(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos: Henk Seppen & Marco Stoovelaar)
  Craig Montvidas new Head Coach Italian National Softball Team; Greta Cecchetti Pitching Coach
Nederlands
 ROME (Italy) -
Veteran and successful softball-coach Craig Montvidas has been named the new Head Coach of the Italian National Women's Softball Team, the Italian Baseball and Softball Federation (FIBS) announced on Thursday (January 23).
The internationally wellkown Montvidas succeeds Federico Pizzolini, who led Italy to the European title in 2021 on home-soil and last year in Vleuten (Netherlands).
It was also announced that longtime National Team-pitcher Greta Cecchetti will be the new Pitching Coach.
For Montvidas, this is not the first time that he will be active in Italy and also not the first time that he will be in charge of a National Team.
...Craig Montvidas as Head Coach of the Netherlands...
...Softball Team during the 2014 World Softball...
...Championship in Haarlem (Netherlands)...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Before turning his attention to coaching, Craig Montvidas first played baseball in the Dutch big league in 1975-1984 for Giants Diemen (1975, 1977-1979), Kinheim (1976) and HCAW (1980-1984).
The American-born and raised Montvidas, who lives in the Netherlands since the late seventies, started coaching in 1980 when he became the playing Head Coach of the baseball-team of HCAW, whom he also led in 1983-1985.
He made his debut as softball-coach in 1981, when he also was the Head Coach of the women's softball-team of HCAW.
Montvidas led the softball-squad of the Bussum-club in 1981-1988.
Hereafter, Montvidas had his first international experience when he coached the softball-team of Bussolengo in the highest Italian league in 1989 with his (Dutch) wife Lucične Geels as one of his players.
After one season, the two returned to the Netherlands and became active for Twins Oosterhout, Craig as Head Coach and Lucične as player.
Montvidas led the softball-team of Twins in five seasons (1990-1994).
Montvidas was successful at both HCAW and Twins.
He leads HCAW to the Dutch Championship-title in 1985, 1987 and 1988, then captures the title again with Twins in 1994.
With both teams, Montvidas also wins an European Cup.
In 1997-1999, Montvidas first led the Netherlands National Softball Team as its Head Coach.
Next, he was the Head Coach of the Greek National Softball Team (2000-2001) and the British National Team (2003-2007).
In Greece, Montvidas helped create a softball-program to prepare for the 2004 Olympic Games in Greek capital Athens.
In November 2008, Montvidas became involved again with the Netherlands National Team when he was named as its new Head Coach.
A year later, Montvidas became the coordinator of the entire Netherlands National Team Program, which also included the National Youth-teams.
With all these teams, Montvidas participated in several big international events, including several European Championships and World Championships.
In this second stint as Head Coach of the Netherlands, Montvidas was very successful, as he led the Orange-squad to three consecutive unbeaten European titles (2009, 2011, 2013).
The first title in 2009 was the first for the Netherlands in 19 years.
In the same period, the Netherlands climbed on the international ladder during three World Championships.
In 2010, Montvidas led the team to its first Play-Offs in 16 years and finishes in eighth place.
Hereafter, the Netherlands ends up in sixth place in 2012 and 2014.
Montvidas resigned as the team's Head Coach after conclusion of the 2014 World Championship in Haarlem (Netherlands), as he had become the Head Coach of the professional Pennsylvania Rebellion, which played in the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF).
He heads the team from Pennsylvania in 2015 and 2016.
His stay there ended when the team was withdrawn from the NPF after the 2016 season.
...Craig Montvidas as Head Coach of the Netherlands...
...Softball Team during the 2009 World Cup...
...of Softball in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (USA)...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
In November 2017, Montvidas confirmed that he was returning to Italy after almost thirty years, as he was named Head Coach (again) of Bussolengo in the highest league (Serie A1).
At Bussolengo, Montvidas was the successor of Enrico Obletter, who had been the Head Coach of the Italian National Softball Team earlier in the year.
Obletter led the Italian squad to the European title in 2019, then, a few weeks later, Italy finished in first place in the Africa/Europe Olympic Qualiffying Tournament in Vleuten (Netherlands) to secure participation in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo (Japan).
But then, the world was held in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Olympics were postponed to 2021.
Unfortunately, Enrico Obletter, who was the most successful club-coach in Italy, passed away in February 2021 at the much too young age of 61 due to complications of the coronavirus.
Federico Pizzolini succeeded Obletter as Head Coach.
Montvidas led the Bussolengo-team in 2018 and 2019, capturing the Italian Championship-title in both seasons.
In 2020, Montvidas was succeeded by another former Netherlands Team Head Coach, Juni Francisca.
Craig Montvidas returned to coaching in 2024 when he was the Head Coach of Minot Honeybees in the inaugural season of the Nortwoods Collegiate Softball League.
In this Summer League, four teams based in North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin play a 42-game schedule.
Later this year, Montvidas also will be the Field Manager of Minot Honeybees, which plays its home-games at Corbett Field in Minot, North Dakota.
Besides his coaching-activities, Montvidas always has been active in player development.
In the eighties, he organized the successful baseball- and softball-camps of Pro-Motion, which were staged in several years on different locations in the Netherlands.
In 1990, Montvidas was the co-founder of an indoor softball-competition in Amsterdam, which ran for a few seasons with the participation of All Star-teams, compiled from talented (young) players from either the highest Dutch leagues, as well as National Teams.
Montvidas re-introduced indoor softball-competition for National Team-players in different age-groups during his second stint as Head Coach of the Netherlands and coordinator of the national program.
Over the years, Craig Montvidas conducted numerous instructional meetings and clinics in both the Netherlands and some thirty countries worldwide.
Since 2017, Montvidas is the Camp Director and Development Manager of the European Softball Coaches Association (ESCA), which annually organizes international instructional softball-camps in the winter-period.
Since 2018, Craig Montvidas is a member of the Coaches Commission of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC).
...Greta Cecchetti pitching for Italy...
...during the 2014 World Softball...
...Championship in Haarlem (Neth.)...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Greta Cecchetti has been the most successful pitcher in Italian history.
The righthanded pitcher made her debut in the highest Italian league in 2004 for Bollate and played for the team through last year, capturing the title in 2005, 2020 and 2024.
In her long and impressive career, Cecchetti became the first pitcher with 2,000 strikeouts in the Italian Serie A and is the recordholder in this category.
Greta Cecchetti played four seasons in American college-competitions for Polk State College (2009-2010) and Texas A&M University (2011-2012).
Later, the pitcher also played in Australia (2013, 2015, 2016) and Japan (2022-2023).
In the 2023 season, Cecchetti pitched in several games for Sparks Haarlem in the Dutch big league.
In 2008, Greta Cecchetti made her debut in the Italian National Team with whom she participated in eight European Championships (four titles) and four World Championships.
In 2021, she participated in the Olympic Games in Japan and afterwards, she retired as international player.
In the announcement of the new Italian National Team-coaches, my Italian journalist-colleague Marco Landi spoke with Craig Montvidas about his career.
,,I have surrounded myself with valid people who have helped me achieve various results.
I consider myself extremely lucky and my next challenge of coaching the Italian National Team is certainly an honor!'', Montvidas said.
Landi also spoke with new FIBS-President Marco Mazzieri, who stated:
,,It is with great excitement that we welcome the new manager of the National Softball Team, Craig Montvidas.
This is a special moment for the team and for our entire movement and we couldn’t be happier to have such an experienced, talented, organized and passionate person with us.
Craig brings with him a wealth of experience in the world of softball, having coached all over the world where the game is played at very competitive levels.
His dedication and love for the sport are evident and we are confident that he will bring a new energy and a fresh vision to the team.
We are excited to see how his leadership will help us confirm ourselves at the highest levels and, if possible, grow even further.
His ability to motivate and inspire the athletes will be fundamental to achieving our goals and to create a positive and inclusive environment.
Together, we will work to build a strong, united team ready to face every challenge.
The Federation will try to put him and all the Staff in the best possible conditions.
We are equally excited to welcome and welcome to Craig Montvidas' staff a great athlete and, I would say, an icon of Italian Softball like Greta Cecchetti.
Greta will take care of not only the pitching of the National Team, but also the coordination of the 'Pitching School' which, as we promised, was one of the main objectives of our management.
However, I immensely thank Federico Pizzolini for the extraordinary work he has managed to carry forward after the passing of Enrico Obletter.
The victory of 3 European Championships (2 Elite and 1 U-22) and many great performances at world level, with results that are sometimes deceptive compared to the team's performance, mean that he leaves Montvidas with a great group of players who are still hungry for victories''.
(January 23)
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