Baseball Victoria is thrilled to announce the four Charter Head Coaches for the 2018/19 Charter programs.
Through collaboration and careful planning, BV and the Charters have worked together to successfully improve the Academy/All-Star program and continue to provide excellent opportunities for junior players. Tryouts will kick off in December and on-field training for the program will begin in February. The program will culminate in the State Championships.
The four head coaches for the Charter programs are:
Baycats - Kelli Zabalan
Twins - Scott Meager
Mariners - Marshall Skinner
Athletics - David Hargreaves
We are so excited to have these fantastic, talented leaders on board to support our bright and enthusiastic junior players on their baseball journey.
Kelli Zablan
Coach Zablan has enjoyed a successful career that included a U.S. college team and a stint with the Seattle Mariners. In 2005, he headed to America to begin a four-year collegiate career at Southern Utah University, suiting up for the Thunderbirds NCAA Division 1 team. In 2010 he took on the role of Southern Utah’s assistant baseball coach, and he also played independent ball with the River City Rascals of the Frontier League. In 2011 he joined the Mariners organisation. He returned to the Rascals for 2012-2013, before making his way back to Victoria to take on a coaching role at Aces Academy. He played for the Melbourne Aces from 2015-2018 as well. Zablan was named pitching coach for the 2018 VIC Blue U16 State Team, and he was also a coach at the Baseball Australia MLB u15 Invitational. Having served as the Baycats’ Charter Coach for 2017-2018, he has what it takes to lead younger players in a winning direction while having a great time.
Scott Meager
Coach Meager was once a State Team representative as a junior player, so he knows all about making these opportunities memorable for our young athletes. He’s played 300+ senior games at both Williamstown Baseball Club in the Victorian Summer Baseball League and Saints Baseball Club of the winter Geelong Baseball Association. In addition to serving as the Saints Club Coach in 2011 and 2012, he’s also been involved in many Victorian representative teams. He’s been coaching State U16 Teams for the past seven years, and he led the Vic U16 Blue team to a silver medal finish in 2016. In addition, Meager has played a valuable role in the BV Development Pathway by coaching at the Aces Academy since 2011. Other notable moments include his role as assistant coach at the U25 National Championships in Cairns in September 2015 where the team won a bronze medal, and serving as an assistant coach for the Major League Baseball Academy Australian Program in Gold Coast in August 2015.
Marshall Skinner
Coach Skinner has played an essential part in the growth of Victorian baseball through his array of playing and coaching experiences. He enjoyed a decorated career with the Preston Baseball Club, spending 34 years in a Pirates uniform beginning in 1973. This included 16 years in Division 1 from 1984-2000. He played one season with other Div 1 clubs Sunshine (2007) and Doncaster (2008) before returning to Preston for five more years. In the winter season, he played for Watsonia (A-Grade) from 1982-1994 and Greensborough (A-Grade) from 1995-2014. Skinner also took advantage of many representative opportunities, playing for the Waverly Reds ABL team in 1989/90 and the Melbourne Bushrangers ABL team in 1991/92. He also played for the Victorian Provincial Team from 2001-2010 and took on the Team Captain role for the Australian Provincial European Tours in 2003 and 2005.
His coaching experience is varied and vast as well, having led players and teams at the junior, senior and representative levels. This includes coaching everything from T-ball to U18 kids at Preston, Watsonia, Greensborough and Frankston. From 2013-2016 he was the K2 Academy Assistant Coach as well as the head coach for the 2015 K2 Japan tour. On the senior side, he coached the Watsonia 2nds from 1992 to 1994 and the Preston 2nds from 1995 to 1998. He was the assistant coach for Greensborough in 1995 before taking over the club coach role in 1996, a post he stayed in until 2001. He returned to the position in 2006 and spent six more years as club coach. He's now the Assistant Club Coach for Sandringham.
This will be far from his first experience coaching at a representative level, having been an Assistant Coach on three Australian Provincial Tours (2007, 2009, 2011). In addition to being an assistant coach for Victorian Provincial teams, he has coached Victorian U18 and U16 State Teams, Northern Diamondbacks Little League and Aces Academy.
David Hargreaves
Throughout his 40+ year career, Coach Hargreaves has played and coached baseball at all levels. He’s been heavily involved in junior coaching across club teams, region representative sides, Charter All-Star Teams, State U/14, U/16 and U/18 Teams and Melbourne Aces Winter Academy Squads. Most recently, he headed to the 2018 MLB Invitational in Lismore to coach some of the brightest young players in front of international scouts. With a Level 4 Coaching Accreditation from Baseball Australia, he currently coaches the Waverley Baseball Club Junior League team and is the Pitching Coach for the U18 Victoria Blue Team. Hargreaves says he is passionate about working with coaches and athletes throughout the charter to enhance the baseball training knowledge of our coaches and improve our athlete’s baseball tools. “I look forward to fulfilling my duties as Eastern Athletics Charter Head Coach and help guide the development of the players and coaches throughout the Charter.”