“ If I wanted to chase the sun I had to go to South Africa, Australia or New Zealand and that can be my winter baseball fix. If I wanted to be closer to home during the summer in the Northern hemisphere then Europe, United States or Canada are going to be my places to be.” – Owen Reid
Born William Owen Reid on September 15, 1986, in Moberly, Missouri he is known in the international baseball community as a baseball nomad.
Upon graduating from Moberly High School in 2005, Owen received a scholarship to play at Baylor University. After one year he transferred and graduated from Winthrop University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communication, Broadcasting. His strong desire to see the world and find a way to continue playing took him around the globe to places he longed to visit.
Owen has visited 46 different countries in his young life thus far. He has found an opportunity to provide significant professional experience in 7 countries (United States, Austria, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia). He has coached at all levels, from grassroots programs to professional organizations in many of those along his journey.
He spent time playing in Europe, Asia, and Australia before moving to the next phase of his baseball career as a certified strength and conditioning coach and expert baseball instructor with more than two decades of experience.
Owen currently provides sports instruction, coaching, and mentorship to individuals, teams, and coaches through his online business Reid Mobile Baseball Coaching. His international exposure spans to more than 40 countries on five continents.
He currently lives in Singapore with his wife Hayley and spends most of his free time traveling and exploring.
You can connect with Owen here:
Owen shares with us in this episode:
- How chasing the sun can lead to seeing the world.
- Creating a life for yourself that is not what people consider “the norm.”
- That baseball has so much to offer anyone willing to stick with it.
- How learning new languages opens up your imagination and more.
- And much, much more!
How We Met
Owen and I have been virtual penpals since about early 2016. We met when he found my profile on LinkedIn while looking to hire professional baseball coaches for his academy in Southeast Asia. At the time he was the General Manager for the Hit Factory based in Singapore.
We had several conversations that turned into interviews and eventually ended with me taking another job in Newfoundland. The timing was not right, and if I am honest, my wife and I were a little hesitant about moving even further away from our family with our then 4-year-old daughter. Owen understood entirely and we agreed to stay in touch.
Timing is everything.
We kept in touch sharing what was happening in each other’s careers and life along the way. Fast forward to today and several Whats App and LinkedIn messages later he is now married and running his own baseball training company and still living in Singapore.
Although we have never met in person, we have shared many conversations about coaching, training, traveling, living abroad and life in general. I am so happy that he decided to click on my profile.
I look forward to the day we will meet in person, have a beer and continue talking more about loving the game and living the dream.
I am confident it will feel like we have known each other forever.
Enjoy!
Love the Game. Live the Dream