Legendary Softball....

1n 1978, Coach Phil Bruder set out to take a group of young female athletes and make them into an elite softball team. Since then he has produced 13 National Championship Teams, more than 350 full four-year scholarship athletes (This number gets higher every year), 13 Olympians, and 139 collegiate All-Americans. With an unparalleled legacy in fastpitch softball and as a member of the Jewish Softball Hall of Fame, Coach Phil continues to pour into the game as a private hitting instructor and the General Manager of the California Raiders Organization. Coach Phil continues to serve the Raiders Organization from his home in Texas by mentoring coaches as needed, virtual analysis of the hitting dynamics of Raiders Athletes, Recruiting Calls to Raiders Prospects, and Recruiting calls to College Coaches on behalf of Raiders Athletes pursuing scholarships at the next level.

In late 2018 a small independent Travel Team called SoCal Havoc was training indoors at Victory Athletics in Murrieta, CA when Coach Phil approached Coach Paul Krueger about training Havoc Athletes to hit better. Not long after that, many of the Havoc Athletes who trained with Coach Phil began to drastically improve their hitting games. The SoCal Havoc Coaches continued to build a relationship with Coach Phil and as a result of his mentoring, care of our athletes, experience in the game, and the friendship that developed, SoCal Havoc was retired and Coach Daniel Zabala and Coach Paul Krueger officially affiliated with Coach Bruder forming two California Raiders teams. The friendship and trust between Coach Paul and Coach Phil continued to develop to the point that Coach Phil appointed Coach Paul President of the California Raiders organization. The California Raiders Organization was moved under the non-profit umbrella of Hope Learning Academy in Canyon Lake, CA as one of its extracurricular projects and the branding of the organization was protected and today is owned by Hope Learning Academy and Coach Phil Bruder jointly, with Coach Paul as the Executive Director of Hope Learning Academy. The staff of the California Raiders exists to feed into the development of our female softball athletes and see them develop with character into powerful young women who achieve great dreams using softball as their vehicle to get there. All our decisions are made with this guiding principle in mind. Today the California Raiders Organization consist of 7 teams and we are planning to continue growing with more teams into an organization that brings our mission and values into the lives of as many female softball athletes and their families as possible.