Some dreams take root in the most unexpected places. For Coach Merv Moore, the vision for the Bohol Coconuts Baseball & Softball Club didn’t strike in a dugout or a boardroom. It arrived as he soared 30,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean in 2024, returning from Nepal to Texas. After decades of coaching across the globe, a divine inspiration crystallized: to build a world-class, year-round development program on the ancestral home of his Filipina wife. It was the answer to a lifetime of limitations and the start of a thrilling new chapter.
“Everywhere I’ve coached, I’ve worked within constraints—limited fields, limited time, limited practice days,” Merv reflects. From Switzerland to Bhutan, his coaching resume is a testament to maximizing potential against the odds. He transformed Swiss baseball, leading the Therwil Flyers to three national championships in four years before rebuilding the Zurich Challengers into champions. As head coach of the Swiss national team, he engineered one of his proudest moments: molding a struggling squad into a competitive force that toppled a European B-Pool champion with a 14-year-old pitcher on the mound.
“That proved our methods worked,” Merv says. “But I always wondered: what could we achieve if we trained 250 days a year like they do in baseball’s powerhouse nations? In Switzerland, we had players only twice a week. The athlete in me, the coach in me, craved the chance to develop talent with that same intensity and consistency.”
His coaching journey began at age 15 in Texas, when a neighbor handed him the reins to a team of 9-year-olds. That early taste of leadership—planning trainings, teaching fundamentals—ignited a passion that carried him through all-district honors as a player, semi-pro ball, and eventually across oceans. Despite successful stints training national teams in Brunei and pioneering baseball development for 17 transformative months in Bhutan, bureaucratic hurdles with visas repeatedly closed doors. A final disappointment in Nepal left him in that airplane seat, pondering the future.
“That’s when it hit me with absolute clarity,” Merv recalls. “All the pieces were there. Bohol is a paradise with raw athletic talent. Lerma’s deep community ties. My lifetime of experience. For the first time in 34 years of coaching, I could build a program without restrictions. No more wondering ‘what if.’ We could do it right, from the ground up.”
The vision for the Bohol Coconuts is twofold: a high-performance sports incubator and a profound community hub. “I discovered my true passion isn’t just the high-stakes wins with men,” Merv explains. “It’s the transformative process of taking a nervous, unsure young athlete and building them into a confident, skilled competitor. Filipino athletes have shown world-class potential. I don’t just hope to develop professional prospects; I expect to. Within a decade, I believe we’ll see players from Bohol signing contracts.”
His wife, Lerma Moore, a local councilwoman, brings the heart to the mission. “This is about more than baseball and softball,” she says with a warm smile. “It’s about feeding curiosity, building character, and strengthening our community. We want the Coconuts to be a place where children are nourished in body, mind, and spirit. Merv builds elite athletes; we build exceptional people.”
Now slated to settle permanently in Bohol with his wife and two kids in January, the couple is united in purpose. “Working daily alongside Lerma, in a place we both love, to build this dream is the most exciting challenge of my life,” Merv beams. “This is it. This is where we create something lasting.”
From a spark over the ocean to a diamond in the tropics, the Bohol Coconuts represents the culmination of a coach’s global journey and the beginning of a homegrown legacy. It’s a testament to a simple, powerful belief: when you remove the limits, greatness can truly take flight.
