"We are extremely excited to have both Jeff and Mark join our Junior Men's National Team Coaches Pool" said Mike Branchaud, Manager of Canadian Championships and Men's National Teams at Softball Canada. "Both are young and experienced softball coaches that will bring energy to the program."
Ellsworth is coming off an outstanding season with Team Canada, earning Gold medals at the WBSC Men's World Softball Championship and the Pan American Games this past summer. His international playing career spanned 10 years from 2006 to 2015, and he competed in a total of 17 Canadian Championships between 1999 and 2015. Over the past several years, his passion has turned to coaching, getting his first experience as Head Coach of the Prince Edward Island Women's Softball Team at the 2009 Canada Summer Games. He has coached the U16/U18 Scotiabank Reds Women's Fastpitch Team since 2012, leading them to compete in four Canadian Championships and also coached the Westisle Boys High School team from 2008 to 2014.
"When a team can add Jeff who is one of the best hitters in the World to its coaching staff, the younger junior players will absorb that knowledge and will hopefully be able to improve their hitting skills" added Branchaud.
Quinn, who also hails from Prince Edward Island, has had a distinguished playing career at the club team level, competing in several Canadian Championships and New Zealand National Championships since 1996. He began coaching at the U13 level in New Zealand before moving back to PEI in 2008, holding various coaching positions at the Senior Men's, U21 Men's, U16 Girls' and Intermediate School levels. He was the pitching coach of the 2013 PEI Canada Summer Games Women's Team, and is currently the Head Coach of the 2017 PEI Canada Summer Games Men's Team, a group he has been working with since 2014. He is a Competition – Development: Certified coach, and is also Softball PEI's Master Learning Facilitator and a Master Pitching Instructor of Softball Canada's CANpitch program.
"With Mark, the team will get a coach that is well educated with lots of developmental knowledge targeted at this specific age category" continued Branchaud. "By adding these two quality individuals, we feel that we have taken a tremendous step to help our team achieve success at the WBSC Junior Men's World Softball Championship next July."
A twenty-four (24) player Junior Men's National Team Athlete Pool was selected this summer and was provided with an off-season fitness and conditioning program. A selection camp will take place in early June to determine the final roster that will gather in Kitchener, ON on July 13 to train in preparation for the WBSC Junior Men's World Softball Championship July 22-30 in Midland, Michigan.
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For more information, please contact:
Gilles LeBlanc
Manager - Marketing and Communications
Softball Canada
(613) 523-3386 ext. 3105
gleblanc@softball.ca
