07/03/2025
Ohio Swat 14U is very excited to announce John Lawrence as the head coach for our 2025-26 team. John is originally from Hurricane, WV and was immediately embedded in a winning softball culture involving multiple state championships and found a love for softball. As John grew older, he was blessed with two daughters, who were raised on a softball field, where their talent quickly grew. John began coaching them as early as their 8U season, where he met his mentor, Greg Garber. Coach Garber held a high standard with the WV Firestix revolving around hard work and good values. John made these attributes the foundation of his future travel softball teams as he coached his daughter’s travel teams all the way up until their college softball careers began. At that time, John decided to focus on a new adventure as a dad “fan” with his daughters. When John originally decided to walk away from coaching, his two daughters, and 17 others, had their college education paid for with softball scholarships at every level including Division 1.
After a while away from the game, John felt a softball void and began to umpire softball games with his wife, Crystal Lawrence. While many opportunities to coach were offered to John, he turned them down and continued to wait for the right fit. As fate would have it, this Spring, John and Crystal umpired close to 10 games with our Ohio Swat 12U team. As John put it, the Ohio Swat 12U team was “a special group of girls, parents, and coaches you just wanted to be around. I knew it was a special group I had to be involved with. I couldn’t be more thankful and excited to get to work with them. It’s truly a passion and my calling.”
