Peter M. Caliendo, Former USA Baseball National Team Coach and Skills Development Coach.

Pete brings unmatched experience and expertise to the development of baseball skills to players and coaches. His vast knowledge and worldwide presence has earned Pete immeasurable respect within the baseball community. His devotion to the game of baseball is greatly admired by those who have crossed his path.

Pete started his baseball career at the World Famous Mickey Owen Baseball School where he started as a student, then became a counselor and at the young age of 17 began his coaching career with the 12 u program. During this time he met, who would become his great friend and mentor Dick Birmingham. Dick was instrumental in Pete’s start in baseball as a coach/instructor and continual development as a coach. Later Pete because the Director of Baseball instruction for the 12 U Baseball program along with coaching the high school age teams. Along with his student/counselor/coach responsibilities Pete studied at the Mickey Owen Umpire School under minor league umpire, Carl Lewton and he umpired over 100 games each summer. After 10 years at Mickey Owen Pete started a satellite program in the Chicago land area called Baseball Schools USA, a division of Mickey Own Baseball School. He set up over 25 schools throughout the Chicago land area which averaged over 60 players a camp. In the next expansion program Pete headed up two other states for Baseball Schools USA. These schools were standardized with special technology, standardized wording, drills, fundamentals and lots of fun games to keep the consistency of the program.

Pete is currently the President of Caliendo Sports International, a worldwide baseball company that trains individuals, teams, coaches, parents and deals in professional baseball operations worldwide. Pete's company takes teams, coaches, players and parents all over the world to experience international and cultural experience. Training volunteer coaches has been a specialty of Caliendo Sports International for over 35 years. Pete is a large proponent of a national certification program for volunteer coaches for the purpose of long term development of players. His 35 plus years of training coaches around the world continues by being a volunteer as Vice president of the International Sports Group a non profit organization which host coaches training programs around the world for over 25 years.

As a skills development coach, Pete has provided hundreds of youth coaches training programs throughout the world. To support this knowledge base, he has produced 5 baseball instructional tapes (“Coaching Made Easy”) used as a benchmark resource by coaches across the country. Along with his partner in Canada he has developed an on line coaches certification program. Pete presented twice at the National High School Coaches Clinic as well as 14 additional high school Association Clinics in the USA and has presented in 20 separate countries.

For over 7 years Pete taught a one week coaches certification class in Mexico for the Mexican Baseball Federation in Mexico City. He currently ran a one week certification class in Hong Kong for the Hong Kong Baseball Association.

As of 2009, Pete is heading up the Great Lakes Region for (NTIS) USA Baseballs National Team Identification Program for possible national team players. The Great Lakes Region consists of 5 states, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Tryouts for potential national team players are held in each state at the ages of 17u, 16 u, 14 u, 13u and 11 under. Pete administers workouts throughout the states to identify possible national team players.

As Director of Baseball Operations and Coach for the Schaumburg Flyers, a professional independent team based in Illinois, Pete had over 26 players sign with major league organizations. The Flyers made it to the play offs in their opening season. As Player procurement Director for the North Shore Spirit, Pete put together the full roster of 22 players that went on to the Northeast World Series.

Internationally renowned, Pete served as the Director and Coach of The Pan Am Baseball Association, a pilot program started by the former CEO of USA Baseball Dick Case. This organization won 3 gold and 3 silver medals for the USA in the Pan Am Games, including the Gold over Cuba. From the six year program of 16 year old players it had produced over 22 players in the major leagues. After the six years USA baseball made the program an official USA Baseball 16 u national team program. His experience also includes coaching the Belgium Baseball Federation National Team and the 1999 Team USA, a team with professionals that competed in Australia's Intercontinental Cup the year before the Olympics in Australia. Pete also served as Director for USA Athletes International's Baseball Operations. While living in Europe, Pete became an associate scout with the Toronto Blue Jays for International Scout for the Blue Jays Wayne Morgan.

In January 2011 Pete received the American Baseball Coaches Association Meritorious award. The ABCA is the largest baseball organization of college and high school coaches in the U.S.He attributes his success in life to his parent’s upbringing of him and his brother Paul. “My parents made the ultimate sacrifice coming to the USA at a very young age from Italy, not knowing anyone so that my brother and I would have a better life”. His continual support comes from his parents Sam and Vivian, Brother Paul and beautiful wife Beverley who is always there to encourage him and assist him in any way. Jordan his step daughter has been a big part of his life in watching her grow up to be a bright young beautiful women. He continues to receive encouragement from his aunt in Italy and says without family no man can accomplish anything.

Pete is currently the President of Caliendo Sports International, a worldwide baseball company that trains individuals, teams, coaches, parents and deals in professional baseball operations worldwide. Pete's company takes teams, coaches, players and parents all over the world to experience international and cultural experience. Training volunteer coaches has been a specialty of Caliendo Sports International for over 35 years. Pete is a large proponent of a national certification program for volunteer coaches for the purpose of long term development of players. His 35 plus years of training coaches around the world continues by being a volunteer as Vice president of the International Sports Group a non profit organization which host coaches training programs around the world for over 25 years.

Jennifer Kho is the executive editor for The Chicago Sun-Times. She is the first woman and the first person of color to lead its newsroom. Previously, Kho was the managing editor of the Guardian US and HuffPost, and also worked as a digital media consultant as vice president of journalism and information equity for DoGoodery, which helps organizations reach their impact goals. She advises several news organizations and belongs to the Journalism and Women Symposium, where she previously served as board president, the Asian American Journalism Association and the Online News Association.

Jamie Elizabeth Stiehm is a Washington journalist and public speaker who writes a syndicated column on national politics and history for Creators Syndicate. Her commentaries and op-eds have appeared in leading newspapers across the nation, such as American Heritage, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and San Francisco Chronicle.  She wrote several essays for The New York Times' “Disunion” series on the Civil War, one of which, The War Comes Home for Lee, was chosen for their hardbound collection, Disunion, published by Oxford University Press (2016). 

​Jamie is also known as a dynamic popular speaker on American history and democracy. Three talks aired on C-SPAN. An expert on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War as well as the woman suffrage and abolitionist movements, she wove an essay and talk on how Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman lived parallel lives from being born enslaved on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. As a scholar-speaker, she engages with  how outsiders - such as Quaker abolitionists - resisted government power and succeeded in opening the way for creating social change.

​Before launching her career as a syndicated columnist, Jamie worked at The Baltimore Sun as a metropolitan reporter for ten years. She also worked at The Hill as a reporter, covering Congress. During this time, The New York Times Syndicate signed her up as a young columnist and fresh voice. Jamie’s first job in journalism was at CBS News in London, where she worked as an assignment editor with the network’s best correspondents and producers. Living abroad gave her insight into what England and America love and hate about each other. Her first op-ed (from London) was in a light vein, “An Anglophile’s Disillusionment.” 

​Jamie’s family hometown is Madison, Wisconsin. She spent most of her girlhood in Santa Monica. Going east, she majored in history at Swarthmore College and graduated with a masters degree from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Politics and history, the bedrock of her journalism career, prepared her well to be a American storyteller in longer form. 

​Jamie lives in Washington. She is at work on her first book.

My guest, don Oscar Miro-Quesada Solevo, is a revered kamasqa curandero and altomisayoq adept from Peru. Founder of The Heart of the Healer (THOTH) and the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition™ of cross-cultural shamanism, he is an internationally acclaimed shamanic teacher, healer, ceremonialist, and author. As a faculty member at The Shift Network and other educational centers worldwide, don Oscar dedicates his life to reviving aboriginal wisdom to restore sacred trust between humankind and nature. A seasoned navigator of non-ordinary states of consciousness, he empowers people to access multidimensional healing for themselves and the planet. His work has been featured on Sounds True, CNN, Univision, A&E, Discovery Channel, and The History Channel’s Ancient Aliens.