So by now you may be asking yourself… who is this girl behind Winning Softball anyway? I’ve been following her on Instagram and Facebook forever, but have no idea who she is, why she is doing this or where her credibility lies…This post is for you!

My name is Michelle Switzer and I come from a suburb of Buffalo, NY. I grew up playing softball my whole life and fell in love with the catching position at an early age. I was a multi-sport athlete, but softball always was #1 in my heart. I played basketball, soccer and softball in high school. I made my varsity team in 8^th grade, which was a great feat because we had a very successful high school program. During my time as a varsity athlete I won 4 sectional championships and 2 state titles. One of the coolest things that I always refer to is the fact that my older sister’s last high school game and my last high school game were both wins our senior years (She graduated 2 years before me). My senior year I was honored to be named a 2^nd Team NFCA All American while breaking a New York State record for hits in a season (64 hits) that still stands today along with being one of the few softball players that achieved over 200 hits throughout the course of my softball career in high school.

After high school I was so excited to play division 1 softball for Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia being undecided in my major. I loved the school and my classes, but it ended up not being a fit for me when I discovered that I wanted to major in health and physical education. Due to the fact that the college did not have this major, I found it in my best interest to transfer to another college that actually had the major I intended to achieve. Although this was my ultimate reason in transferring there were also more minor reasons that impacted this decision. I struggled both physically and mentally in my softball career my freshman year. I refer to my collegiate freshman season a ton in my other blog posts and although it was challenging in so many respects, let me just say I am so very thankful to have gone through these experiences and challenges. It made me a better player in the future and taught me a ton about myself and the mental game of softball. I know that people have differing opinions about transferring so that is why I don’t talk about it much in my posts. However, I have to say that I am so thankful for both of the schools that I attended and I believe that I was meant to have both of those school experiences. There are many people who pass judgements on those that transfer, but I think it is silly to do so when they have not been through the experiences of another person.

My sophomore year started at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY. Canisius is a college that not many people have heard of in other parts of the country, but is a very successful division 1 softball program. I met so many incredible people at Canisius, had fabulous, inspiring coaches and a support system like no other. My career began to flourish! Our team won 2 MAAC (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) Tournament Championships, 2 league championships and had amazing opportunities of being a part of the NCAA tournament for playoffs. My personal best season was my senior season when I posted a .400 average, broke the RBI record at my school, was named an ESPN Academic All-American and a 1st team all-East Coast player. I graduated in 2010 and was lucky enough to land a teaching position (teaching health and physical education) at the district I grew up in shortly thereafter. 

I have been coaching at Williamsville North High School for the last 8 years and recently took over the varsity team last year. In my first year of taking over the program I was given a very successful team and we won a sectional championship and I was named Coach of the Year! Truly it was a Coaching Staff award that we could not have achieved without my co-coach, Lindsay Garbacz, who just happened to be my pitcher in college. It was super special and something only done once before in school history. I look forward to another exciting season starting soon!

The reason I started Winning Softball in the first place was because I realized how fortunate I was to grow up with top notch softball instruction from a young age. I realize that not everyone is lucky enough to have such special opportunities. When I was in high school I was lucky enough to have a coach named Gerry Gentner. He was an incredible coach that led our high school to 3 state championships. He would dedicate so much of his time year round for free to not only help our high school, but to help girls from all over the area. Did I mention that he always did this for free? I mean the man had a heart of GOLD. It was truly a God thing that I ended up being able to go to the high school where he coached. Unfortunately, shortly after I graduated from high school, Coach Gentner was diagnosed with a rare form of stomach cancer. After a long, courageous battle with this disease for much longer than the doctors anticipated, he passed away. 

To honor his memory and to follow his lead of helping those around the area for FREE with softball help, I decided what better way to help those across the world and continue his legacy than by starting a social media page called Winning Softball. (Fun fact- Winning Softball has the same abbreviations as the high school he coached, Williamsville South- WS ). I thought that if I could continue to help those across the country and world that maybe, just maybe, I would be able to make a difference. 3 years and about 40,000 followers later, what started as a softball tip a day has grown to drills, conferences, camps, lessons and virtual academies for people to use to improve their game. Thank you so much for the opportunity to spread my knowledge and passions of softball around the world.