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…

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, disciplin…

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 ath…

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 coa…

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 v…

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 C…

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.…

Jay Huggins is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach & Registered Physiotherapist. With a proven track record of working with athletes at all levels, Jay is passionate about sharing insights that bridge the gap between physiotherapy and coaching. He offers an online course “Strike Out Injuries” – A Baseball Coach’s Guide to Injury Prevention!…

Bryan Madsen, affectionately known as "B Mad," is the Head Coach of the USA Baseball 12U National Team. His extensive experience and leadership are evident in his approach to coaching. Madsen emphasizes the importance of surrounding oneself with talented and dedicated coaches, believing that a strong support system is crucial for success. Under Coa…

Dave Clay is the owner of KIME PERFORMANCE. A premiere baseball and softball facility focused on identifying and training the athlete's unique motor preferences. Motor Preference is the cheat code for player development. They train amateur and professional athletes towards greater performance through the individualization of movement. There is a lo…

Becky Beaulieu has no doubt that culture coaching was what she was meant to do. She has culture coached teams such as the University of Illinois, Long Island University, University of Wisconsin - Green Bay, The College at Brockport, and the Saint Paul Saints. She is passionate about serving athletes and enhancing team culture through observations, …

Jeff Schaefer is a former MLB player and a Regional Director for USA Baseball. Jeff believes in developing youth baseball players, creating opportunity and giving back to the game that has given him so much. He has earned a widely regarded reputation as an authority on travel and showcase baseball and has become known as a leading national source f…

David Klein is a nationally recognized, award-winning transformational coach and experience designer in the baseball and softball world. David’s transformative influence extends beyond the field. He’s profoundly impacted thousands of youth players through his “Legendary Life Playbook,” an experiential 10 week guide that instills vital life lessons …

Ken Carpenter is the host of the Athlete 1 Podcast. On his show, Ken examines success, failures, and life lessons in sports. He provides valuable insight and an understanding of playing and coaching team sports. Ken is in the Ohio Central District Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and has too many accomplishments to list! Give a listen to K…

Rich Taylor is the former pitching coach at Pepperdine University and the owner of The Pitching Kingdom. He is also the author of “Don’t Throw Strikes.” Rich is passionate about nurturing young pitchers and helping them unlock their full potential on the mound. Rich has too many accomplishments to list so, listen to the show and find out what he is…

Don Hooton Jr is the President of The Taylor Hooton Foundation. The Taylor Hooton Foundation was founded in 2004, in memory of Don’s younger brother Taylor Hooton, a 17-year-old baseball player from Plano, Texas. Taylor took his own life after abusing anabolic steroids. Don provides education through the Foundation’s All Me Assembly program, a scie…

Scott Steltz is not just your ordinary, run-of-the-mill baseball coach. He is the Head Coach of the Chatham High School Panthers. The Panthers have won back-to-back NYS High School Baseball Championships and Coach Steltz is the recipient of the 2023 ABCA/ATEC High School Div. III National Coach of The Year. He is truly an amazing coach and shares a…

Bert Gonzalez is the manager of the New Jersey Jackals of the Frontier League in Independent Baseball and also the founder of Indyball Jobs. Independent Baseball provides another avenue for high level baseball players to compete and continue to develop in professional baseball. Many Indyball players have gone on to further their careers with MiLB t…

Justin Sherman is the founder of Justintime Baseball, an independent baseball training, softball training, and coaching business located in Westchester, NY. They partner with little leagues, recreation programs, private groups, and individuals throughout Westchester and Connecticut. They believe in building and developing fundamental skills in base…

We wrap up our recordings from the 2024 ABCA Convention by catching up with Anthony Pla. These conversations have become an annual occurrence and are just one of the many reasons that I look forward to the beginning of January at the ABCA each and every year. One last thing... I would not be a good father if I didn't thank my son, Vinny Filingeri, …

One of our last interviews from the 2024 ABCA convention was supposed to be with USA Baseball National Team Head Coach RJ Farrell but we wound up with an added bonus to the show by inviting Georgia Gwinnett College Head Coach Jeremy Sheetinger to join in. Now, RJ would be an unbelievable conversation on his own but having Sheets join us made it tha…

There are so many great baseball minds just roaming around at the ABCA convention. Paul Gallo and Mark “Pudge” Gjormand are 2 of them that I have had the pleasure of spending some time with both in Kansas City during the Youth Baseball Summit and at the 2024 ABCA Convention. We jump into youth baseball and do a little recap of the Summit.…

Matt Rienzi began his tenure as the Assistant Baseball Coach at Roger Williams University during the 2023 season and is the new Head Coach of the Ocean State Waves of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. Matt sat down with us in Dallas for a great conversation.By Jimmy Filingeri & David Friedman

On this week's podcast I sit down for a conversation with the founding members of Midwest Telefest that included the owners, employees, and friends of Life Tools Adventure Outfitters. The Co-op turned outdoor shop was a hub for Telemark equipment in the Green Bay, WI area for many years and helped bring awareness to the great Telemark turn. Midwest…

Another one of our good friends, Jake Lindmeier, sat down with us to catch up with what was going on at the convention and just baseball in general! Jake is from Dallas College Brookhaven and always has some good advice for our listeners.By Jimmy Filingeri & David Friedman

New relationships are always being built at the the ABCA Convention but another great attribute of the convention is the ability to foster existing friendships. In this episode we spend some time catching up with our good friend, Taylor Valentine of Centre College.By Jimmy Filingeri & David Friedman

Today’s guest has been in the Snowsports industry for nearly 30 years. He has worked in various retail positions along with working as a rep for such brands as Karhu, Dynafit, and more. We had a great discussion about where Telemark has been and where it’s headed, where specialty retail might be going in the future, shifts in manufacturing, and why…

As we continue along with our recordings from the ABCA convention we move to our next guest, Jim Chester of Gardner Webb University. Jim is going into his fifth year as the head coach of the Runnin’ Bulldogs. Coach Chester is an active member of the American Baseball Coaches Association and has served as the South East Region Chair, as well as bein…

Carl Nichols is a former MLB catcher that played parts of six seasons for the Baltimore Orioles and Houston Astros but what was appealing to me was his ability to teach and develop baseball players. Carl joined me on Podcast Row at the 2024 ABCA Convention in Dallas, Texas for an amazing conversation.…

Andy Jacobsen has been a friend of mine for 20+ years and is a Telemark skier that I’ve always respected for his great style, backcountry proficiency, and determined and skillful competition skiing. He was always a top performer in the early Telemark Freeski competitions during the early to mid-2000s and graced the big screen not only in the early …

The mission of Baseball Dudes owner, Chris Gissell, is to guide and mentor players, their families, coaches, and his social media followers to a successful life on & off the field. Develop confidence. Teach the game. Instill Character traits that help lead to success and help develop as many leaders as he can along the way. He believes that it’s ab…

Deven Morgan is the Director of Youth Baseball at Driveline Academy and author of the new book, Skills That Scale. He has one of the best baseball minds in the country. You will be hard pressed to find someone that is more passionate about developing young baseball players. In this episode, Deven shares his knowledge and experience with us. You are…

Drew Nylen lives in northern British Columbia, on the Alaskan border, in a town of 300 people. His interest for Telemark skiing began in his youth when he started working at his local gear shop and was able to get his first freeheel setup. He’s an ACMG apprentice ski guide who will be taking his full ski exam in April. His extensive guiding has tak…

World Telemark Day Celebrates 10 Years For Telemark skiers from around the world the 1st Saturday in March is a special day, it’s always World Telemark Day (WTD). This international celebration takes place this 2023-24 winter season on Saturday March 2nd, 2024 and marks one decade since its inception. “As a Telemark skier myself I saw how great the…

I had the honor of participating in the ABCA Youth Baseball Summit hosted by the Kansas City Royals at Kaufman Stadium this past November. While I was there, I had the pleasure of meeting Shon Plack and Jeff Sopha. There are too many accolades to list, but Jeff serves as the Youth Liaison for the Kansas City Royals Amateur Development program and S…

Nick Serio is a coach that has a doctorate in Sport and Performance Psychology. He established Athletes Warehouse in 2014 and extended his commitment to athlete empowerment with the founding of Velo University in 2020. Nick helps athletes optimize performance by facilitating cognitive and physical resiliency. His unwavering mission is to reshape th…

The other day I had the opportunity to teach a friend how to Telemark ski for the first time. I absolutely love sharing the turn with my friends but it’s been awhile since I’ve gone out with someone that has never made drop-knee turns before and starting from scratch. It reminded me of of things that I wanted to share with you as we head into this …

Todays podcast is all about fitness and some of the important ways you can keep you body healthy and strong during the Telemark ski season. Kate Galliett and I discuss five important tips that range from diet and warm-ups to joints and apres-ski. Kate Galliett has been a Personal Trainer and Coach for 22 years. She earned a Bachelor of Science Degr…

Every year we get so many voicemails, emails, DMs, and the like regarding Telemark skiing. A lot of these questions are the same because there’s generally a lack of information online or people have a hard time finding the answers they need. So today I thought I’d put together my top list of FREQUENTLY ASKED TELEMARK QUESTIONS IN 2023 and see if I …

Mental performance coach at RJ Performance Group, Jon Osborn, joins us to talk about how parents can make an impact on their child’s sports experience by understanding his Parents Do’s and Don’ts. He has created a simple chart that shares some scenarios parents might face with their young athletes and suggests what a parent should do and, more impo…

This week I talk to me good buddy Cody Smith. Cody grew up near Aspen, Colorado where he started skiing at a young age as well as Telemark skiing. He attended the Colorado Rocky Mountain School and was a part of the school Telemark team. Following high school he filmed with Falling Forward Films, competed, and then eventually started Lipstick Films…

You all know how much I love the history of Telemark skiing and that's one of the big reasons I started the podcast. In Today's episode I talk about 5 fun Telemark history facts that I've always thought were important to the rich history of the turn. This episode is especially good for new Telemark skiers and those that may not know much about the …

There’s been some things that have gone down lately that really got me thinking about the current state of Telemark and where I think it’s heading in the next few years and beyond. At first these things that happened seemed like incidents that didn’t have much to do with each other, but as I started thinking more and more about them the connections…

We continue with a recent common theme of talking to pitching coaches. Ryan Forrest was the pitching coach for former guest Mike Kazlausky of the Air Force Academy and has now moved on to Boston College. Ryan talks about his means and methods when he works with his players. We wish him nothing but the best as he embarks on his new journey with the …

This week I speak with my good friend Richard Schürf. He grew up in Munich, Germany and was introduced to Telemark skiing through Paul Parker and Yvon Chouinard while he was working for Patagonia in the 1980s. He's had a long career as a distributor for iconic Telemark brands like Karhu as well as many others. These days he runs a successful Telema…

This week on the podcast I'm digging into my deep mailbag to answer a few questions from listeners. If you want a question or thought to be considered for a Mailbag Episode, please send in your thoughts, questions, hate mail, etc. to podcast@freeheellife.com. Our weekly e-mail newsletter is a great way to stay in contact with all of our content, ev…

This week Craig and I sit down and catch up about his recent trip to Bariloche, Argentina. We discuss hanging out with Diana Rivera from We Telemark, teaching kids to Telemark in South America, and where are the best spots to go when you visit there. Sign-up for the mailing list: https://bit.ly/FHLMailingList Connect with Josh and the Freeheel Life…

Wayne Mazzoni is a coach, author, advisor, and has been a speaker at over 500 high schools, coaches’ conventions, and athletic director conventions. As you can imagine, with that type of background, he has an incredible amount of information to share with everyone. We cover everything from pitching velo, change ups, multi-sport athletes, player por…

Today's podcast is with my good friend Keith Opperman. He is the the Midwest Tele Fest Organizer an annual event that will take place on February 9-11th, 2024 at the Porcupine State Park Ski Area in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan. We discuss the upcoming event details, Keith's latest move to make the festival a 501c3 non-profit entity, Telemark s…

It's time to fire up the podcast again as we head into the 2023-24 Telemark season. Thanks for the wonderful break over the summer! I'm psyched to get back and talk your ears off about what we have going on at Freeheel Life along with a little history, equipment banter, etc. Today I just want to catch you up on some changes this year, re-focusing o…