Going Yard’s Dean aims to make a difference as a coach

Instructor enjoys working with all ages at baseball academy

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Marshall Dean is a popular instructor with Going Yard.

“He cares.”

That is the biggest message Marshall Dean hopes all the baseball players he instructs take with them.

“I like to think my players know I care,” said Dean. “It is not just my job.

“I care about them both on the field and in other aspects of life. I want to teach them how to be men from an early age, not just go through the motions, but work with a purpose. Every day is an opportunity.

“I hope they grow up to just be strong, hard-nosed baseball players. That is what I want is competitive kids that do things the right way and approach the game the right way.”

Having grown up playing minor baseball in Saskatoon and moving on to play at the post-secondary level as a pitcher, Dean reflected that he had a great experience playing baseball. When his playing career wrapped up, Dean wanted to give back to the game by becoming a coach. He aimed to help young players playing the sport in Saskatoon to have similar positive experiences with the game like he had.

After coming on to be an instructor with the Going Yard Baseball Academy in 2016, Dean has developed a reputation for bringing a great joy to training sessions working with players in a wide range of age groups. Some coaches find they work better with either younger players or older players at the post-secondary and professional levels.

As for Dean, the 33-year-old finds he is at his best when he working with players from all different age groups on a weekly basis. He has fun helping players get better, and you would be hard pressed to not see a big smile running across his face during daily practice sessions at the Indoor Training Centre at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex.

“It helps you as a coach,” said Dean, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighed 190 pounds in his playing days. “It helps you learn different aspects of the game and how to approach different players.

“It has been really fun to coach kids at a young age, set that standard and expectation early and watch them grow into the players that they are now. I’d say that is what I’m most proud of as a coach is the guys that I’ve coached from the time they were 10-years-old and now they’re 16 and 17-years-old men ready to go to college.”

Marshall Dean instructs a group of young pitchers.

No matter how different the ages of the players he works with are, Dean said his approach to working with those athletes is pretty consistent.

“It is a lot different, but it is a lot the same,” said Dean. “It is the same standard you set as far as what the expectation is at practice and the right way to approach the game and your work every day.

“Obviously, it is gentler at the younger age groups, but it is really the same. You practice the right way, you play the right way and you approach every day the right way.”

Of course, Dean only envisioned himself being a player, when he started in the sport. When he discovered the game, his motivation to be in the sport was to be like his two older brothers.

“I’m the youngest of three boys from an athletic family,” said Dean. “My brothers played baseball.

“I fell in love with it early going to their games hanging out in foul territory playing around and just stuck with it. I figured I had a pretty good arm, and it’d be a good option for me.”

He took to being a pitcher early on when he began playing the game. A lot of Dean’s love for the game of baseball comes from the competition of pitcher versus batter.

“It is a thinking man’s game,” said Dean. “It is not just straightforward.

“You have to use your mind a little bit. I always enjoyed that. I enjoy the battle inside the game pitcher versus hitter, pitch to pitch.

“I enjoy the thinking part of it.”

Marshall Dean gives a pointer during a fielding drill.

In Saskatoon’s minor baseball ranks, Dean played out of the Blue Jays zone before joining the Saskatoon Cubs 18U AAA team. With the Blue Jays and the Cubs, Dean had Todd Plaxton as a coach through most of those years in the sport.

Dean said Plaxton was his mentor playing the game, while growing up. The hurler credited a lot of his success to his long time minor baseball coach from his Saskatoon playing days.

“He (Plaxton) coached us the right way really early,” said Dean. “He taught you to respect the game, play hard and work hard.

“I think that is a big part of why I do this today is trying to bring some of that back to these boys and making sure they’re viewing the game the right way, practising and playing the right way.”

While suiting up for the Cubs, Dean got his first experience of playing baseball with adults. From 2006 to 2008, Dean played for the now defunct Saskatoon Yellow Jackets in what is now known as the Western Canadian Baseball League.

These days the WCBL is strictly a summer wood bat league for players from the post-secondary ranks. Back in 2006 to 2008, the WCBL was a summer league in an era where teams could use players from all sorts of age groups, if they were good enough to be on the team. Dean did face players in their late 20s and early 30s with the Yellow Jackets.

“It was pretty wild being a teenager in that league,” said Dean. “Todd (Plaxton) always used to say you’re going to grow some whiskers, and I definitely did.

“I mean playing against grown men you learn a lot really quick good things and bad things.”

After graduating from high school, Dean played for Colby Community College Trojans in Colby, Kansas, from 2009 to 2011. He moved on to throw for the University of Central Missouri Mules in Warrensburg, Missouri. With the U of Central Missouri, Dean completed his bachelor’s degree in physical education and coaching.

Marshall Dean set to the ball during a fielding drill.

In the summer months, Dean returned to Canada to play in the WCBL for the Moose Jaw Miller Express. During those post-secondary playing days, Dean started thinking seriously about becoming a coach in the sport.

“I realized I wasn’t going to be a professional baseball player,” said Dean. “Around the time I was about 20 or 21, I realized that the dream wasn’t necessarily going to come true.

“I just wanted to help guys from Saskatchewan reach their goals. If you have a goal to play college ball or whatever that goal is in baseball, I just wanted to help out back home.”

Upon returning to Saskatoon, Dean started working as an education assistant as a substitute and later full time at Caroline Robins Community School and Dr. John G. Egnatoff School.

He originally wanted to find a coaching spot with the Cubs, but he joined the staff of the Saskatoon Diamondbacks 18U AAA team after getting a call from Matt Kosteniuk. Kosteniuk brought Dean to Going Yard.

Dean has loved every bit of his time with Going Yard starting with the old training warehouse the academy was originally located at on Alberta Avenue before moving to the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds on March 1, 2019.

“It is really cool to work with your buddies that you grew up with,” said Dean. “Obviously, it is really cool to coach with a guy like (MLB alumnus) Andrew (Albers) who you looked up to growing up, and now, he is just your co-worker.

“That has been fantastic. Some of the younger guys that we have coming up that have spent time in professional baseball or very high-level baseball, it is really fun to watch them come back and again just be your co-workers.”

Dean has enjoyed seeing Going Yard grow over the years that included developing the Goats travel team program. Looking to the future, he believes his passion for coaching will always be there.

Marshall Dean gives post-practice talk with a group of players.

“I’ll do this as long as I can,” said Dean. “It is awesome to go to work with your friends every day.

“It is awesome to do what you love. I think a lot of people would look at this job and be jealous of what we get to do every day. We get to have fun with the boys.

“We get to help them grow and watch them grow. I’ll do this for absolutely as long as I can.”

For more information on the Going Yard Baseball Academy, feel free to check out their website at www.gyba.ca.

ZONE homecoming happy one for Jahnke

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Dan Jahnke started at ZONE Sports Physiotherapy in March.

Dan Jahnke likes homecomings so much he did it twice.

Back in 2018, Jahnke finished up a four-year career playing baseball for the Newman University Jets, which is an NCAA Division II program in the United States in Wichita, Kansas. He completed his bachelor of science in biology at Newman University and moved back to Saskatoon to pursue his master of physical therapy at the University of Saskatchewan.

In December of 2020, Jahnke completed his master of physical therapy degree. At the start of this year, he began working as a physiotherapist in Cold Lake, Alta.

Jahnke saw a job posting for ZONE Sports Physiotherapy back home in Saskatoon. He applied for it, and at the end of this past March, he was back home working at the ZONE location inside the Gordie Howe Sports Complex.

“It was really nice to be able to come back,” said Jahnke. “This is where lots of my family is.

“I have lots of friends here obviously growing up here. It is home. It is just where I like being.”

The 25-year-old is a recognizable face not just in Saskatoon’s baseball community but in the city’s much larger sports community.

Jahnke played hockey along with baseball growing up. As a goalie in hockey, Jahnke suited up for the Saskatoon Blazers under-18 AAA for two seasons from 2010 to 2012 before joining the now defunct Beardy’s Blackhawks under-18 AAA squad for the 2012-13 campaign.

In his Grade 12 year in high school, Jahnke became a member of the Aden Bowman Collegiate Bears football team. On top of enjoying rounds of golf, Jahnke said his senior year in high school was the time he tried to soak in playing as many sports as he could.

“I just liked doing anything where I could move around and hit things and throw things – just have fun playing around and competing,” said Jahnke, who stands 6-feet and weighs 190 pounds. “It got me involved in a lot of different sports growing up.

Dan Jahnke playing for Newman University. (Photo Courtesy Dan Jahnke)

“Throughout high school, I was playing hockey and baseball mostly with the (under-18) AAA level there. I decided hockey wasn’t in my future competitively at least. I had a Grade 12 year after that.

“I figured I would try out everything I missed out on for the rest of high school. In that high school year, I did football, badminton, wrestling and track and field. I was just trying to do everything I could.”

During his high school years, Jahnke played for the Saskatoon Diamondback under-18 AAA baseball team. He credited his Diamondbacks coach, Matt Kosteniuk, as being a big influence on helping him enjoy baseball to the point he wanted to play it at the post-secondary level.

“I had really good experiences in baseball,” said Jahnke. “I had always been part of good teams growing up.

“We were good on the field and good off the field. In (under-18 AAA), I was lucky enough to have Matt Kosteniuk as my coach. He is a great guy. I still really enjoy hockey, but the competitive hockey I just decided wasn’t for me in the future.

“I wanted to keep playing something, and I loved baseball. I had a lot of fun with it. I figured it was a good way to keep competing and keep pushing myself while getting an education.”

At Newman University from 2014 to 2018, Jahnke played numerous positions with the Jets. He mainly played at first base and third base, spent a season in the outfield and was a backup catcher at one point in time.

Jahnke had such a good experience at Newman University that it did feel tough leaving the people he knew in Wichita to come home.

“Kansas is so similar to here in a lot of ways,” said Jahnke. “It is definitely different in some ways too.

“It is very similar in quite a few. I made a lot of good friends down there, so that kind of sucked leaving the friends behind. Coming back, I just got thrown right into the fire with physio school.

Dan Jahnke’s Jets promo picture.

“When you’re busy, it kind of helps you transition back into things. It forces you to get back in pretty quick.”

Once he returned to Saskatoon, Jahnke found it was a smooth transition to resume life where he grew up.

“I guess it was relatively easy,” said Jahnke. “I had been back every summer.

“I still knew everybody around here. I didn’t have any real issues.”

Jahnke said one of the obvious perks to becoming a physiotherapist is it allows you to stay involved in sports. That was just part of the reason he became a physiotherapist.

He had a larger interest in helping people function better physically.

“I obviously love sports,” said Jahnke. “I’ve played a lot of sport in my life.

“I’ve always been really interested in how people perform better and what makes people perform better from a physical perspective. That led me kind of into the biomechanics of things. Physio just seemed to fit that really well like combining biomechanics.

“You have the sport aspect of it. I thought if I was lucky enough to get to that area it would be great and here we are. It just kind of ticked all the boxes.”

Jahnke has enjoyed working alongside Mitch Dahl and Brad Spokes at the ZONE clinic at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. Jahnke had been one of Dahl’s clients for years when it came to rehabbing from various sports injuries.

“Mitch (Dahl) and Brad (Spokes) are both awesome,” said Jahnke. “I have a lot to learn from both of them.

“It is interesting. I think back even two years ago I was coming into this clinic for physio to see Mitch as a client. It is kind of cool to be able to hang out and say ‘hi’ to somebody that helped you through that much when you were growing up and helped you keep playing and do what you want to do.

“I feel like I am getting to learn from one of the best crews around.”

This year, Jahnke began helping the Saskatoon Valkyries of the Western Women’s Canadian Football League as a trainer. He would like to be involved with more teams in the future and wants to learn and grow as a physiotherapist at ZONE.

Dan Jahnke enjoys being at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex.

When he sees clients, Jahnke believes the fact that he took part in numerous sports growing up aids in his career now.

“I think it helps,” said Jahnke. “It is nice to know when somebody comes in that I can say I was doing something in this sport.

“It is nice to know what they mean. It is good for talking points. It is easy to make conversation with people, especially with a few of the people from (The Going Yard Training Centre) that we might say high too and people over at Ignite (Athletics).

“We are all into sports and performance and just general fitness. It is kind of what we are doing here. The variety of sport definitely adds to that for sure.”