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Instructors
Mark Doran - Hitting/Fielding & Owner
Mark Doran is known internationally as a premier batting instructor. He played baseball and football at the University of Wisconsin, where he earned the First Team All-American award his senior year of baseball. Out of college, Mark was drafted in the first round by the California Angels in 1983 where he excelled at every level in the minor leagues. He was on the major league roster for both the California Angels and Chicago White Sox. After learning hitting from Hall of Fame baseball player Rod Carew, Mark began teaching the proper techniques of hitting and fielding to young athletes. Through training premier baseball athletes, Mark began meeting with top collegiate coaches in softball to learn the game of fastpitch. As one of the only coaches nationally to train both major league baseball players and Olympic softball athletes, Mark has been known as one of the best hitting instructors in the nation. He has trained several USA Olympic softball players, Greek Olympic softball players, Canadian Olympic players, Major League baseball players, and NCAA baseball and softball athletes.
Marvin Freeman- Pitching Instructor
Marvin Freeman is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who played from 1986 to 1996 for the Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves and Colorado Rockies. He worked as both a starting pitcher and a reliever in his career. In 1986, Marvin was a Philadelphia Phillies minor league "Pitcher of the Year." He was the primary set-up man for the 1991 and 1992 National League Champions, Atlanta Braves. Also, he was the 1994 Denver Writers Associations "Rockies Pitcher of the Year." The Rockies signed Freeman in 1994, and won a spot in the Colorado rotation and turned in an impressive 10-2 record- the best winning percentage in the NL. He also finished 4th in the Cy Young ballotting in 1994. Marvin is currently the pitching coach at Homewood Flossmoore High School.
Bob Leffler- Hitting and Fielding Instructor
Bob Leffler played professionally for the Baltimore Orioles organization. As an ASEP / NFHS and ISHA (Illinois High School Association) certified Instructor, Bob has both instructed individual players and coached both area and national travel teams at the youth, high school and college level for over 15 years. Of the last group of high school players under his tutelage, 11 went on to play college baseball and throughout his instructing and coaching career has enjoyed helping over 30 players reach the College ranks. As a student of the game, Bob has specialized in hitting & fielding instruction for the past 16 years and found a synergy at Diamond Academy, where his philosophy, approach and implementation for teaching the mechanics of hitting is in line with that demanded by the professional staff here at Diamond.
Tim Byrdak - Baseball Pitching
•Relief Pitcher for 2007 Detroit Tigers
•Major League debut game in double header in Yankee Stadium
•Major League Cleveland Indians
•Baltimore Orioles, AAA
•Major League Baltimore Orioles
•San Diego Padres, AAA
•1994 5th pick for Kansas City Royals
Theresa Carlton - Softball Pitching
Theresa has trainied several top pitchers and learned from Lonni Alameda from Florida State University and Candadian Olympic Coach. Theresa has been a pitching instructor since 1995.
Marcus Nettles - Hitting & Fielding
Marcus Nettles began his baseball achievements when he was selected as a member of the Junior Olympic team as a youth. While training at Diamond Sports Academy since a young age, Marcus won a Gold Medal at the 1996 Junior Pan Am Games, as well as a Silver Medal at the 1995 games in Mexico. Also, he was a top high school prospect coming out of the Chicago in 1998. At the University of Miami, Nettles stood out as the fastest player on the team with a career batting average of .323. After winning the College World Series at Miami, Nettles was selected by the San Diego Padres in 11th Round of the 2001 amateur entry draft. After a successful career in professional baseball, Marcus ventured out to start his own business. He currently plays for the Edmonton Cracker Cats (Independent League) while instructing at Diamond Sports Academy.
Brent Bowers - Hitting & Fielding March - May
•Baltimore Orioles, Major League, 1996 Wild Card Champions
•Drafted in second round by the Toronto Blue Jays Organization
•Team Manager for Columbia Baseball League- Team Renteria
•Solano Steelheads Manager-Western league
•Houston Astros, Big League Spring Training Camp
•Chicago Cubs AA organization
•NY Mets AAA organization
•Philadelphia Phillies AAA organization
Ginny Georgantas-Posey- Hitting & Fielding
Ginny Georgantas began her softball career with the Whiteford Sharks traveling team which prepared her for high school softball at Lockport Township High School. While training at Diamond Sports Academy since the age of 12, Ginny excelled at Lockport High School by winning the IHSA State Championship and named MVP of the tournament in 1997. She was also ranked one of the top collegiate recruits in the nation and voted as one of the best high school softball players in Illinois between 1990 and 2000.
After the astounding achievement of “Illinois Player of the Year Award,” Ginny dominated at the collegiate level while playing for the nationally ranked University of South Florida Softball Program. While there, Ginny was named as a Pre-Season All-American and broke numerous hitting records. After college, Ginny was invited to try-out for the Greek National Team and earned the spot as the starting 1st baseman.
During her international career, Ginny was named the European Championship “Best Batter” (.722 batting average) and batted .400 against the USA Olympic Team (including a homerun off of Cat Osterman). Ginny participated in the 2004 Olympics, where the Greek Olympic Team finished in 6th place. Ginny’s highlight of the Olympics was when she broke up a no-hitter in the fifth inning against the outstanding USA pitcher Lisa Fernandez. Currently, Ginny is the General Manager at Diamond Sports Academy.
