- November 23, 2024
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Mainland Buccaneers' head softball coach Kelsey Moskovits. Photos by Michele Meyers
Head coach Kelsey Moskovits and assistant coach David Moskovits check out the baseline prior to their home game against Seabreeze.
Kelsey Moskovits talks to the infield as her dad writes on the player sheet.
A fist pump from assistant coach David Moskovits.
The Moskovitses coach from the dugout.
Assistant coach David Moskovits
Mainland High School’s head softball coach Kelsey Moskovits was raised in a sports-oriented family.
She played T-ball at 3 years old, was chastised when she said baseball was "just a sport," and rebelled when she got older by playing soccer. In high school, she was always a three-sport athlete: softball, soccer and golf.
Moskovits and her dad, who is Mainland’s assistant softball coach, have always been close. David Moskovits was a high school teacher for 45 years and coached baseball for over 30 of those years. When Kelsey Moskovits played on the New Smyrna Beach High School softball team, her father quit coaching baseball and joined their softball program as an assistant coach. He also got his bus driving license so he could drive her soccer team to their games.
“When I was a kid, our lives revolved around baseball,” Moskovits said. “I actually rebelled against it when I was really young. I didn’t want to play baseball. I wanted to play soccer and that was my thing for a while. But in seventh grade, I started playing softball and soccer was kind of doomed after that because I really loved ball.”
Following high school, Moskovits attended the University of Central Florida but decided, as a self-proclaimed nerd, she would focus on her academics. She did not play for UCF but discovered their student-run, self-governed club ball organization. She joined the ranks of many Division 1 softball players and played until she graduated with a dual major in history and political science and a minor in philosophy. She joined the Teach for America program and, after a couple of teaching stints in Arkansas and Washington D.C., she began teaching at Mainland four years ago.
It was not a surprise when she asked her dad to be her assistant coach after taking on the head coach position for the Buccaneers for the 2018-2019 season.
“My dad and I are a lot alike,” Moskovits said. “We are the same person but we argue. From a head coach’s perspective, it’s ideal to have someone that will challenge you and your beliefs. You don’t want someone to agree with you all the time because that’s not how you get better. It’s really an ideal situation all around because we get to spend a lot of time together but my program wouldn’t be half of what it is without his perspective.”
Mainland’s softball team is in a rebuilding phase. Moskovits’ focus moving forward is on teaching her team to trust the process. Put the ball in play, make the plays on defense, take risks and be aggressive.
“We can’t be afraid to try and take risks,” Moskovits said. “Our new phrase is, ‘So what.’ You put the ball in play, they make a diving catch in the outfield, ‘So what?’ We’ll get them next time.”
