Sue Enquist

UCLA Head Softball Coach

The 2004 season marked Sue Enquist's 16th campaign as Head Coach of the Bruin softball program. It is Enquist’s 25th year as part of UCLA's softball coaching staff and her 29th year of involvement with the program as either a coach or player.  This is Enquist's eighth season as the sole head coach for the Bruins. Enquist took over that role beginning with the 1997 season, following the retirement of longtime Bruin mentor Sharron Backus.  The two served as co-Head Coaches from 1989-96.

Before being named co-Head Coach, Enquist coached nine seasons (1980-88) as an assistant under Backus. Enquist spent just one season away from the program, 1979, immediately after completing her eligibility as a member of UCLA's 1978 AIAW Championship team. Enquist was the tournament's leading hitter as UCLA won its first softball National Championship.

Enquist has been a member of the UCLA coaching staff for all of its ten National Championships, the most of any school. UCLA won that inaugural NCAA softball championship and has since played in a record 16 championship games, winning titles in 1978, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1999 and 2003.

As a centerfielder under Backus from 1975-78, Enquist became the prototypical player for Bruin softball in terms of attitude, desire, and will to win. UCLA's first softball All-American, Enquist led the Bruins in doubles three times and twice led UCLA in batting average and triples. Enquist established the UCLA career batting average record with an impressive .401 mark and was the first Bruin to complete her career with a batting average over .400. That career batting average record stood for 24 years, until Stacey Nuveman completed her illustrious career in 2002. Enquist's No. 6 jersey was retired on April 29, 2000, becoming the third number in Bruin softball history to be retired, joining the No. 16 of Lisa Fernandez and No. 1 of Dot Richardson.

A three-time ASA All-American for the Raybestos Braketts, Enquist helped lead that team to four ASA National Championships in 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1980. She also enjoyed success as a player at the international level, earning gold medals at three National Sports Festivals, the 1978 World Championships and the 1979 Pan American Games.

Enquist earned her bachelor's degree in kinesiology from UCLA in 1980. Enquist is a native of San Clemente, CA. She is a former pro surfer and currently resides in Huntington Beach, CA.

Jim Lefebvre

1965 Rookie of the Year

Lefebvre was the 1965 Rookie of the Year with the Los Angeles Dodgers and was named to the 1966 National League All-Star Team. Lefebvre also won Two World Series Championships after playing eight years in Major League Baseball, before starring as a player/coach for the Lotte Orions in Japan. Lefebvre went on to manage the Oakland A's and Chicago Cubs, and was a coach for the Seattle Mariners and Milwaukee Brewers. Currently, Lefebvre is the Director of International Player Development for Major League Baseball. Most recently, Lefebvre coached the China National Baseball Team in 2005, promoting U.S. Major League Baseball globally.

Robert K. Adair

Sterling Professor Emeritus of Physics at Yale University

Robert Adair is Sterling Professor Emeritus of Physics at Yale University and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. His research has largely been concerned with the properties of the elementary particles and forces of the universe.

Dr. Adair, author of The Physics of Baseball has been a great resource for RVP.  He has enabled RVP to take a very complex action like hitting a baseball and define it with simple but accurate terminology that helps us understand the forces involved in hitting a baseball. 

Stephen G. Lisberger, Ph.D.

Neuroscientist and Professor of Physiology at UC San Francisco

Dr. Stephen Lisberger serves as the founding director of both the W.M. Keck Foundation Center for Integrative Neuroscience and the Sloan/Swartz Center for Theoretical Neurobiology.  Dr. Lisberger obtained his Ph.D. in physiology from the University of Washington, Seattle. Among his honors is the prestigious Young Investigator Award from the Society for Neuroscience.  Dr. Lisberger’s studies of the brain mechanisms that transform the motion of objects in the world, including human motion, into accurate eye movements have been invaluable information for RVP, allowing us to give RVP customers and students the ultimate learning experience.  Some of Dr. Lisberger’s insights include:

"Dr. Lisberger has been a valuable resource for RVP. His insights into how a student learns has enabled RVP to find better ways to teach and train."

-Don Slaught

 President RVP

Matching how we teach to how we learn.  Students retain approx:

20% of what they hear
50% of what they see and hear
70% of what they feel or experience

Getting on the same page with the student

Common terminology - It’s not what the coach knows; it’s what the student understands

Student needs to know what is correct or what success looks like

Building the model in the mind of how to swing

Help the student match what he thinks he’s doing to what he is really doing

Kinesthetic awareness
Coaches need to remember they get to see it; students have to feel it 

Building muscle memory and a solid database

Drills build the muscle memory-neuron responses to certain stimuli
Experience builds the database-accurate neuron responses to certain stimuli

Best Drills

The best drills are the ones that force a correct move or only give a positive feedback for a correct move.

Mike Candrea

Head Coach USA Olympic Softball Team 

As Head Coach of the Gold Medal 2004 USA Softball Olympic Team and the six-time National Champion University of Arizona Wildcats, Mike Candrea has excelled at every level he has coached.   Under Candrea’s direction, the USA team won the gold medal by dominating the Olympic games in Athens outscoring their opponents 51-1. Candrea was recognized by the United States Olympic Committee with the ‘Olympic Shield’ award which is the most prestigious award within the U.S. Olympic Movement. He was also honored as the 2004 USOC Coach of the Year. As Head Coach of the University of Arizona, the Wildcats have won six NCAA National Championships, gained a berth in the NCAA tournament 19 times, and earned 17 trips to the Women’s College World Series. Coach Candrea has the highest winning percentage of any active Division 1 Coach (.831) with his players earning 46 All-American playing honors plus six Academic All-American honors. Candrea was inducted into the NFCA Hall of Fame in 1996.

Don Slaught

 President, RVP

"If I ever quit learning, I'll quit coaching."

When it comes to baseball, Don Slaught considers himself to be a passionate student of the game. This has been true from his Little League days, through his high school and college years, and throughout his 16 yrs in the Major Leagues. He attributes his longevity to his commitment to learning and improving. The evidence proves this out. In his first eight years in the Big Leagues, Slaught hit .269 compared to his last eight years where he averaged over .300; and in is final five full seasons, he had a .310 average. Slaught said he didn’t get any stronger or faster but he did get smarter. He said it was the elimination of some poor information and the understanding of some good information on both mechanics and his approach that allowed him to improve late into his thirties.

It was this renovation that led him into coaching and the eventual development of RightView Pro. What took him years to understand can now be seen and understood very easily at even the earliest levels of baseball. Since retiring in 1997, Slaught has spent most of his time coaching at just about every level from Little Leaguers to Major Leaguers. He was the Big League Hitting Coach for the 2006  American League Champion Detroit Tigers.  Slaught is quick to point out that the success of a coach is not based on knowing how to hit but rather on knowing how to get others to hit. They are two different skills. The goal of RVP was to speed up the learning curve by developing a system to allow coaches and players to see, understand, and communicate more effectively.

Career Highlights

At UCLA, Slaught’s .428 batting average established a new school record that lasted 25 years. He was named team captain and went on to earn All Pac-10, All Coast, and Academic All American honors.

Slaught was drafted in the seventh round in 1980; made his Major League debut in 1982 with the Kansas City Royals; and spent the next 16 years in the Major Leagues with the Royals, Rangers, Yankees, Pirates, Angels and Padres.

Improved with Age

As the oldest player on his team for the last five years, Slaught batted .310. He hit .269 in the 1980’s and .306 in the 1990’s. Don’s batting average of .345 in 1992 was the highest batting average for a catcher since Elston Howard in 1969.

Left is All Right

Slaught is a lifetime .302 hitter against left-handed pitching. Slaught’s .336 batting average vs. lefties over his last five seasons ranked him 5th in the Major Leagues behind Frank Thomas, Paul Molitor, Edgar Martinez, and Tony Gwynn.

No. 3 on Grass

Slaught is ranked 3rd over his last five seasons on natural grass behind Tony Gwynn and Frank Thomas.

Post Season

Slaught appeared in three consecutive National League Championships series with the Pirates and played in the 1984 ALCS with the Royals.

In the Pinch

Slaught had a career .320 average as a Pinch Hitter

Personal

Don and his wife, Sandy, have four children: Christa 17, Stephanie 15, Cory 11, and Jessica 10. He and his wife both graduated from UCLA and live in Southern California.

Scott Fletcher

Development Consultant and Director of East Coast Distribution 

Fletcher, a 15-year veteran infielder, has coached at the youth, college, and professional levels of baseball.  In 1979, Fletcher was the Sporting News All-America shortstop at Georgia Southern University where he led the Eagles to a NCAA I Atlantic Regional appearance with a 46-15 record. Fletcher batted .413 in 61 games in his junior season and led his team with 30 stolen bases, also earning mention on the All-South Independent squad.

Fletcher played 15 seasons in the Major Leagues with the Cubs, White Sox, Rangers, Tigers, and the Brewers. In 1986, Fletcher was named the American League Player of the month for July. He hit .300 for the season and led the Rangers with 34 doubles. In 1988, Fletcher led the Rangers in hitting for the third consecutive year; and in 1990, he led American League second basemen in double plays, turning 115. In 1991, Fletcher collected his 1000 career hit. After retiring in 1995, Fletcher worked as an instructor and manager in the Tampa Bay Devil Ray Organization.

Deb Hartwig

RVP Member & Certified Instructor 

Hartwig is a member of the RightView Pro team as well as a certified instructor for RVP. Currently Hartwig is the Director of Coaches Certification and Training for the So Cal ASA. Hartwig is also the Tournament Director for the most prestigious college tournaments in the Nation; the Palm Springs Classic, the Judi Garman Classic, and the Worth Tournament.  Hartwig was the assistant coach of Team Texas, a women's Major Travel Ball team that placed 2nd in the 2000 Nationals and 5th in the 2000 Canada Cup. Hartwig was recently a volunteer assistant coach at Cal State Fullerton.

Hartwig also served for four years as the assistant coach at San Diego State where she was the hitting, catching and outfield coach as well as assisting with recruiting. Prior to the Aztecs, Hartwig coached travel teams and was the varsity coach at San Marcos High School in North San Diego, Hartwig’s alma mater where she played both softball and basketball, earning MVP and League Player-of-the-Year honors in softball. Hartwig began her collegiate career at Saddleback Junior College in Mission Viejo, CA, and received all-conference, all-region, and all-state honors, helping lead the Gauchos to the state championship. Hartwig earned her Associate of Arts degree in 1988 and was later inducted into the Saddleback College Hall of Fame. Hartwig continued her career at Cal State Fullerton under the guide of Judi Garman and graduated from Fullerton earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Kinesiology. A two-time ASA All-American, Hartwig directs Nike camps and currently works numerous clinics throughout the United States teaching players and coaches alike. Hartwig lives in the South Bay and is enjoying working with the youth in the area.