CARY, N.C. – USA Baseball today announced the coaching staff for the 2025 Women’s National Team Development Program (WNTDP), which will be held October 15-19 at the National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina. This year’s staff is highlighted by three Women’s National Team alumni, a Hall of Famer, a 2000 Olympic gold medalist, and four national team coaches who have been on a combined 24 staffs and secured 14 total gold medals in international competition.
“We are extremely excited about the staff that has been assembled for this year’s Women’s National Team Development Program,” said Women’s National Team Program Director Makenzie Kelly. “This is a star-studded crew that includes coaches from many different levels of the game with a proven track record of upholding USA Baseball’s gold-medal standard. I am confident that this staff will be able to provide a first-class experience for the 40 players attending while helping to evaluate players for future national team programming as we prepare for another World Cup run in 2026.”
The staff will feature Rick Eckstein, who will serve as hitting coordinator, Kirk Champion, who will be the pitching coordinator, and Jeff Reboulet, who will join as infield coordinator. The trio will oversee all aspects of the skill development side of the WNTDP and will help with the evaluation of players for future Women’s National Team programming. Eckstein is fresh off his second consecutive gold-medal run with the 18U National Team, Champion has been a part of several high-profile Professional National Team staffs, and Reboulet held a 12-year career in the big leagues.
The WNTDP roster will be split into Stars and Stripes teams, and will each have a four-person coaching staff to accompany it. Hall of Famer Billy Wagner will manage the Stars team, five-time 12U National Team gold medalist coach Jason Sekany will be the pitching coach, while three-time medalist Kristin Caldwell and 2012 national team coach Jenny Dalton-Hill will join as assistant coaches. Likewise, 2000 Olympic gold medalist Mike Kinkade will manage the Stripes team, former women’s baseball professional Ila Borders will serve as pitching coach, and 2004 gold medalist and four-time Women’s National Team staff member Alex Oglesby, alongside five-time national team gold medalist coach Tanner Vesely, will be the assistant coaches.
Along with their success representing the stars and stripes on the diamond, several of this year’s WNTDP coaches have been heavily devoted to growing the game and spend time on a year-round basis coaching at development events jointly hosted in partnership with Major League Baseball, including the Trailblazer Series, Elite Development Invitational (EDI), DREAM Series, Breakthrough Series, and MLB GRIT: Girls ID Tour. Eckstein and Champion have served as coaches at past boys’ events, while Borders, Dalton-Hill, Kinkade, and Oglesby have been involved with numerous girls’ events.
The WNTDP, which will feature a 40-woman roster, will include five days of intrasquad games and positional workouts, skill development sessions, off-field educational seminars, and exposure to USA Baseball staff and coaches from the organization’s national team programs. Additionally, Baseball Canada’s Women’s National Team will compile a roster to bring to Cary to make this year’s WNTDP a joint event, and the two nations will have an opportunity to play each other at various points to provide an international competition aspect to the week.
The event will serve as a key component in the ongoing identification and preparation of future Women’s National Team programming in 2026 and 2027, and it will allow USA Baseball and the WNTDP coaching staff to assess and evaluate players throughout the five days.
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The full coaching staff for the Women’s National Team Development Program is as follows, with full biographies for each coach linked below:
COORDINATORS
- Rick Eckstein – Hitting Coordinator
- Kirk Champion – Pitching Coordinator
- Jeff Reboulet – Infield Coordinator
STARS STAFF
- Billy Wagner – Manager
- Jason Sekany – Pitching Coach
- Kristin Caldwell – Assistant Coach
- Jenny Dalton-Hill – Assistant Coach
STRIPES STAFF
- Mike Kinkade – Manager
- Ila Borders – Pitching Coach
- Alex Oglesby – Assistant Coach
- Tanner Vesely – Assistant Coach
