Instructor

A 2012 graduate of The Woodlands High School, Lance was the starting quarterback and shortstop. He continued playing baseball at Kansas State University where he was a 2-year letterman. Lance also played for Sam Houston State University where he was a 3-year letterman. Lance was a Big 12 Champion, Manhattan Regional Champion, All Big 12 Tournament Team, and a 2x Southland Conference Champion with All Conference Honors.

Lance started his coaching career at SHSU, where he was an assistant coach for three seasons. He helped lead his team to win two Southland Conference Championships. He then spent 1.5 years as a manager/hitting coach at the Texas Rangers Dominican Republic Training Facility and Spring Training Facility in Arizona. Lance is currently the Head of Athlete Development and Facility Coordinator at Diamond Sports Academy.

Baseball has taken Lance on a wild journey that started in the garage with his dad in Montgomery County back in 2001. The game and his journey through it has taught him many valuable perspectives on life. It has shown him traits he loves about himself and exposed the things he was not so fond of about himself. It has been instrumental in his journey to grow closer to God and it has given him incredible experiences and people he will be eternally grateful for. 

Message from Lance:

It is a blessing to be a part of a group of men and women working behind the scenes, in the place I grew up, to build a safe and positive environment where a young athlete has everything he or she needs to go about their own type of journey. It is through this type of journey, in the fun world of sports, that a young human being can learn what it takes to develop into a hard-working, healthy and productive player capable of reaching elite status. We are excited to introduce Diamond Sports Academy – we hope to get better every day, just like our athletes.

At Diamond Sports Academy, we find it is important to have consistent principles pop up throughout our training sessions and in our building on a daily basis. Even if specifics are not explained, you can be sure to find this type of energy leading the charge every day: 

• Building good habits and correcting bad ones

• Daily routines are vital to an athlete understanding their body and their lifestyle. Each routine should be self-created and catered to what the athlete enjoys and what they lack.

• What type of motivation fuels you? Your inner-child? Family? Fame? Money? Recognition? We want to help our athletes understand what it means to be self-motivated. From the inside-out, for the right reasons.

• We push our athletes to not waste time comparing themselves to others. Focus on beating the person you were yesterday or the previous session. 

• ​Encouraging others to reach their high score versus only wanting to beat them – This cultivates an environment of confident individuals capable of putting others’ interests ahead of their own. The sports world needs more athletes like these.

• It is a long journey. We won’t risk instilling trauma or putting pressure on an athlete because we are impatient about their progress. Show up consistently with the right motivation and don’t look for “the magic pill” or “overnight gains.”

• Building human skills is more important than building sport-specific skills. They will last beyond sports.
• ​Rhythm and mindset are more important than mechanics. Once you have the first two, we will perfect the mechanics. 

• We believe in strong athletes that lift heavy, move fast, are mobile, rotate well, understand ground tension and constantly build core strength. This starts from the ground up – If the first floor is crooked, the whole building is crooked or compensating.

• Being a lifelong learner is important. We train in a way to keep athletes interested and informed about their own processes so they may become a master of their craft, if they stay in the sport long enough.

• Hearing directions one time And executing the task simultaneously in a group environment is a vital skill for any high performer. 

• Good athletes know where their body is in space. We help our athletes become more body aware without letting it slow them down too much.

• We encourage athletes to communicate pertinent questions and conversation with coaches. 

• When it is time to focus, we focus. When it is time to relax, we relax. We promote the ability to “shift gears” back into whatever drill or exercise was being conducted before resting or getting off topic.