For head softball coach Kevin, joining Portola High’s softball coaching staff brought excitement as it provided him the opportunity to guide and oversee the sports program. During his first softball season with Portola High, he has mentored athletes to build their softball skills while also growing as individuals. 

Prior to coaching softball at Portola High, he coached baseball for 20 years. Kevin said he decided to transition from coaching baseball to softball because he wanted a new challenge as his children got older. On the softball field, Coach Kevin took a structured, focused approach to help the team perform at its highest potential. Off the field, however, he maintained a kind and humorous attitude, establishing a relaxed and supportive team environment, according to sophomore Jayden Gregor.

“Coach Kevin helped build a more connected team that everyone’s comfortable with each other,” Gregor said. “It helps everybody be less afraid to be vulnerable on the field.” 

One challenge Kevin faced was finding a pitching coach: following extensive outreach through social media, he found a pitching coach for the 2026-27 school year. When the team did not have a pitching coach this past season, he supported athletes by encouraging self-growth.  

“A lot of it is just helping the girls [and] going back to being confident,” Kevin said.
”The girls know what adjustments to make and what their motion is doing.”  

According to Gregor, he has helped the more experienced athletes progress while also helping less experienced players. 

“A lot of [this support includes] breaking it down into different stations,” Kevin said. “When we had [instructors] out there, we had two or three or four different stations working on different fundamentals [and] breaking it down enough to understand it, but then also, for the more experienced girls that have played, throw[ing] in a little extra.”  

Additionally, the athletes were able to learn life skills that are applicable outside of softball. For example, Kevin’s honest advice to the athletes helped them better understand the reality regarding resources, allowing the softball program to progress further, according to Kim. 

“Him doing that really set us up for success in terms of how we would deal with issues in the real world,” Kim said. “I have learned a lot of [perseverance] throughout this entire process, and I feel like that’s a skill that’s really important to have.”

In the future, Kevin said he hopes to continue challenging athletes to help them see their own potential and making progress towards maintaining quality athletic performance. 

“Starting in the fall, we’re [going to] do a little more conditioning and we’re also going to see if we can do some scrimmages against other schools so that way we could be more prepared for the spring season coming up in [2027].”