Right now, I am sitting in Texas, finalizing the blueprints for a self-sustaining international sports ecosystem. On April 24, I will board a plane to Bohol Island, Philippines, to officially launch the Coconuts Youth Baseball Development Program.
But to understand exactly what we are building in Bohol today, you have to understand where this journey started over thirty years ago.
The Locked Door of 1984
When I graduated from Seagoville High School in 1984, I had a deep, consuming passion for the game of baseball. But as I looked up the ladder at the collegiate coaching ranks, the reality of the landscape was impossible to ignore.
In 1984, there was exactly one Hispanic NCAA Division-I head baseball coach in the entire United States. There were zero Black D-1 coaches. The institutional barriers were incredibly high. Because of those barriers, the only realistic option for me to stay in the game stateside was to become a high school coach—which meant I also had to become a high school teacher.
I had zero desire to spend my life in a traditional classroom. I wanted to build elite, professional-caliber baseball programs. So, I made a definitive choice: I was not going to spend my career banging on a locked door. Instead, I packed my bags and took my coaching career overseas to Europe.
Taking the Game Global
In 1993, I landed in Switzerland, and it completely changed the trajectory of my life. I realized that the rest of the world possessed a massive, untapped reservoir of raw athletic talent that simply needed elite development.
Over the next six years (1993–1998) in Switzerland, I won four national championships and took over a woeful Swiss National Team, successfully transforming them into a legitimate B-Pool contender on the European stage.
From there, my international footprint expanded. My career became a global mission to build the game wherever the hunger existed:
- China (2017): I was offered a two-year contract to teach baseball at a Youth Sports Academy in Shanghai, but had to turn it down when my wife’s visa was denied—a stark reminder of the unique curveballs that come with international development.
-
Brunei (2019): I spent a concentrated month training both the men’s and women’s national fastpitch softball teams.
-
Bhutan (2022-2023): I spent 17 months directing the Bhutan Baseball and Softball Association (BBSA), managing ground operations and development while the organization’s president worked from Australia.
-
Nepal (2023-2024): I spent four months assisting the Nepal Baseball and Softball Association, laying the groundwork for the sport in emerging Himalayan markets.
Awakening the Sleeping Giant
Now, every championship won, every mile traveled, and every ounce of my experience is being poured into the ultimate target: The Philippines.
Many people in the modern baseball industry have forgotten their history. They forget that in 1954, the Philippines was the undisputed King of the Asian Continent in baseball. The generational athleticism and the cultural passion for the game never left the islands. Today, the Philippines stands as the absolute last untapped market of elite, teenage baseball prospects on the globe.
They don’t need raw talent; they have it. What they need is an elite, MLB-caliber developmental ecosystem. And that is exactly what the Founders Club and the Bohol Coconuts are going to build.
Watch the Blueprint Become Reality
On April 24, I leave Texas to put boots on the ground in Bohol. We are building the Coconuts Performance Center, a dedicated training facility and the Eco-Lodge that will fund it all.
I want you to have a front-row seat to history.
On April 29, we are premiering “Building the Coconuts,” a YouTube Reality Docuseries that will document every high-stakes step of building this international franchise from the ground up. No filters, no polish—just the raw reality of building a baseball empire in paradise.
