Hey, everyone. Welcome to beyond the diamond with your host Danielle Rubin with DR3. Fast pitch. I'm so happy to have you on this journey with me launching my first podcast ever. This is going. To be a. Real, honest, Vulnerable, Authentic podcast talking about the game of softball, growing the game of fast pitch. Sharing knowledge, sharing tips and insights about my journey, about what I currently do now in the coaching world. But I'm going to be talking a lot from a player and a coach perspective. In addition to a parent perspective, I know I'm not a parent yet, but I've worked with over 1200 kids virtually and in person and all 50 States and five countries, and I'd love to just really share all things fast pitch with you. So I want to do a little introduction for those who do not. Know me. My name is Daniel Rubin. Girls call me Coach D I've played softball my entire life, starting at 8 years old and I'm currently 25, so I've been out of the game. For a couple. Of years and when I started in eight years old and I played rec ball until second year 12, you then joined the Travel ball world till the summer of. Going into my second year of 12 year or after my rec ball season, excuse me and then in 8th grade is when I really leveled up and I joined a college exposure team and a level team. It was the Georgia impact. We ended up coming in 3rd in PGF nationals, so that was a complete level up from a little local travel ball team. In my area. Moving up that following year into an A level national ranked team, so it was a huge step up for me from there. I was focusing solely on getting a college scholarship as a pitcher. My goal was to play at Kennesaw State University and luckily I got a scholarship there. My verballed my sophomore year of high school. And I ended up playing at Kennesaw State University my freshman year, so I ended up. Inspiring. So I was there 20/16/2017 ended up transferring to Georgia College which is a D2 program in Milledgeville, GA. So it was a little different. The journey from the D1 level to the D2 level. I'll share about that in another podcast episode. Kind of talking about that transition through the transfer portal. Everything I had to go through. With that. And then I ended up having to hang my cleats up after my junior season. So I played two seasons at Georgia College, my sophomore and junior year. That was 2017 through 2019 and end up having to hang my cleats up due to an ongoing back injury that I was having since I was 14 years old. And that's where I really got passionate and the learning about the bio mechanics behind the human body. Because I was like, why am I injured so much? I keep getting injured. I had 7 injuries from 14 to 21 years old and the physical, mental and emotional toll that took on me. I just knew that if I wanted to coach girls, I couldn't teach them the exact same things that I was taught growing up because something was wrong. Why am I 21 years old and I feel like I'm 90 when I wake up in the morning or when I go to bed at night? I just remember waking up in tears and going to bed in tears. Not for my physical performance. So just how I. Felt physically like it. It ended up getting to a point where things were just painful, like putting my cleats. Then like my metal spikes like the thought of that was painful because of how bad my back was hurting. And I'm someone who like, I'm going to keep playing until like I'm completely broken. Like I'm going to give it my all and we'll talk about that in a later episode as well of listening to your body and trusting your body. But I've just grown very passionate about. Learning how the body moves. Getting your body right. I've done so much research. On internal rotation in the bio mechanics behind the human body, not only in fast pitch pitching, but in general and athletic movements, I've been learning from instructors of all sports. I have amazing mentors under my belt. I'm so thankful for those who have empowered me and fueled me with knowledge. That I can share with my girls worldwide. So currently what I do now with DDR3 fast pitch is for for one I'm a business owner, so that's something I never expected graduating with two special education degrees. So I have my bachelors and masters in special education. I graduated from Georgia College with my bachelors in 2020 and my Masters in 2021. My plan at the time was to be a teacher, to be a special education teacher, ideally 3rd grade to 5th grade. That was kind of like my niece. I loved that age group and. When COVID came March of 2020, I had to come home from school and coming home from school. That was a really hard time in my life. My dad was actually one of the first people in my. Money to get COVID he was in the hospital for many days. I remember my whole family was quarantined for 40 days at the time. Like I didn't leave the house for 40 days. I didn't drive for 40 days. It was a big mental toll on my entire family and it brought us together a lot as well. I've always been. Was with them, but this time period was just. It was very scary and I told myself, like if my dad makes it through with all of this, like, that's my calling and then. But I'm not ready to give up coaching in my senior year. Ended up giving lessons to girls in Milledgeville. I I ended up working with about 18 girls a week, so I started off with one and then I grew to 18 within that year. Had to say goodbye to them. Surprisingly, I wasn't expecting to say goodbye, but I had to say goodbye and a few months early in March. Before I ended up moving back to my hometown in Canton, GA. Again due to COVID, but I was graduating as well, so I told myself at that time like I love coaching. How can I connect with these girls in Milledgeville while I'm 2 1/2 hours N? Well, that's where virtual lessons came into play and I was thinking I was like, I have no earthly idea where to start with this. How to start? How to go about this? But I'm going to do it in week one. Let me backpedal my dad end up being the healthy as he ever was. Once he came home from the hospital after during that whole traumatic time period, I told myself. If he makes it out of this like, that's my calling that I need to figure out the next steps like softball. I'm not done with softball. Softball is a family sport. My mom and my dad are just as invested as I was. We are loved for this game was mutual between the three of us and. I knew like the IT was my calling and with him coming home and being healthy, I was like, alright, it's time for the next. Steps. So I figured out my process with online lessons. Again, it's transformed tremendously since 2020, but. I started off. With five girls, my first week one currently I'm still working with to this day, my Wisconsin girl, Courtney, and since then I've been able to work with over 1200 girls. Virtually in 50 States and five countries, and it's been amazing. And since then my websites transformed. I've connected with many coaches worldwide nationally. I have grown my IQ. I continue to learn about the game, continue to learn about the bio mechanics and I am here to just share as much knowledge as possible with the softball community. I'm very passionate about what I do. I'm passionate about educating girls. I'm passionate about working with kids in general. I'm passionate about the mental game and I'm passionate about the game of softball. And I am here to help guide you along your journey. All things fast pitch talking about my experience. I've lived the dream of most of you girls, OK? I've lived the dream. I've been there. I've done that and I'm in a completely different role in the coaching world. And I found a whole new love that I didn't even know I would love as much as just playing the game. So thank you for being along this journey with me. I'm excited to continue sharing knowledge, spreading knowledge, talking all things fast, pitch all things sports in general too. I love talking about other sports as well, but this podcast is going to be sharing a lot. I want y'all's feedback. I would love to hear topic suggestions. I'm going to be interviewing some. Former and current college players getting their insights of all aspects of the game, and I'm just super excited to continue this journey with me. So thank you so much for being a part of this podcast. I'm excited for the future.
