005.Players coming to play under Vodenlich can expect to grow thanks to his determined player development exertions. Twelve student-athletes have developed into All-Americans during Vodenlich’s tenure.Since joining the Whitewater program as a player in 1989 and the coaching staff in 1994, 27 former Warhawks have signed professional contracts, the first being former Major League closer Bob Wickman, who Vodenlich caught at Whitewater.
    In addition to his great impact on the game in the United States, Vodenlich also is an internationally known clinician, conducting coaching clinics in Germany, England, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary.

    Before joining the coaching ranks, Vodenlich was one of the best players to ever take the field for Whitewater. Playing from 1989-1992, Vodenlich finished with a .397 career batting average, good for third all-time in school history. His .456 average in 1991 is the second best single season average in program history.Vodenlich was an ABCA All-American in 1991 and 1992, the first two-time All-American at Whitewater.Following his collegiate career, Vodenlich went on to play professionally in Europe, winning the Slovenian National Championship in 1994.Vodenlich joined Jim Miller’s coaching staff as an assistant coach in 1994 and stayed on the staff until 1998, when he was named the head coach at Edgewood College.Prior to Vodenlich’s tenure at Edgewood, the Eagles had an all-time record of 33-133 and never had seen a winning season.Vodenlich needed just two seasons to change that, setting a school record for wins in his first season, but then shattering it the following season, giving Edgewood its first winning campaign in program history.Following the 1999 season, Vodenlich returned to Whitewater and rejoined Miller’s staff as an assistant coach.With Miller’s retirement coming following the 2003 season, Whitewater didn’t have to look far to find its seventh head coach in school history.It’s a hire the school certainly hasn’t regretted.Naming Vodenlich head coach for the 2004 season immediately paid off for the university as the Warhawks set a new school record for wins and made just their second trip to the NCAA Division III College World Series.Under Vodenlich’s guidance in 2005, Whitewater set a new school record for wins with 45, fewest losses with 7 and made another trip to Appleton for the College World Series. This time around the Warhawks weren’t denied and won their first National Championship.Whitewater returned to the College World Series in 2008 and again in 2011. The Warhawks returned to Appleton in 2014, winning the program's second-ever NCAA Division III championship to complete the institution's "trifecta" of national titles during the 2013-14 academic year. UW-Whitewater's football, men's basketball and baseball teams all won national championships to become the first school at any level of the NCAA to win those three titles in the same year.With a bachelor's in marketing and public relations from UW-Whitewater in 1992, Vodenlich earned his master's in business administration from the university in 1994.

  • Tim Leiper

     Timothy Joseph Leiper (born July 19, 1966) is an American professional baseball coach and manager.

    Leiper, a former outfielder, had a 12-season (1985–1996) minor league playing career in the farm systems of the Detroit Tigers, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Mets and Kansas City Royals, batting .273 with 40 home runs in 1,166 games and 3,910 at bats.[1] He batted left-handed, threw right-handed, stood 5 foot, 11 inches (1.8 m) tall and weighed 175 pounds (79 kg).

    His coaching career began while he was still an active player: he spent part of the 1992 season as an assistant baseball coach for North Carolina State University. In 1996, Leiper became a coach in the professional ranks, in the Mets' organization.[2] He moved up to managing in 2000 in the Montréal Expos' organization, working at the Short Season-A and Class A levels before his promotion to the Triple-A Ottawa Lynx of the International League in 2002. After Leiper guided the Lynx to 80 wins in 143 games that season, he spent one season as pilot of the Class A Sarasota Red Sox before returning to the Lynx in 2004, who were by then the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. Leiper then spent four seasons in the Pirates' system, including three as skipper of the Double-A Altoona Curve, before joining the Florida Marlins in 2009.[3] In 2010, he managed the Jacksonville Suns, the Marlins' Double-A affiliate,[4] where he led them to the 2010 Southern League championship. He then served as the Marlins' roving minor league defensive coordinator in 2011 and 2012. In 2013, he was senior advisor for minor league operations for the Blue Jays before his promotion to manager John Gibbons' staff for 2014.

    Internationally, Leiper played in Los Mochis of the Mexican Pacific Winter League in 1993, and Aguilas Cibanes in 1996, where his team won the Dominican League Championship. Coaching Internationally, In 1999–2000 He worked for Pastora, in the Venezuelan Winter League, as well as Aguilas, in 2007–2008 in the Dominican winter league. Aguilas won both the Dominican Championship and the Caribbean World Series.

    Previously an offseason resident of Ottawa,[5] Leiper has also been a coach on the 2004 Canadian Olympic team, and Canada's 2006, 2009, and 2013 World Baseball Classic squads. He was also a part of the Baseball Canada Staff that won bronze medals at both the 2008 and 2011 Baseball World Cups and the Gold Medal in the 2011 Pan-American Games.

    In 2014, he will serve as first base coach for the Toronto Blue Jays, his first year in Major League Baseball after 29 years as a minor league player, manager and instructor.

    Source : Wikipedia

  • Brian Cain

    Brian Cain is one of the top peak performance and mental conditioning coaches in all of baseball. He works with professional players, top high school and college programs around the country on three major aspects of performance.

    1. Establishing a championship culture in your program
    2. Playing the game one pitch at a time
    3. Developing leaders and men of charter on and off the diamond.

    His current client includes multiple Major League Baseball All-Stars Kurt Suzuki, Pedro Alvarz and Matt Carpenter as well as Cy-Young Award Winner David Price. In the last 10 years Cain has worked with over 500 MLB Draft picks and over 40 first round picks including Brandon Finnegan, the first player from the 2014 MLB Draft to reach the Major Leagues.

    Cain, who studied under the legendary master of the mental game Dr. Ken Ravizza was a member of the Cal State Fullerton Coaching staff in 2003 and was a part of the Titans 2004 NCAA National Championship Run. He recently worked with 2014 NCAA College World Series participants, The University of Mississippi and Texas Christian University and 2014 NCAA National Champion Vanderbilt Univeristy.

    The author of 14 books on peak performance and sport psychology including #1 International Best Seller Toilets, Bricks, Fish Hooks and PRIDE: The Peak Performance Toolbox EXPOSED.Cain is one of the most sought after clinicians and coaches when it comes to the mental game of basebal

  • Dr Daniel Laby

    Dr. Laby has been trained in Ophthalmology and specializes in Sports Vision as well as Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus. Dr. Laby attended the George Washington University School of Medicine, receiving his medical degree in 1987. He completed his residency in 1992 and a fellowship at UCLA in 1993. He is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Laby has served as staff ophthalmologist for several professional sports teams including the LA Dodgers, NY Mets and LA Kings (NHL Hockey) as well as the St Louis Cardinals. Dr. Laby also worked with the US Olympic team prior to the Beijing Olympics. Currently, Dr. Laby works with the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago Cubs, and the Cleveland Indians Professional baseball teams and advises the Boston Celtics Professional basketball team. Each year he screens the players at their respective training camps. In addition to performing a routine eye examination on each player, he evaluates several visual functions that are specifically important to sports performance. Dr. Laby is board certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology, and is a full member of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus as well as the American Academy of Ophthalmology. He has authored many journal articles, textbook chapters, and is the co-author of Dictionary of Ophthalmology. He founded the international email list-serv community in sports vision and serves as it’s moderator. Dr. Laby has been featured on Fox News as well as over a dozen national and local television and radio stations, as well as newspaper articles. Recently, Dr. Laby’s work was featured in Sports Illustrated as part of a series on Sports Medicine

  • Jeff Krushell

    In 1994 Jeff Krushell graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Kinesiology from the University of Calgary. While attending school he worked as a Strength and Conditioning Coach with the varsity teams as well as professional and nationally ranked athletes.

    It was here he started his first company Performax Strength and Conditioning. Moving to Edmonton in 1996 he worked as the Director of Athletic Development at the Edmonton Sport Institute, training athletes from many sports and developing camps and school programs that still exist today. Late in 1997 Jeff moved on to the Royal Glenora Club of Edmonton as Director of Sport Performance Development overseeing the strength and conditioning for the Elite Athlete Training Center.

    In February of 1998, Jeff was hired by the Toronto Blue Jays as the Minor League Strength and Conditioning Coordinator where he stayed for two full seasons before moving to the Major League Club in 2000. Here, Jeff oversaw the entire strength and conditioning program of the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball organization. Also, during this time he became very involved with Baseball Canada and Major League Baseball International promoting strength and conditioning to athletes and coaches.

    During the spring of 2003 Jeff stepped down from the Blue Jays to pursue a private business “Krush Sport Performance”.Jeff Krushell, owner of Krush Performance, consults with Major League Baseball International overseeing the Strength and Development program on a global scale.

    Jeff has consulted with the Edmonton Eskimos of the CFL and works with a handful of elite athletes at his home base in Edmonton. Also, as the Director of Human Sport Performance, promoting cutting edge sport science and drug free sport,Jeff Krushell has developed a professional network of sport contacts that includes Athletes, General Managers, Coaches and Sport Scientists from every discipline, every level of sport and reaching all around the world. 

  • Martin Brunner

     Martin Brunner is well known in German and European Baseball as pitching coach of the Buchbinder Legionaere Regensburg, head of the Regensburg academy, coach instructor and head coach of the Bavarian regional selections.

    After concluding his active career following the 1996 season Martin Brunner became a coach. The 40-year-old quickly moved up the ladder and became sport director of the Bavarian Baseball and Softball Federation. Under his leadership professional structures got installed and developed in Bavaria. With nine titles overall the Bavarian Junior Team is the record title holder at German national championships.

    In 2002 Brunner founded the Regensburg Baseball Academy with dormitory. With his guidance the first baseball academy became the most successful academy program in European Baseball. Up to now ten athletes of the Regensburg Baseball Academy signed contracts with several MLB organizations.

    In the German Baseball-Bundesliga Brunner has been working as pitching coach since the 1997 season and also had stints as manager of the Buchbinder Legionaere (2001, 2006/2007). The Austria native has won five German Championships and six German Cup titles.

    Brunner also can look back at 14 years of experience as coach and instructor at the Minor and Major League level (mostly in Spring Training). He already worked for the Atlanta Braves, Oakland Athletics, Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Dodgers.

    Since 2001 he has been a coaching instructor in the Bavarian Baseball and Softball Federation. In this position he received numerous invitations as convention speaker in Europe and in the United States. In Regensburg he organized the DBV Convention for ten years.

  • Bill Holmberg

     Bill is the coach in residence at the MLB/FIBS Baseball Academy in Tirrenia or close to a decade.

    Originally from Miami, he started his coaching career as a pitching coach at the esteemed Christopher Colombus HS.

    He played professionnally in the Italian Baseball League for 4 years.

    He was the head coach of Italian teams for may years (Brescia 2003-2004, Godo 1989-2001)

    Pitching coach of the Italian National Team since 2007, he took part to the 2009 and 2013 World Baseball Classics.

    He has worked as an international scout for the Chicago Cubs for almost 10 years.
    Bill Holmberg has helped many Italian players to reach their potential and sign professional contracts, including Marten Gasperini, the highest siging bonus in thever given to a European player.

    Bill Holmberg is passionate about the game, and passionate about learning about it and never misses a chance to share his knowledge to better the game.