About Yolo
What We Do
The mission of Yolo Baseball is the development and promotion of girls baseball players and women baseball coaches. This is accomplished through travel teams, summer camps, and private & group instruction, along with advocacy and promotion of girls baseball achievements and programming.
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Our summer camps and travel team coaching and development model are designed based on educational pedagogy mixed in with the latest and best baseball coaching philosophy. Guided by our General Manager's background as a teacher, coach, and personal trainer, we plan and deliver programming that kids love while ensuring that they learn and develop personally.
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​​The Yolo program, players and coaches have been featured in several news stories about the development of girls travel. Check out the latest press coverage.
Who We Are
Yolo is in the process of structuring as a non-profit society in BC. Until then, all programs at Yolo are run on a cost recovery basis. Importantly, one of those costs is our coaches. While there are countless volunteer hours in the management and running of Yolo, all coaching is paid work. This is an important element in supporting the growth and development of women coaches.
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Our travel team staff and our academy/camp staff are selected for their baseball experience and ability to work with and connect with kids. Senior staff have coached at community clubs & provincial high performance, while junior staff have played in PBL (BC high performance league), provincial teams and/or at the college level. ​
Our Story
Yolo Baseball is a mindset.
As a mother, a teacher and a coach I want for kids to feel like they are a part of something. I want to create a place where failure is managed and teaches people more about themselves. I want this place to feel like the best version of home- a place where each and everyone is accepted for who they are and what they bring to the world.
The term Yolo was a mantra used by a high performance girls team that I coached throughout their summer tournament. It came from an idea that you might as well go 'full gas' and just see what happens. Stress and anxiety plague our youth and as a coach I wanted them to find a way to play for the love of the game, free from the outcome-based pressure that typically exists in youth sports. A few months later, when that same group of girls entered a travel tournament in Arizona, our team captain showed up with the phrase hand-carved into a wood plaque to remind the team of its purpose.
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We hope you will join us in our pursuit to be a part of something. To relax, have fun and dig in - because You Only Live Once!
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Welcome to Yolo Baseball.
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Kristy Watson
About Kristy Watson
Teacher ~ Trainer ~ Coach
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With her Bachelor of Education from UBC, Kristy taught cooking at the high school level for 10 years, followed by 2 years teaching Physical Education to Kindergarten to grade 4. She is currently teaching Physical Education and Cooking at the high school level.
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Kristy has also run her own personal training business for over 20 years, focusing on functional movement, injury recovery and sports related performance.
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She has coached multiple sports at the youth level including soccer, baseball and rugby. She is NCCP certified for baseball as well as being an NCCP coach facilitator and evaluator, delivering NCCP courses to other coaches and certifying their performance in practices and games.
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Kristy is the Vancouver Regional Coordinator for BC Baseball's girls program and is the Head Coach for the Provincial U14 girls team.
In January 2021, Kristy was awarded the Baseball Canada Grassroots Coaching Award for BC. For more info, click here.​