Argentina, Australia name new U-18 Softball MNT Head Coaches

Argentina and Australia have won seven of the last eight WBSC Junior Men’s Softball World Championships, with the nation from Oceania claiming five titles and the South Americans two. Both National Federations started 2019 announcing the hiring of new Head Coaches for their U-18 Men’s National Teams, ahead of the brand new WBSC category World Cup in 2020.

Rafael Salguero will lead Argentina new process

Rafael Salguero was named Argentina U-18 Men’s Softball National Team head coach. The new process aims to continue the success of the Argentinian Junior Men’s program, which has finished in the top five in the last four World Championships, including back to back titles in 2012 in Parana (as host) and 2014 in Whitehorse, Canada. Last year, the South American nation ended fifth in the global battle held in Prince Albert, Canada.

Ricardo Cargnel (Hitting Coach), Alberto Guerrinieri (Pitching Coach), Nicolas Jimenez (Scout and Analysis Coach), and Kevin Bolzan (Trainer) will join Salguero as members of the staff. The Team Leader will be Fabian Medina.

The staff will count with a group of regional coaches, who will train the players locally in the different cities, boosting the development of the young athletes around the country. Salguero and his staff will monitor the progress of each athlete remotely, through a video platform. This model will also allow the development of coaches and trainers all over the nation.

Geoff Coultas to defend the World title

Softball Australia appointed Geoff Coultas as Head Coach of the Junior Steelers, the most successfully junior men’s National Team in the world. The green and yellow squad is have won five world championships so far, four of them consecutively from 1997 to 2008. They claimed back the title last year in Prince Albert, with a 6-1 victory over Japan.

Coultas played softball for WA from 1980 to 1993/4, before spending time coaching junior players in cricket. He worked within the high performance area with the Western Australia Cricket Association, working with U19 players.

In that role, he had the opportunity to work indirectly with a number of high profile cricket coaches, including Micky Arthur and Justin Langer and has observed a number of different coaching styles and seen what works and what doesn’t with young male athletes.

Geoff was the Assistant Coach for the Aussie Steelers at the 2017 WBSC Men’s Softball World Championship, where the team finished with a silver medal.