Windermere High welcomes the softball team's newest coaching staff

When coaching a 14U team at Windermere Wild Fire in 2017, Ken Janata would have Dean Spinogatti’s daughter, Danika, guest play for the team. Janata then welcomed Spinogatti to help out as a coach.

Spinogatti jumped at the opportunity. He began coaching to work with his daughter and guided her on her journey to becoming a Division I player at Florida State. 

As the years passed, Spinogatti continued to guest coach when his daughter played for Janata. They began to work softball All-Star Games and other events as a coaching duo and slowly developed the same coaching style and mentality: develop the girls while having fun. 

Through softball’s small community, Janata heard Windermere High’s softball coach Eileen Hannigan was stepping down. 

He called the Wolverine’s athletic director, interviewed and got the job.

Janata brings 15 years of coaching experience — seven at the high school level — more than 1,600 games and an assistant coach who already understands the game plan: Spinogatti. 

“For us, it’s easy, and we also have trust together, which is good because he lets me do what I need to do, and he does what he does,” Spinogatti said. “At any given time, we really have two head coaches.” 

When they have individual conversations with players, they don’t need to check in and ask what was said, Spinogatti said, which stems from their trust in each other’s teaching. 

Being able to work at Windermere is exciting. Both live in the area and have seen Windermere grow from an idea to a reality and to a school with programs that produce excellence.

Spinogatti also has worked with some of the players previously at the Little League level. 

“There’s a level of comfortability in me as a coach knowing these girls and their abilities already so we’re not going in 100% blind, and it’s definitely an advantage, even with the parents having confidence in us as a coaching staff to continue the success of the program,” he said. 

Janata only is the second head coach in Windermere’s history. When the Wolverine program began in 2018, Hannigan had taken the helm and developed the softball program. She led the Wolverines to a 135-56 record, four district championships and a 2024 7A Region 2 championship. Last season, the Wolverines went 14-12, the worst season in program history. 

Windermere’s softball program is known for its excellence and competitive nature, which meshes perfectly with Janata’s coaching mission. 

“As a coach, I’m still a competitor,” he said. “I love to win but I’m not going to push the girls so they don’t have fun. I want the high school team to have the best high school experience possible.” 

Janata and Spinogatti want their players to have pride in wearing their school colors, representing the Wolverines and relish the time they’ll be playing for their high school. 

COACHING PHILOSOPHY 

School and softball aren’t the same. Academics can be stressful and daunting, but softball should be the place to escape all the stresses. Janata wants it to be the best part of the players’ days, rather than something they’re dreading. 

The No. 1 priority he has as the head coach is to build an environment where the players have fun. The second priority is creating an excellent dugout — the players need to be positive, encourage one another and always be supportive.

But there’s layers to accomplish this.

“I like to break that down,” Spinogatti said. “Is losing fun? (No), winning is fun. We work hard to win, but there’s ways we can have fun while still being productive in practice.” 

His goal every practice is to keep the players guessing. If Spinogatti can advertise a drill as a game, they have fun, but also they’re competing and he’s figured out a way to get through to them. Determining the practice plan for coaches is trial and error; they’re constantly testing out new drills to keep practices evolving.  

But it’s not only the players who are learning but also the coaches. In their first season at Windermere, they’re learning how to coach each girl according to her personality and her passion. 

Both coaches have experience at the travel-ball level, where all of the girls are trying to play in  college, but with high school, not everyone shares that goal, and that’s OK, Spinogatti said. But they’re going to develop each girl like they want to and work on building the team back to a level of state championship contenders. 

Seeing the players develop is the best part of coaching in Janata’s eyes. 

“To see a player learn something for the first time, have success, get their first base hit or pitch a perfect game or strike 10 batters out in a game and see their smile on their face and their success, their confidence grow,” he said.