Josh Kozuch (Cuz-you) is the Mental Performance Coordinator for the Tampa Bay Rays. Josh dives deep into the world of mental performance in both the professional ranks and youth baseball. Whether you're an athlete, coach, or just looking to improve your mental game, this episode is packed with valuable tips and strategies. Don't miss it!

Baseball runs deep in Brad Lachemann’s family. Brad's father was a Major League pitcher and managed the California Angels. His Uncle Rene Lachemann managed nearly 1,000 MLB games, and his Uncle Bill has coached in the Angels' organization for decades. Coach Lachemann led the Arroyo Grande High School baseball program for 20 years, ending his tenure in 2020. His dedication to baseball extends beyond high school as he served as a coach for USA Baseball's 12u Open in 2019 and, most recently, he contributed his expertise to the USA Baseball Task Force for the 11u NTIS in 2023.

Erick Quesada is the Head Baseball Coach at Mingus Union High School in Cottonwood, Arizona. He was one of the 12U USA Baseball National Team Coaches in 2023. Coach Quesada touches on a number of key topics, including his insights on the state of youth baseball, the importance of maintaining high standards in player development, teamwork, discipline, and the critical role coaches play in shaping future generations of our baseball players.

Lane Farmer is a mental performance coach that believes if you want to be great and grow as an athlete, you must learn how to suffer and endure failure. Players all don't come from the same background; they don’t experience the same things early on in life and may be going after different dreams and passions. At the end of the day, they are all athletes, and the same systems and processes, used in sports, can be applied to other areas in life to achieve success.

Lane also believes that failure produces perseverance; perseverance builds character; and character affords us hope. (Romans 5:3-4)

His platform guides athletes to be successful on and off the field by forming a healthy identity through sport.

We finish up our USA Baseball 12U National team conversations with Roger Wright. Coach Wright was inducted into the ABCA Hall of Fame in 2022, Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame in 2016 and Huntsville Metro Coach of the Year five times. Coach was the head coach at Buckhorn High School (New Market, Ala.) for over two decades. He is currently a coach at the University of Alabama-Huntsville. His son, Kyle Wright, is an MLB pitcher with the KC Royals.

Jean Linscott, Ph.D. and Kenneth Ruoff, Ph.D., are a husband-and-wife team that are veterans of the youth sports industry. Their new book What Is the Goal?The Truth About the Youth Sports Industry, demonstrates how the Youth Sports Industry (YSI) accentuates the wealth and participation gap by pricing out most families. Young athletes have become valuable commodities to the sports clubs who secure greater earnings in a lucrative industry if they play their business cards right.

We continue our USA Baseball 12U National team conversations with Coach Josh "Jelli" Ellison from Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, Arizona. Jelli is a former professional baseball player in the Mariners and Yankees organizations and has a wealth of baseball experience and knowledge. Once you listen to Jelli speak, you will then understand why Coach Madsen asked him to be part of his USA Baseball staff.

A longtime high school baseball coach, Wes Brooks will be an assistant for Team USA for the first time in 2024. Brooks has been involved with USA Baseball in several different roles for over a decade. Coach Brooks talks about the structure of the program that he built at Oxford High School in Oxford, Alabama.