MEET OUR PROFESSIONAL COACHES...

Sam Zagorac & Mick Curran

Hitting @ Diamond Edge Academy

Sam Zagorac is the lead baseball instructor at Diamond Edge Academy. Sam is a former collegiate player who began his coaching career in 1996, spending the first 8 years working alongside and under the tutelage of John Mallee. John, who is currently the hitting coach of the Chicago Cubs, is widely viewed as one of the top hitting instructors in the country. Along with spending years working under John, Sam has also had the opportunity to work minor league Spring Training camp with the Florida Marlins and has spent the 2011-2013 springs in Glendale instructing at White Sox Spring Training.In addition, to his time with the Chicago White Sox and John Mallee, Sam was an assistant coach at Mount Carmel High School for 10 years. Sam, an expert in the field of high-speed video analysis, along with his strong reputation as a great communicator and having an incredible understanding of the swing, has led many professional players to him in the past several years as well. Sam's teaching style has resulted in many of his players moving on to the collegiate level and several reaching their dreams of signing a professional contract. Sam has given more than 25,000 private lessons and employs video analysis with each hitter he works with. He is also a frequent speaker on the national coaching clinic tour.

Mick Curran joins the staff at Diamond Edge Academy after wrapping up his six season as the hitting coach for the Gary RailCats. Mick is highly respected in the baseball world for both his high level understanding of the game, as well as his incredible passion for teaching. In addition, to his six years in professional baseball, Mick accepted his first managerial position, with the Medicine Hat Mavericks in the Western Major Baseball League, a Canadian collegiate summer league. Mick helped lead the 2013 Mavericks to the all-time WMBL league record in wins (39-7) and the team's second consecutive birth in the WMBL Championship Series. Mick is also a bi-product of John Mallee, spending five years working alongside him with some of the top major and minor league players in the country. He played collegiately at Illinois Wesleyan where he was a three-time First Team All-College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin selection.

Rick Eertmoed

Catching

Rick played in 110 games over a 4 year baseball career at D1 Bradley University in Peoria, IL.

He captained his junior and senior teams which had records of 40-16 and 35-26 respectively while playing in the competitive Missouri Valley Conference.  Rick graduated with a Degree in Business Management & Administration.  Since college, Rick has continued to play baseball competitively in several semi-pro and adult leagues in Northern Illinois.  He loves working with young baseball and softball players on both the fundamentals and the finer points of catching.  He has also given lessons in hitting and infield play as well.  He's worked at Jack Perconte's Sports Academy giving private lessons to teams and individual players.

Anthony Liggamari

Speed/Strength/Flexibilty

MPG Fitness

Anthony has worked in the fitness industry as certified personal trainer for the past six years.  He is also certified in Power Plate technology.  Anthony’s training experience and personality caught the attention of MTV and resulted in his integral role in the hit TV series of “I Used to be Fat”.  Additionally, he has trained several professional athletes ranging in all sports. He has worked for small local gyms and large big box franchises.  His training experience ranges from the elite athlete to his community involvement with handicapped individuals. He worked hand in hand with a local medical group on high blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes.  Anthony holds AKA and NASQA National Championships for Taekwondo. His specialties  include: Resistance Training, Metabolic Circuits, Muscle Building, Sport Specific Training and Corrective Exercise