Rachel Balkovec is currently a minor league hitting coach for the New York Yankees; formerly a strength and conditioning coach for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Houston Astros. Rachel talks about some of her stops throughout her professional background, the importance of participating and immersing herself into what she is teaching as a coach, her early interest in data-driven coaching, and much much more.   

Link to the mentioned gaze tracking study (moon-landing study): https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2020.00003  Frans Bosch constraints led approach: https://fransbosch.systems/  

Rachel's Socials: 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/_rachelbalkovec 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachel.balkovec/ 

2:15 Introducing Rachel 

4:00 Covid shutdown exercise adventures 

7:05 Takeaways from her professional background stops 

13:25 How Rachel approaches risk throughout her career 

15:10 The constraints led approach in the Netherlands 

18:50 Rachel's early interest in data-driven coaching 

21:20 The importance of understanding data collection abstractly 

22:40 Projects that Rachel wishes she could complete that got cut short 

25:45 Rachel's thoughts on the growth of Softball player development 

35:10 Why Rachel participates in the things she coaches 

38:25 The value of understanding failure 

43:10 The role of participation on group culture 

47:20 Favorite/least favorite part of working with us  

Link to the hosts' twitters: 

Anthony Brady: https://twitter.com/BaseballFreak_9 

Alex Caravan: https://twitter.com/Alex_Caravan 

Kyle Lindley: https://twitter.com/kylelindley_