Meet our Coaching Staff
Head Coach-Steve Appel
I have been coaching club ball for the last 16 years in Arizona with two Top 10 PGF finishes including finishing 2nd with my 2023 Storm Appel team in 2019; two Top 20 PGF finishes and one top 15 ASA finish.
I have coached high school ball at Desert Ridge High School in Mesa, Arizona, for the past two years and just recently took over the program as head coach full time. My teams have sent over 25 kids to college and this year’s 2023 group was inundated with calls, emails and texts with several girls already having official visits booked to some of the top college programs across the country.
My “real” job is serving as a branch manager of a big mortgage company based out of Southern California. I am a father of five beautiful daughters and just recently had my first grandchild, a boy, enter my life.
I love coaching for the competition and believe my strengths are in helping players with recruiting and networking as well as managing the game between the lines. I also love being able to help young ladies elevate their game and achieve their goals of playing college softball. I am excited for this next group to see their dreams be fulfilled!
Assistant Coach-Matt Stys
Matt has been coaching club ball for over 16 years and has been coaching with my Storm Appel team with me for the past five years. He has a great personality and is so genuine to the girls and the families. Matt is a huge asset volunteering his time with no kids on the field.He and his wife Kristin have been married for 28 years and they have three amazing daughters. Matt is an executive in the professional and collegiate sports media industry and has gotten to attend some pretty cool professional sporting events.
Assistant Coach-Kate Stys
You guessed it, Kate is the daughter of Matt! She has her B.S. and MBA from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA where she played collegiate softball. She currently works for the Arizona Cardinals Partnership Marketing.
Assistant Coach-Brian Asanovich
Brian has been coaching club softball for the past five years with the Storm and Rogue organizations. He has had the privilege of coaching with Arizona Storm National Appel for one year and is looking forward to more adventures with Coach Steve Appel and the Storm organization. While softball has been his home for these past five years, he has a long history with athletics and coaching. He has coached a variety of sports, teams of all ages and has been blessed to compete himself at various stages. His collegiate career included two years of baseball at Arizona Western Community College where he then transferred to University of Southern Colorado; now known as Colorado State University Pueblo. After graduation, he remained with the baseball program as a grad assistant and ran the collegiate baseball program for two summers. He was blessed to be coached and mentored by Stan Sanchez whom he credits with his expanding baseball IQ. He looks back on these years as being instrumental in helping him make the jump to softball. He has been teaching weight training, health, and physical education for the past 16 years. While at Camelback High School, he coached 4 seasons of basketball and 12 seasons of baseball and is in his 13th year as strength coach for the football team.
He and his wife, Emily have been married for 19 years and have two children: Rowan and Brady. Brian and Emily spend their days cheering and supporting their children in all they choose to do.
