Our Team

Billy grew up in Florida, and baseball has always been a major part of his life. He caught early attention when he won the city batting title as an 8th grader, and he went on to have a great high school baseball career. Billy was drafted 14th overall in the 2004 MLB Draft, and he made his Major League debut in 2007 with the Kansas City Royals. Billy had lots of success, making the MLB All-Star team in 2012, and winning plenty of seasonal awards along the way.

Prior to opening AP in Idaho Falls, Billy also played for the Oakland Athletics, and New York Yankees, spanning a 13 season professional career. A professional hitter by trade Billy teaches that plate discipline, hard-hit contact, and creating a plan before you step up to the plate is the best way to succeed as a hitter. He has been married to his wife, Katie for 15 years and they have 3 beautiful daughters. Billy has always loved being a part of his community, and he decided to open the Athlete Project to give back to a sport that has given him so much.

Ron is the director of recruiting & Player development at Athlete Project and also is the co-operations manager for the USA Explosion softball program. and in charge of player development at Idaho Athlete Project. Ron provides individual and group lessons specializing in pitching, hitting and fielding.

Ron established the highly recruited USA Explosion Fastpitch Club in 2009. His organization has since won multiple state and regional championships and a National Championship. In 2022 his 18U Gold Team was the Washington State Champion and placed 2nd at Nationals.

Through Ron’s Club Teams, camps, and lessons he has assisted well over 1000 student athletes achieve college scholarships. Including a large percentage of kids moving on to Division 1 level schools.

Ron started coaching when he was 18 years old. He has coached baseball, softball, soccer, basketball and tennis. He has 3 High School state softball titles as well as 5 league titles as a high school tennis coach. Ron also coached at the College Level for Big Bend College.

Ron retired from a 30 plus year career in law enforcement in 2021. He has 5 kids, his daughter Ashley Thompson played at BYU (Pitcher/1b) where she has a stellar college career and was named an all American.

Rylee was born and raised in Southeast Idaho. She graduated from Skyline HS where she played basketball and softball. She lettered for the Grizzlies all four years in each sport. In softball Rylee excelled in the outfield and was First Team All-Conference and first team all area all four years.

In 2014 Rylee led the area in Stolen bases (39), runs (50), RBI (43), and home runs (10) setting a school record in the process. After high school Rylee went on to BYU where she was a starter from day one. During her time at BYU Rylee experienced the same success that she had in high school.

She was named All-WCC First Team all four years, NFCA All-Pacific Region First Team in 2019 and 2021, Academic All-American in 2021, and set school records for games played (242), games started (239), career doubles (52) and career runs (228).

Rylee graduated in 2021 and has since moved back to Idaho Falls where she is employed as our head of softball operations here at AP. In that role, Rylee is building a softball program for girls at all levels and ages.
From competitive travel teams to developmental league teams, Rylee is building a program that aims to help girls of all skill levels advance to their respective next level.

Born and raised in Southeast Idaho, Brandon has always been passionate about athletics and competing. His love of sports led him to play football at Idaho State University where he began as a walk-on and ended as a two-year starter and Defensive Captain. Brandon also ran track for the Bengals during the offseason to increase his speed. He graduated from ISU with a Bachelor of Science in Health Education. Brandon then continued his education through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), by becoming a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS).

Through the International Kettlebell and Fitness Federation (IKFF) he has completed the Level 2 Certified Kettlebell Trainer (CKT-2) certification. For two decades as a Certified Strength and Condition Coach, Brandon has worked with athletes from elementary age to the professional level in a variety of sports. He has been married to his wife, Stefanie, for 22 years and they have a beautiful daughter, Stevie.