Introducing the Speakers at the EBCA Convention in Vienna

For the upcoming European Baseball Coaches Association (EBCA) convention in Vienna, Austria, we would like to introduce the speakers today. From Europe Bill Holmberg, Steve Janssen, Karl Onzia, Tony Klarberg and Martin Langlois will be on hand. The International Sports Group (ISG) will be represented by Tom Hansen, Jeff Albert and Tom O’Connell. The clinic starts on Friday, December 5th at 6pm CET and will last till Sunday, December 7th at 2pm CET. For more information, follow the link.

European Speakers (pdf-file):

Bill Holmberg
Bill Holmberg is an American coach who started his career in 1980 at Christopher Colombus High school (USA) before coming over to Italy in 1989 and becoming the manager and Technical director of Godo baseball club for 12 years. He then served as a pitching coach for San Marino, the Italian Junior National team and since 2007, for the Italian Senior National Team. In 2004, he was named Director of the MLB-Italian Academy and, in 2005, field coordinator for the annual MLB Academy that saw many European players sign contracts with MLB organizations. Bill is also an international scout for the Chicago Cubs.

Steve Janssen
Steve Janssen started his coaching career at a young age and, at only 36 years old, has a lot of baseball experience behind his back. From 2002 to 2005, Janssen was the pitching coach for the Dutch National team (under Davey Johnson) that won the European championship in 2003 and 2005 and reached the 6th place at the 2003 World Cup and at the 2004 Olympics from Athens. The General Manager from the SJ Baseball Academy was the Head Coach of Sparta Feyenoord in 2008, and just signed a contract as the Head Coach of Neptunus Rotterdam, one of the top European ballclubs.

Karl Onzia
Karl Onzia, a career .454 hitter in the Belgian Top League, has won several MVP and hitting titles in his country. He coached the D2 team Merchtem and promoted them to D1. Karl is the hitting coordinator of the SJ Academy and served as the Sparta Feyenoord hitting coach last year.

Tony Klarberg
Tony Klarberg is the director of the Swedish Baseball Academy where is he now working full time. He is also the manager of the Sweden junior national team. In 2007, Tony was honored with the lifetime Achievement Award by the EBCA.

Martin Langlois
Martin Langlois will represent the Austrian Federation at the EBCA Convention. He is the GM of the Austrian National team.

Speakers from International Sports Group (ISG) (pdf-file):

Tom Hansen
Tom Hansen is a Ph. D. in sport psychology and has coached baseball players ranging from World Champions to Little Leaguers since 1983.
Career highlights include :

• Full-time Performance Enhancement director for the New York Yankees (2001)
• Performance Enhancement Consultant for the Texas Rangers (1999, 2000)
• Performance Enhancement services for Anaheim Angels & Minnesota Twins
• Head baseball coach and tenured professor at Skidmore College (NY) (90-97).
• Co-Author of Heads-Up Baseball: Playing the Game One Pitch at a Time.

Jeff Albert
Jeff Albert is the hitting coach at Batavia (Cardinals affiliate). Albert played collegiate baseball at the Division III and Division II levels, with a couple of stops among independent professional teams. He is owner and operator of swingtraining.net, which is a site dedicated to baseball training and analysis.
He is also a certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).

Tom O’Connell
Tom O’Connell is leading the ISG staff, once again. He was the first high school coach ever elected to lead the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) as President. In 1991, he was inducted in the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association Hall of fame and in the ABCA Hall of Fame in 2007 O’Connell was named National High School Coach of the Year in 2004 by the ABCA Besides speaking at clinics in the US and Europe, he is a scout for the Orioles and a successful author. He just finished his 3rd book Baseball Practice Games that should reach the market by spring 2009.