Bases Loaded Weekly Article VI By: Marissa Moore

“On memorial day of 2000, we began Texas Glory.”  -Kevin Shelton (Co-Founder & Leader of the Texas Glory Organization)

·      2001 Texas Glory wins the 10u ASA & USSSA State Tournamemts

·      2002 12u USSSA, ASA and AFA State Tournament winners

·      2003 14u wins the Colorado Fireworks completing double dip to claim the club’s first Colorado Crown

·      2005 16u ASA Hall of Fame Runner Up and 7^th at 16u ASA Nationals

·      2008-2009 back-to-back ASA 18u Gold Hall of Fame Tournament Champions

Fast-forward to today and you’ve got the well-renowned Texas Glory you’ve all heard of. If you were to do your research you’d find the long list of credentials that has established the name Texas Glory. Texas Glory was exclusive to the DFW club area until the fall of 2016 when they finally expanded outside of the local market. Clubs are now established in Arkansas, Illinois and Florida. Texas Glory consists of just under 90 teams across 10 states.

Softball is a quick paced game that looks best when played with passion. The coaches and staff invested in the organization love the tenacity and unforgiving nature of the game of softball. Kevin said, “Softball provides clear immediate feedback, which he likes because it help’s create rapid improvement, both physical and mental.” Traditionally speaking it was made clear that softball is the perfect platform to help young people grow and develop while “satisfying the “old athlete” competitive “fix”.”

 “Texas Glory coaches work hard to create opportunities for players around DFW and the country by running camps and tournaments that put college coaches and players together for illuminating exposure.” This is what Kevin Shelton says has led to the organization to helping almost 500 athletes to go on and play in college. Texas Glory stands by the mantra “Leave it Better Than You Found It!” This creates the mindset of selfless players. Texas Glory aspires to encourage the athletes to find their greatness and then devote those talents to something bigger than themselves.

What spearheaded Kevin’s passion to become co-founder of a respectable organization like Texas Glory?

In the spring of 1997 Kevin watched his daughters during the rec game for the Mckinney League.  Shortly after that Emilo Villa reached out to Kevin and he began his career helping out in the dugout for his oldest daughters team. While Kevin had a little experience in the baseball world he soon realized that from a fundamentals standpoint he needed to study. So Kevin began to educate himself and he went to clinics in an effort to be the best coach he could be. 

“I quickly learned that coaching fundamentals was much different from managing the team and/or managing through a tournament. After two years on the bench and coaching 1^st base I got my own 12u squad.” As you can imagine Kevin has many amazing memories from coaching generations of softball but for the most part he said his favorite memory consisted of: “seeing smiles on players’ faces when they accomplish something they didn’t know or were not sure they could. Seeing them graduate from college and start successful careers and families is pretty cool as well.”

I asked Kevin what his current role for the organization was and his response was comforting. “It depends on who you ask but I do have the privilege of coaching 30+ awesome young ladies.” He works alongside a group of exceptional coaches including Tony Woodall, Cedric Coleman, Reed Robbins, Jason Christensen and Lisa Hough.

The organization consists of leaders like Ed Naudin, Mariah Haygood, Ken Stoker, Junior Torres, Randy Hale, Ken Wilson and many more.

Regional directors are Scott Knight (Arkansas softball HOF member), Ryan Bieneman, Nate Swan and Chris Dove.

All of these dedicated individuals have been vital aspects in the growth and success of Texas Glory.

So, Texas Glory is very internally focused. Through teaching generations of successful athletes they have stuck the fundamentals. Texas Glory emphasizes the importance of physical and mental training. Kevin said “We teach how to field a ground ball and throw, but more importantly, how do we react when we or our teammate doesn’t do it well; how do we stay focused on the task at hand.” This clearly establishes that selfless mantra the organization believes in.

Kevin attributes the success of the organization to:

1. The People. The people have been dedicated to the organizations mission. With that they have assisted the good parents who are looking to help their players improve.

2. The Competitive Environment. Texas Glory has had rosters that created an internal competitive spirit. The organization has been able to push every coach and player to attempt to reach max potential. Kevin said, “we want our players to feel safe but not comfortable. Humans don’t improve when they are comfortable. All of us should feel the pressure.”

The organization will continue to grow as the need to lead athletes continues and there is much success awaiting Texas Glory in the future.

See alumni of Organization here

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