Seven Innings: Stephen Mazzola St. Louis Chaos 04
The St. Louis Chaos 04 team is a young and upcoming team in the Midwest. Coach Stephen Mazzola core group of players have been together for the last three years and now enter their second season in 12U together. Chaos 04 may have their best pitching staff yet. The strength of the team is its balance including the new pitching staff along with speed on the basepaths, solid defense and an offense that will put up runs this summer.
Coach Mazzola’s team will play in the Battle for the Barrel (Owensboro, KY), OKC Challenge (Oklahoma City, OK), Jr. Sparkler (Loveland, CO) and the ASA/USA 12U National Championships in Dallas, Texas. The Chaos 04 players, coaches, and parents came together last winter to help out with the flood relief efforts in the community of Eureka, MO. Eureka is a small community that is about 20 miles southwest from downtown St. Louis. Chaos players you should watch for this summer include Allie Kelly (P), Mia Mazzola (2B/CF), and Cora Skaggs (C).
Coach Mazzola recently had a conversation with FPN’s Brandon Pannell.
Brandon Pannell: What role do assistant coaches have on your team? Do you consider yourself a micro-manager?
Coach Stephen Mazzola: I don’t want to micro-manage and I put a lot of trust into my assistants. The one assistant I have is in charge of our pitchers and calling pitches. My other assistant helps with both infield and hitters. We bounce ideas off of one another a lot. We have a lot of fun together. But for the most part, those guys are on their own during games.
Brandon Pannell: What is one word or phrase that you hope former players use to describe you?
Coach Stephen Mazzola: I hope that they say they would run through a wall for me! I want to be encouraging and motivating at the same time. We want them to have those feelings for every single one of their teammates too.
Brandon Pannell: Your team motto is?
Coach Stephen Mazzola: We have a few that we always harp on…
- It is you versus her.. Who is going to win?
- It doesn’t take talent to hustle.
Brandon Pannell: How do you plan on improving as a coach from year to year?
Coach Stephen Mazzola: I have been blessed to learn from different people in my life from everyone to my wife who was a division 1 softball player to her three sisters who played division 1 softball. My father in law has been in the softball spotlight here in St. Louis for decades and is one of the top hitting instructors here. The Chaos organization has great coaches and resources that we can utilize and get better so it has been an evolving process for me. I enjoy listening to other coaches philosophies and plays. I watch and attend a lot of college softball games and camps. I want to provide the best knowledge for our girls so that involves an ongoing process of learning the game and seeing/being in different scenarios. I love learning this game. I have 3 daughters of my own so it is in my blood now!
Brandon Pannell: How has coaching affected your life?
Coach Stephen Mazzola: I played division 1 baseball and that is where I learned my love of not only the game of baseball and softball but coaching. I graduated college and got a job teaching and coaching high school softball, baseball and water polo. So I learned a lot in my first few years. I was a high school coach for 13 years and stepped down three years ago to focus more of my time with my three daughters. I still teach PE but now their sports are my life. I love coaching and the competition that comes with it.
Brandon Pannell: Describe the organization of a typical practice.
Coach Stephen Mazzola: The Chaos believe in a fast paced practice to simulate what play is like in games. We try to follow this as much as possible. We focus a lot on defense. We can’t get enough defensive reps. Everything from bunt coverage’s to 1st and 3rds to cutoffs and relays. It is always a priority that we focus on. Lately, we have been adding agility/ladder drills before practice to help with footwork. A lot of base running as well.
Brandon Pannell: How do you handle key players (not in another sport routinely) not attending practices?
Coach Stephen Mazzola: We encourage multi-sport athletes. Fortunately, we don’t have any exclusive softball only players. We want girls that are athletic and we feel that if they are playing multiple sports that it will be very beneficial to their athleticism. Once March 1st hits, we make softball mandatory thru July/First part of August.
Brandon Pannell: What is your philosophy on discipline?
Coach Stephen Mazzola: We have a lot of pride here in the St. Louis Chaos Organization. If you can’t follow our team and organization expectations, that’s fine, go find another team. We want players and parents that understand our expectations, follow them, respect them, and support one another. We are here to not only help these young ladies become great ballplayers but outstanding young women that are productive in society. We talk a lot about character, work ethic, and hustle. We want people around the country to say that St. Louis Chaos softball is a well-respected, and a classy organization.
Brandon Pannell: What would you try to teach your players besides softball? How would you do that?
Coach Stephen Mazzola: Not only character, work ethic, and hustle but the whole mental aspect that comes with the game of softball. Facing adversity and all the situations that come up over the course of a game and a season are tough to discuss until/if it happens to you or your team. We have taken several trips to different camps and universities around the country and talked with college coaches and players about this very thing. All these girls are 12 and 13 years old and this is a tough topic for some to grasp. We already have a lot of emotions we are dealing with in these young teenage ladies but then to add the stressors of softball to that…it makes for an interesting mix at times!!! But this is a part of life that we will all look back on and say “do you remember when…..” and laugh about it! I wouldn’t trade these years for anything. It is all part of the learning and growing process!
