Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Bases Loaded Weekly Article VIII By: Marissa Moore


American Freedom Softball believes in a tenacious desire to compete as champions.


The organizations mission statement:
“To compete as a national-level program committed to helping every player who remains committed to our philosophy get recruited to the ‘right fit’ for that player without regard to division of play.”
The organization focuses on putting all of their efforts on providing a quality environment for all of their teams to reach three common goals. 1) Develop their players to the best of their abilities as players and people. 2) Compete at the highest level so that teams and players have an opportunity to be successful. 3) Educate the coaches, players and their families to understand and use the recruiting process to find the best opportunity for each player. Softball today is fast-paced, high strung and competitive. American Freedom aims at training their individuals to be well prepared for life beyond the field. Most importantly they focus on the understanding that it isn’t about the division you play for, but rather, how you, as an athlete compete and improve. The overall goal is to ensure that American Freedom players have the well rounded experience as members of the organization.
The national director of this well-known organization is Kevin Blaskowski. Kevin is also known as the 18u coach of the DFW national team, but more importantly he has a background in softball that reflects his success on and off the field. Kevin grew up watching his brother’s play men’s fastpitch. As a baseball player, Kevin has always had a general love for the game. But how does that reflect his success in softball?

“I developed a passion for softball because it was a diamond sport. The strategy and speed of the game has always fueled my passion.” It’s evident that Kevin and the girls who play for American Freedom are in love with the sport and the opportunity to challenge themselves.
Kevin began his journey with fastpitch Softball as a collegiate coach at Kansas Wesleyan University in 1991. For Kevin softball is more than a career, he said, “I believe it is one of the most challenging team sports there is.” For over 25 years he was a college coach with an overall record of 819-523. Kevin recalls leading his team at West Texas A&M to the NCAA Division II national championship while posting a 60-7 record as an unbelievable experience. While at West Texas A&M Kevin spearheaded the team that won four Lone Star Conference Championships and held seven NCAA Division II post-season appearances. Kevin was recognized for his coaching excellence in 2014 when he was named the NFCA and Captain U NCAA-II National coach of the year. He also received NCAA-II Regional Coach of the year honors twice and NAIA District coach of the year once. It is evident that Kevin Blaskowski obtains the accolades to lead an organization like American Freedom.
American Freedom consists of 70 teams in eight states. The organization has a long list of alumni whom have represented the organization in the best way possible. For the DFW area American Freedom recently partnered with Driven Elite Fitness and Training giving them access to three beautiful cities. Apart from working hard Kevin Blaskowski implements philanthropy into the program. He said, “I encourage all of our teams in our organization to be involved in community service projects. The American Freedom Webb Team in Oklahoma City recently boxed 10, 568 meals for the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. Kevin went further to say, “It is my goal for all of our teams to engage in at least one community service project per year. We are very fortunate to have what we have in our organization and I want everyone to understand how rewarding community service can be for our coaches, players and the organization.” It is evident that there is a bright future ahead of the organization. Their goal is to expand their current regions and they hope to expand to untapped parts of the country. Kevin is enthusiastic about this growth exapling, “ I would like to see an organization of close to 100 teams competing nationwide.”

Part of this expansion is there recent launch into the world of youth baseball. Aaron Westlake is the national director of the American Freedom Baseball program and his goal is to offer competitive baseball programs in the same areas where we have softball programs.
The most exciting part is that the organization is hoping to explore opportunities in other sports as well. Kevin stated, “It is our goal to have a well-rounded sports organization offering opportunities for athletes in multiple sports.”
Kevin mentioned that the organization would be launching a marketing program in the spring to increase recognition of the activities throughout the organization. He went on to say, “Through Wilson Sports, Driven Elite, Collegiate Sports Advocate, PGF, Triple Crown and USA Softball we hope to continue to compete at a high level and promote the American Freedom model nationwide.”
For more information about the organization click here
For a list of Alumni click here