Business News: How EL1 Sports Is Growing Softball & Baseball Through the New Sport of “Quickball”

If you haven’t heard of Quickball and how it relates to the worlds of softball and baseball, now is a good time to get acquainted with it because—if you haven’t come across it yet, you soon will.

By definition, Quickball is a preparatory sport for both baseball and softball for boys and girls, primarily at younger ages. USA Quickball defines itself as “literally ‘Quick Baseball’ or ‘Quick Softball’—a national youth sports program that teaches diamond skills in a fast-paced, sandlot setting!”

It continues: “

“Quickball helps managers and coaches get kids of all skill levels actively involved in a non-stop training sport that rewards hustle and teamwork. What makes Quickball such an effective program is its action-packed curriculum and developmentally-appropriate equipment.”

“Regardless of size, shape or age, any player can learn, compete and succeed in Quickball games!

This video clip shows the sport in action:

Helping drive Quickball across the country, especially to those of the younger age athletes and their parents, is EL1, a nationals sports training company based out of Tacoma, Washington that was co-founded in 2010 by former Seattle Mariners prospect Aaron Trolia and former collegiate football player Jameel Cante.

The growing company, which also acquired Quickball in July 2022 as a way to provide a more fun, fast-paced, active and inclusive sport to introduce kids and new players to the games of baseball and softball.

EL1 defines itself as “a national youth baseball and softball training organization and youth training partner of MLB which is expanding access to high-quality instruction, and to create job opportunities for former players so that they can stay involved in the game.”

Already in the fastpitch space, EL1 has finalized initiatives including a recently-announced partnership with The Alliance Fastpitch to “accelerate the growth and unity of women’s fastpitch softball from the youth through collegiate levels through the development of co-branded facilities.”

One good example of this is a partnership with its local MLB organization, the Seattle Mariners, to launch the Mariners Training Centers across five EL1 baseball and softball facilities in the Seattle Region.

The new state-of-the-art facilities are operated by EL1 and located in Seattle, Tacoma, Puyallup, Redmond, and Woodinville, Wash, and will offer camps, clinics, and one-on-one lesson programming to support increased accessibility for area athletes from beginners through the elite levels in softball and baseball.

Here’s another two-minute clip showing Quickball set up to get young athletes engaged—in this case, a 6U workout for boys and girls…

In addition to the five Mariners Training Centers, EL1 also has three Los Angeles Dodgers Training Academies and currently operates a total of 15 training facilities nationwide.

Who runs these facilities and is helping grow the sport?

That’s the exciting aspect of what EL1 is offering: jobs and career growth to former professional and collegiate players who want to continue giving back to softball and baseball after their own playing days are over.

For example, earlier in March, EL1 announced that it had hired Oz Sailors as the General Manager of Quickball and former Philadelphia Phillies All-Star Domonic Brown as Business Development Advisor.

The new hires have strong backgrounds and look to immediately make a difference in helping Quickball expand even more in the bat-and-ball sports and have the resumes to do it.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Oz and Domonic into the EL1 organization, and are thoroughly impressed by the experience, insights, and knowledge that they will bring to help take our offerings to the next level,” said Griff Long, CEO of EL1 Sports.

“We look forward to having their support in continuing to provide unparalleled opportunities for the next generation of baseball and softball players and take immense pride in our ability to support former professional players by offering opportunities to stay in the game once their playing days are over.”

Sailors resume, especially in baseball is impressive:

She has been a pioneer in the baseball world as the first woman to pitch in a Division I baseball game, the first woman in any male-dominated collegiate sport to serve as a team captain, the first woman to play in the Japanese Professional Women’s Baseball League, and the only female varsity baseball head coach in the United States.

In her career, Sailors has played for both domestic and international professional baseball teams – at times, she was the only woman playing in men’s leagues – and is an alumni of the USA Baseball Women’s National Team.

Her experience also includes roles as an Ambassador for the San Francisco Giants, an MLB Coach in China, and several coaching jobs from the little league through varsity level.

Sailor’s also sits on the board of Baseball for All, a national girls baseball organization that is working to build gender equity in baseball by providing girls with more opportunities to play, coach, and lead in the sport.

Brown is a former MLB top prospect and National League All Star (2013) with the Philadelphia Phillies and also played for the Toronto Blue Jays and Colorado Rockies. He is being brought on to identify opportunities for EL1’s growth by nurturing relationships with potential partners and key decision-makers in the industry.

“After my playing career, I rediscovered my love for the game of baseball through coaching, and I’m thrilled to join EL1 to help expand the company’s offerings to even more kids across the country,” the former MLB star explained.

“The company provides a strong back-end support team and powerful programming tailored to meet the specific needs of each individual player, to allow facility operators, coaches, and athletes to unlock their full potential. I want to help bring these kinds of opportunities that I wish I had access to growing up to more students of the game and help them forge a path to life success through the lessons they learn in our facilities.”

And what will Sailors be doing specifically in her role as General Manager of Quickball?

“I will oversee the program’s growth and implementation across EL1’s training facilities nationwide,” she told Extra Inning Softball.

“I look forward to supporting EL1’s mission to grow the games of softball and baseball by expanding access to high-quality instruction for players of all skill levels, ages and socioeconomic backgrounds.”

“Having spent all my life in baseball and a big portion of my baseball journey fighting for the right to girls and women to have a space in this game that we love,” Sailors continues, “it is an honor to be a part of something that creates and embraces opportunities for all to have the opportunity to play and grow in this game that we all love.”

“Quickball takes the best of baseball and softball and meets all kids right where they are at in the development process. It’s an important piece for allowing this game that brings all of us together, to truly bring all of this together by eliminating barriers to gender, ability, and socioeconomic status in a fun, creative and genuine version of our pastime.”

— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball

For more on EL1 and how its impacting Quickball, Baseball and Softball, click HERE.