Private coaches moving online

Christie McCoy is one those coaches who was left scrambling once the Bay Area, and subsequently the state, went into shelter-in-place status.

“Pretty much the day we were full shelter-in-place, it was literally that day I realized I couldn’t go into work,” said McCoy, owner/operator and head coach of Premiere Softball Academy, based in Belmont.

McCoy has spent most of her life immersed in softball. From her time as a standout at Aragon High School, through her time at College of San Mateo and University of Nebraska as a player, eventually earning her entrance into the Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame.

She has also spent several seasons coaching at the high school and college levels and while she has been a private coach since 1999, it became her full-time vocation eight years ago.

“What are these girls going to do? They’re just going to lose everything (related to softball),” McCoy said.

She said she sat down with a parent earlier this week and they started brainstorming.

“I said, ‘What about FaceTime?’” McCoy said. “I called each one of my parents individually and asked them, ‘Would you like me to continue to coach your daughters throughout this crisis?’”

McCoy said she has been averaging seven to eight online lessons per day since her initial offering.

Not much has changed, other than delivery. McCoy works one-on-one with each player and instead having to come to the softball facility in Belmont, both coach and player are doing it in the comfort of their own home — or backyard or garage.

“[Moving online] hasn’t been that challenging. We can keep it simple. If they have a [self-catching net] and a bucket of balls, that’s enough,” McCoy said. “A lot of what I do in the facility can be implemented without all the tools in there.”

McCoy’s biggest reasoning is just to keep softball players in some kind of softball shape; to make sure they don’t lose all the progress they’ve made because of a lack of training time.

“I ask [the players] at the end of each lesson, ‘How do you like this?’ And they always say, ‘This is so cool,’” McCoy said. “I’m not just sitting there in my chair. I’m very active with them. … Showing them the grip on the ball (for a specific pitch) or the movement of your legs while hitting.”

And McCoy hasn’t stopped at just softball-specific workouts. A single mother with two young children, she realizes the need for physical activity and since everyone in the state now has a shelter-in-place order, she started to implement an online, general exercise class that can be attended by the entire family.

“I was thinking about those kids (stuck in the house) and my students and said instead of just lessons, we should do more,” McCoy said. “Let’s put together an online class … a 45-minute class with core (work), some cardio, some strength training, some breathing. Literally from my family room to your family room.

“My students and siblings and even their parents can all come together … and continue to stay healthy.”

And McCoy is not the only private coach turning to online distribution of their classes and lessons. C.J. Easter, who starred at San Mateo High School and was inducted into the school’s sports hall of fame in 2018, is the owner and head coach at FitTrac Coaching. He, too, has quickly transitioned to an online fundraiser, launching “a 14-day, at-home exercise challenge to keep people fit during the isolation,” Easter said in a press release.

FitTRAC will use money donated to the program to distribute between paying his part-time staff of trainers, as well as buying gift cards from local small business to help them stay afloat in these trying times.

“Since launching at 8 a.m. (Friday) morning, we’ve raised over $4,000 for local small business,” the press release said.

“I want people to know there are options (to get lessons and workout),” McCoy said. “I think people think, ‘What am I going to do now?’ … You have to know there are options.”

Said Easter in the press release: “We’ve decided to turn this new platform into an opportunity to help other small businesses who can’t make the same transition.”

All the information for McCoy’s softball lessons and exercise class can be found on her website at premieresoftballacademy.com.

For more on Easter’s 14-day fitness challenge, go to

https://fittrac.samcart.com/products/14-day-fittrac-at-home-challenge/