The numbers don’t lie.

You have seen our ads and articles for EM Speed and Power Training, the Southern California-based facilities that specialize in softball training and have produced more than its share of top players on college National Championship teams, the Hot 100 lists, the USA Today All-American Teams and the US Jr. National Team (including UCLA-bound catcher/infielder Paige Halstead who plays for top club team Explosion and is the daughter of EM founder Ed Halstead.

Now there’s big news coming out of EM: although not every athlete can make it to California to train at an EM Speed and Power Training facility, soon an app will be released to allow you to tap into great softball training wherever you are!

At Full Count, we are a proud partner with Ed and EM and believe 100 percent in the company’s mission, execution and results. I personally have had multiple experiences with EM and have found the one consistent thing about the people that train the athletes and the athletes they train—success—which you’ll read about in this article.

You’re also going to learn more about why EM Training has become such a force in the softball world in such a short amount of time and we’ll keep you posted on what’s coming up with EM including their new app, which should be a huge step forward for softball training.

— Brentt Eads, Full Count Softball

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What is the secret of getting really good at something? How do we unlock it?

It seems there are places popping up and claiming that they can get softball athletes better – but there remains one name that keeps showing up as the trainer of the majority of elite players on the West Coast softball landscape.

In the New York Times best-selling book called the Talent Code, author Daniel Coyles visits nine of the world’s talent ‘hotbeds:’ places that produce huge amounts of talent, from a small music camp in upstate New York to an elementary school in California.

This mirrors the results in softball of EM Speed and Power Training based in Rancho Cucamonga.

For 10 years, EM has consistently trained the lion’s share of elite softball players in Southern California—from Olympic Team members to DI college stars to the majority of elite softball athletes being sought after by colleges around the country.

The stats back this up: seven of the top 10 ranked seniors in 2015 Hot 100 are EM trained and in the top 25 recruits in the 2015 class EM trains over 90% of the

athletes from California and some that commute on the weekends to train from as far away as Kansas.

Five of the US Women’s National Softball team players came through an EM facility including Madison Shipman and Sierra Romero and you will see EM athletes on the field playing for major college programs like Florida, ASU, UCLA, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Missouri, Cal and Washington.

It’s a model that other trainers and facilities across the nation are trying to dissect and implement in their own programs.

“We get spies in here weekly trying to figure out what we do,” laughs Ed Halstead, President and Founder of EM. “If they only knew, they just need to love softball, have a passion for their athletes, and work their butts off for 10 years or so to learn the principles that make a real, measurable difference in athletes.”

EM works with not just players, but teams including the two squads that played for the PGF 18U National Championship last August, the OC Batbusters and Corona Angels.

These elite club athletes go to EM over other training options because of the state-of-the-art softball-specific training that is constantly being fine-tuned and developed.

“I am truly proud that we continually improve the methods of training, motivation, coaching and the personal attention our athletes receive,” Halstead continues. “Together—with the process we use that helps activate the brain to acquire the skill they are learning—it propels them far beyond what would be normal and gets them closer to their own personal potential.”

“It’s a process and if you stick with it and have a good work ethic, it will yield the results coaches look for at the next level: true explosive athletes that are ready to compete.”

Those looking for a quick fix won’t get it at EM, according to those that run the program and train the athletes.

“There is no magic pill,” says John Daniels, formerly a strength trainer at USC and one of the owners at EM. “It’s true that many athletes today are looking for a quick fix, but, even in college, results take consistency, effort and a tested program that has proven success over time.”

“The window of time for softball athletes is so short, if an athlete wastes time on the wrong program it puts them behind the curve.’

Mike Stith is the co-head coach of the OC Batbusters and also runs Sports Training Complex in Anaheim, Calif. where EM provides all of his teams and organizations strength and conditioning training (in December we attended a session where Stith worked out with college standouts like Sierra Romero)

“We’ve seen remarkable changes in our athletes because of EM Training,” he believes. “It’s amazing to see some of the athletes improvements; players like Janelle Wheaton of the Florida Gators is competitive her freshman year because her body is ready to compete with girls four years older than her.”

‘The list goes on,” Stith continues: “Batbusters like Gatorade Player of the Year Taylor McQuillin, signed with Arizona, and her Mission Viejo High teammate and Jr. National Team member Alyssa Palomino, also going to Arizona. Sierra’s sister, Syd, headed to Oklahoma and also a Jr. National Team invite. Another is Amanda Lorenz, rated by Full Count as the No. 1 player in the 2015 Hot 100 and a Florida signee.”

“All four of them could play in college right now and all are EM trained. We will have athletes in every Pac-12, SEC, Big Ten and Big 12 college that is competitive in softball and they will be ready to play when they get there,” adds Coach Stith.

One of the athletes mentioned by Stith agrees.

“I have been attending EM for roughly five years now and it has helped tremendously with my strength and conditioning,” says Taylor McQuillin. “They have different workouts for different sports and the different positions within the sport.”

“It is really beneficial to improving my game play and stamina throughout long days on the softball field. I go to EM between two to four times a week, which varies depending on the amount of work I have for school and the practice/game schedule for high school.”

One of the reasons EM has dominated in the softball world is its precision in building softball-related training plans.

“More choices are usually good,” says Jono Green, Head of Program Design at EM and one of the owners. ‘The unfortunate thing is that our softball athletes have a short window to get better and just cannot be trained like football players or with generic conditioning programs offered at other less-experienced facilities because that type of training impedes performance and is actually counter productive to ‘playing the sport.’”

“It looks cool to watch tire flipping and some of the stuff you see on TV commercials, but I am convinced nothing prepares an athlete for college and beyond better than EM. At any one time, the instructors on the floor at EM range from the ex-strength trainer for the NY Mets to a former USC strength coach.”

“The information our athletes get is right and, if you are consistent, you just get ready. We’ve done it with over 40,000 athletes in 10 years including players in every MLB organization and obviously we’re doing it at every level in softball!”

Halstead stresses that EM relies on the strength of its talented infrastructure, team members and the detailed programs that are time tested and continually improved.

“There is no ‘one person’ or ‘one trainer’ that makes EM what it is,” he continues. “EM is a system that originated out of the love we feel for athletes and the responsibility that athletes trust us to get them what they need to reach their next level. Each athlete is a real person with a real goal and we are honored to be a part of it.”

Note: you can follow EM on Twitter: @emspeedpower or visit their EMSpeedTraining.com website.

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Meet Ed Halstead

Here’s a video interview down with the founder of EM Speed and Power Training done about a year and a half ago at the company’s headquarters in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

One of the highlights is the funny story about how “EM” got its name in part because of a nervous mailman!