GOAT Training

07/26/2026

Thank you to Brooklynn and the Champion Little Flashes for choosing GOAT to host Picture Day again this year! 🏈💜💛

We truly appreciate the opportunity to welcome your football players, cheerleaders, coaches, and families into our facility for the second year in a row.

A huge thank you to James Hamrick Photography for always doing an incredible job and helping make Picture Day run so smoothly! 📸

Good luck this fall, Little Flashes! We'll be cheering you on! 💜💛🐐

07/22/2026

🥎 College softball starts with opportunities like this.

I'm excited to be back at Ohio Dominican University on Sunday, August 30 as part of the coaching staff for their Prospect Camp!

Whether you're a pitcher, catcher, infielder, or outfielder, this is your opportunity to compete in front of the ODU coaching staff and showcase your abilities.

As someone who's been on both sides—as a college athlete and now helping evaluate athletes—I can tell you coaches are looking for more than talent. They're looking for competitors. Athletes who hustle, communicate, respond to coaching, and love to compete.

You don't have to be perfect. You just have to compete. Go compete. Go be seen. Go show coaches who you are.

👉 Register here: https://register.ryzer.com/camp.cfm?id=339205
Hope to see you there! 🐐🥎

Register for this event using Ryzer.

07/08/2026

It's been a little quiet around here... but GOAT hasn't slowed down.

Over the last few months, coaching looked a little different than usual.

While I recovered from surgery, I stayed connected with many of my athletes—talking through game situations, helping work through mechanical adjustments, celebrating wins, and finding ways to keep them moving forward. Then, just two weeks after surgery, I was back coaching in person.

It may have looked a little different for a while. There were chairs instead of pacing, demonstrations became conversations, and I had to rely a little more on my eyes than my legs. But one thing never changed... I got to be Coach Jess 🥰

GOAT has always been about more than lessons. Whether you're here for pitching, softball or baseball instruction, mindset training, strength work, or simply chasing a dream, our mission is the same: to help athletes build confidence, compete with purpose, and become the best versions of themselves—on and off the field.

I'm incredibly grateful to our GOAT families for their patience, encouragement, and trust throughout my recovery. Your support allowed me to keep doing what I love, even when I had to do it a little differently.

Now I'm getting stronger every week, moving better every day, and I'm excited for everything ahead. We have a busy second half of the summer, fall planning is underway, and I can't wait to continue helping our athletes grow.

Thank you for trusting GOAT with your athletes.

Let's get to work 💛🐐

06/01/2026

When I planned for this surgery…I PLANNED.
👉 I planned my home for comfort and ease.
👉 I planned my job for a smooth transition while I was out—and for returning to full-time work.
👉 I planned my coaching so every one of my athletes had direction, goals, and a plan heading into season.

Everything in my life was prepared for this surgery.
I was ready 💪 Physically. Mentally. Emotionally. In every way possible.

And because of that…I haven't had one panic moment. Not one "freak out." Not one moment of feeling completely overwhelmed.

Because: Plans eliminate panic 🎯

The day I came home from surgery and had to go down the steps on crutches? Already practiced it. Daily. Before surgery ever happened.

People talk all the time about mental toughness. But real mental toughness is usually built long before the hard moment arrives. It's built in preparation. In discipline. In uncomfortable reps. In thinking ahead. In controlling what you CAN control before life tests you on it.

And honestly?

This recovery has reinforced something I teach my pitchers constantly: Athletes panic when they don't know what to do next.

✨️ Preparation creates confidence.
✨️ Preparation creates calm.
✨️ Preparation creates trust in yourself.

That applies in sports. And it applies in life too.

This surgery has been one of the hardest physical things I've ever done [and I've done some hard stuff!!]

But mentally? I was ready.

Because confidence isn't built when the challenge arrives. Confidence is built beforehand.

The circumstances changed. The mission didn't 🖤

🐐

05/23/2026

One thing I’m incredibly proud of during this season of recovery:

My pitchers are still improving.
And thriving.

Before surgery, I created specific plans for every single athlete I work with.
Specific goals.
Specific things we needed to accomplish before season started.

We worked physical adjustments.
Mental situations.
Batter situations.
Game situations.

We worked through pressure.
Failure.
Frustration.
Adjustments.

They were pushed outside of their comfort zones.
Pushed to think more.
Learn something new.
Compete harder.
Problem solve faster.
Trust themselves more.

Every single one of them was prepared heading into season.

And now?

Even while I recover…
They’re continuing to grow.

Not because I’m right next to them and able to physically demonstrate every movement right now…

But because they’ve learned how to work when I’m not.

That is the goal.

Lessons alone do not build pitchers.

Work between lessons does.

A lesson gives an athlete information.
Correction.
Direction.
A plan.

But growth happens in the reps they do when no one is watching.

When there is no coach beside them.
No one correcting every movement.
No one telling them what to fix.

Just them—
their work ethic,
their discipline,
and their ability to problem solve.

Because struggles are part of pitching.
Every pitcher has them.

The difference is:
we’ve worked on how to move THROUGH those moments instead of falling apart inside them.

Because if an athlete only performs well when a coach is standing next to her…

She doesn’t truly own it yet.

My goal is not to create pitchers who need me every step of the way.

My goal is to teach them well enough that they can go execute without me.

That’s why my athletes have notebooks.
That’s why they learn the WHY.
That’s why they’re taught to think.

Because independent athletes become dangerous athletes.

And the pitchers willing to put in the work between lessons?

Those are the ones who separate themselves. 🐐🥎

Proud of my GOAT kids.
Keep working.
Keep growing.
Keep proving it.

05/14/2026

One thing I talk about constantly with my athletes:

Mindset doesn’t only matter when things are going well.

Anybody can feel confident when they’re healthy.
Anybody can stay positive when life feels easy.
Anybody can believe in themselves when everything is working.

The real test is what happens when things get hard.

Over the last couple weeks, I’ve been navigating a tough recovery process after major surgery — and honestly, it’s reminded me a lot of what I try to teach pitchers every day:

Control what you can control.
Don’t panic.
Take the next step.
Trust the process.
Keep showing up.

No athlete — or person — gets through life without adversity. The goal isn’t avoiding hard things. The goal is learning how to respond to them.

This recovery is tough…but I’m tougher 🐐

And I hope my athletes see that mental strength isn’t just something we talk about inside the cages. It’s something we live.

One step at a time 🤍

04/28/2026

This is what it looks like. 🐐🥎
No shortcuts. No excuses. Just work—over and over again.
Proud of you, Lily. This didn’t just happen…you built it 💙🔥

🎖️𝗧𝗢𝗠𝗖𝗔𝗧𝗦 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗘𝗘𝗞🎖️

Lily Merolillo twirled a complete-game gem to guide Softball to an upset over Westminster!

Mason Suss fired six shutout innings in a win over Westminster!

🔗https://thielathletics.com/awards.aspx?aow=970

| Presidents' Athletic Conference

04/21/2026

YAAAAAY LEAH!!! 🐐🔥

THIS is what happens when an athlete keeps showing up…
every single week
even when it’s hard
even when progress feels slow
even when no one else sees the work being put in.

Leah just kept working.

She stayed consistent.
She stayed committed.
She trusted the process.

And now?
She’s up for YSNs 𝗕𝗶𝗴 𝗗𝗼𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 😤

Not because someone gave it to her…
but because 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗡𝗘𝗗 𝗶𝘁.

Go vote for her ⬇️
www.ysnlive.com/big-dogs

That’s a GOAT kid right there 🐐🥎🔥

04/13/2026

🚨ONLY ONE SESSION LEFT IN OUR SOFTBALL FOUNDATIONS CLINIC SERIES🚨

🩷 Sunday, April 19
3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Ages 6–8

If you have a young athlete ready to build confidence, learn proper fundamentals, and get quality reps in a supportive environment—this is the last opportunity to join this clinic series! 🥎🐐

📋 Complete the Google Form to sign up:
https://forms.gle/zTRVfWWqyfaJHW4w8

Train With Purpose. Compete With Confidence.