ESTEVAN - A member of the Estevan Girls Softball Association has been recognized for his commitment to the sport.
Jody Waloshin was named the Coach of the Year by Softball Saskatchewan on Oct. 25.
According to his bio for the award, Waloshin began coaching in 2010, when his oldest daughter began to play softball, and he is now a Level 3 competition trained coach.
“During most seasons, he has not only coached a provincial team, but has also coached a house team, bringing the same enthusiasm and desire for player development to the latter as he has to the former,” states his bio. “It is uncommon today for provincial coaches to also be involved in coaching house ball, but he devotes a great deal of time and energy to house ball and is one of its biggest supporters and promoters.”
Waloshin has coached teams other than those his daughters have been part of.
When Estevan was without a learn-to-play director for the 2020 season, Waloshin stepped up in this role, and despite the fact that his youngest daughter was in under-14 softball, he coached the U10 group, planning and leading all the practices.
“Jody will invest as much time and energy into player development and team success as is needed, including running winter training sessions and playing up to 75 games a year. This has resulted in great success.”
He was the head coach of the U14 south provincial champions in 2015, and had a great run as the head coach of Team South East at the 2016 Saskatchewan Summer Games in Estevan. He also was the primary teacher and developer for the 2018 Ul2 Estevan Elite team, which won B provincials.
For the 2021 season, Waloshin coached the Ul 9 A Southeast Super Novas. Practising twice a week and travelling with them to coach in their Regina league games, Waloshin was a huge factor in the team winning silver at provincials this year.
Waloshin is also recruiting and supporting coaches. Five years ago, he asked two parents, Brad Zukewich and Nick Laevens, if they would like to get into coaching, and spent years mentoring them. As a result,
Waloshin’s involvement in softball extends beyond coaching. He has been a board member for Estevan Girls Softball for 10 years. He has served on equipment and grounds, improving the diamonds in number of ways, including personally building new dugouts on a couple of the diamonds, performing maintenance on the association’s John Deere Gator, and donating many materials for various improvements to the diamonds.
He has improved the diamonds in many ways, such as by ordering and installing anchored bases, edging the infields, and laying shale. Besides this, he has primarily been the one responsible for dragging, repairing and maintaining the diamonds. Waloshin continues to inventory and manage equipment.
Currently, Waloshin is the District 1 director.
In the nomination, one of the players, Taylor Haux, said Waloshin is open to opinions, he make practices intense and fun, and he is committed to each player.
"Our team really improved over the year; as we were getting our butts kicked in league we practised a lot and Jody made our practice worthwhile by dialling down on what we needed to get better at. And by the end of the year we won second in provincial A ball in Saskatchewan and Jody was basically the glue that we needed to come together,” Haux said.
