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Gerry Quinn is somewhat of an anomaly when it comes to club organization leaders these days.
A tax lawyer by day, the head of the Illinois Chill program–perennially one of the best in the Midwest, if not the entire nation–isn’t looking to expand the Chill much more than the four teams it currently is.
And the coach is refreshingly honest when it comes to accessing his players and teams, to the point that when he does lavish praise, it’s almost always on the money.
The 16U, which he has personally coached for three years, is one team Quinn is bullish on and the results bear it out: after finishing in the Top 10 at PGF Nationals last year as a 14U team, the Chill just recently left Colorado with a 5th place tie at the always competitive Boulder IDT.
This week we’ll get to see his team up close at the DeMarini Invitational Showcase which is being live streamed by Extra Inning Softball and Illuminate Sports.
As a primer for this week’s action, we asked Quinn–who runs the Invitational Showcase along with Bill Conroy of the Beverly Bandits–to give us some background on this top team as well as a history of the Chill organization….
… here’s a closer look!
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When did the team/program start and how/why did it come to be?
The Illinois Chill program itself began in 1998 as a single 12U team. Like many parents before me, I started a softball team for my daughters who were ages 10 and 12 at the time.
Where are you based and where do your athletes come from in terms of geography?
We are based out of my hometown of Northbrook, Illinois, a north suburb of Chicago. The vast majority of the athletes come from the greater Chicagoland area, but we also draw some athletes from Wisconsin and Indiana. Our primary focus is to keep this a program for Chicago area kids and I have resisted the urge to go more national even though the opportunity has presented itself.
What was the purpose of creating the team… to showcase players, win titles, develop skills or something else?
At the outset it was to bring a good 12U team to the north suburban area because historically the south and southwest suburbs ruled the Chicago area softball scene. As time passed and our teams started competing at the older age levels, the desire to provide college opportunities for our players and compete nationally became the focus. In my opinion the two concepts complement each other well. If your kids show they can compete nationally it facilitates their recruitment. It is hard to sell the sizzle if there isn’t some steak.
What have been some of your successes in terms of winning or placing at events?
We have a couple of top 17 PGF finishes at 18U and a Top 10 at PGF 14U in 2016. We have multiple Top 10 finishes at Boulder IDT at 18U, 16U and 14U including a 5th place finish at 16U this summer. We have qualified a team for PGF Nationals every year at the 14U, 16U and 18U level whenever we have had a team at that age level. We began our integrated 14U program during the 2015-16 season and our integrated 16U program during the 2012-13 season.
What makes the organization unique?
We compete well nationally, but we are a small program (team-wise) by choice and have no plans to get large. We practice all of our teams together and we have good player retention from year to year. Kids rarely leave our program.
What’s your softball background and how did you get to the point of leading the team?
I personally have no fastpitch experience, but like many I played baseball through high school which helped form a basic knowledge of proper fundamentals. I also successfully coached basketball for many years prior to getting involved with fastpitch. If you can coach you can coach and if you can lead you can lead. It doesn’t matter what game you are playing.
