Q Sport Staff
Kirt & Karen Whiteside
Married in 1975
Three Children: Tenille, Cortney, Sheleah
Six Grand Children: Kajsa, Kai, Mia, Liam, Alia, Leia
Resides in Marion, OH
Kirt is owner of Whiteside Mfg (Manufacturers of Tools and Equipment for the Professional Garage); Former H.S. Coach; Former Summer Ball coach; Former Coach of the French National team’s Lyon Tete d’Or; Started the first known indoor softball league in Cleveland Ohio in the late ‘80’s; Developer of the Indoor Cup initially started in Lyon, France, now held in Scheidam, The Netherlands; Initiated the now Queen of Diamonds Showcase North in 1992; Initiated the Queen of Diamonds Showcase South in 2006; Co-Founder of the iQ; Developed the first new wave catcher’s mask now used in both baseball and softball.
Karen is a Quilt Instructor; Involvement in ball--well, I used to keep score and be the Team Mom.But now I the behind the scenes supporter of my husband so he can spend thousands of hours :) and I also do the Hospitality Table for the staff and college coaches at the Tournaments
Hobbies: Softball, inventing products, traveling together, quilting
Matt & Tenille Schoonover
Married in 2000
Four children—Mia (b. March 2003), Liam (b. March 2006), Alia (AL-ee-ah, b. Oct 2007), and Leia (b. April 2010)
Resides in Sunbury, OH
Matt graduated from Ashland University in Education in 1999 and currently stays home with our 4 children; Tenille graduated from Cleveland State University in 1998 in Business Management and works at Whiteside Mfg. managing the office; Tenille also handles the financial end of Cup, iQ, Q Athlete, QDT, and QDS; Matt has been involved with the Cup since 2001 as well as the QDS since 2001; Tenille has been involved with the Cup and QDS since 1999. They are both Co-Founders of the iQ and Matt is in charge of Internal Opperations with the iQ.
Matt played soccer through high school; Matt picked up volleyball during that time and helped out the teams at Ashland with their practices.
Tenille played volleyball and softball at CSU and still holds many records in both sports. She went on to play in the Professional League in 1998 for the Carolina Diamonds. She was inducted to the Cleveland State Hall of Fame for volleyball and softball in February 2008.
Hobbies: Outside of spending time with our children, we both love playing volleyball although Matt prefers playing sand doubles and Tenille prefers indoor 6’s. We’ve recently been enjoying playing in our band called “Motherboy 32” on the Playstation (Rockband).
Chad & Cortney Mays
Married in 1999
Two children: Kajsa (Kai-sa) age 12 & Kai age 10
Resides in Delaware, OH
Chad is the Director of Purchasing for Whiteside Mfg., does IT work, Co-Founder of the iQ, and manages the other theqsport.com events/programs. Chad was an All-American swimmer at Cleveland Saint Ignatius High School, going on to swim two years at CSU.
Cortney cares for the family/home and home schools Kajsa. Cortney was 1st Team All-State in softball and volleyball at Marion Pleasant High School, going on to play softball two years at CSU. Cortney graduated from The University of Phoenix in 2006 with a degree in Business Marketing. Cortney has been involved in the inner workings of the QDS since 2000, Cup since 2001, and Co-Founder of the iQ.
Hobbies: Spending time with family and friends
Jennie Ritter
Resides in Clermont, FL
Jennie Ritter was born and raised in Michigan. She attended the University of Michigan where she played 4 years on the Michigan Softball Team. During her tenure, Jennie helped her team win multiple Big Ten Conference Championships and two trips to the Women’s College World Series. In 2005, she and her team made history being the first team east of the Mississippi to win a National Championship in softball. Jennie pitched her team to victory in a grueling 4 to 1 victory in 10 innings over the UCLA Bruins.
In 2010, Sports Illustrated created the “Top 10 University of Michigan Athletes of All Time” list. Jennie Ritter was honored as the 9th best athlete of all time for the Wolverines. She was the youngest athlete as well as the only woman on the list.
Currently, Jennie focuses on the possibilities outside of playing herself, including growing iQ Fastpitch and teaching and coaching young girls who have a dream to make it to college and beyond. Her many experiences on her journey to success are useful when relating to the struggles and triumphs that her players experience. She believes that mental toughness is the most difficult, yet essential trait of any athlete, and strives to not only teach proper softball technique, but also to strengthen the minds of young athletes in preparation for a higher level of competition.
Jennie graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Operations Engineering and is the co-founder of iQ Fastpitch. She is a softball analyst on the Big Ten Network and ESPN as well as the Head Coach for the Florida Select 18U Gold Softball Team. To read more about Jennie accomplishements visit her website.
Jerome Lopez
Married in 2007 to Aubriana Alvarez Lopez
Resides in Atlanta, GA
Jerome Lopez brings years of baseball knowledge and sporting goods industry experience to the company. As General Manager of IQ Baseball, Jerome will lead the development efforts through standardized test configuration and B2B and B2C growth and strategy.
Growing up in Reading, Pennsylvania Jerome was offered a full baseball scholarship to Temple University in Philadelphia, where he attended for two years. After completing his sophomore year he transferred to Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia where he played for the Flames and graduated with a Bachelors of Science degree in International Business. Upon graduation Jerome played professional baseball in the Mexican winter league.
Throughout his career Jerome has had diverse experiences that have given him a holistic understanding of the game and the business side of sports. As a Brand Building Specialist for Mizuno USA he was responsible for covering the Northeast region (PA, NY, NJ and DE) leading innovative cross platform marketing initiatives in both a consumer and business to business capacity. In the summer of 2010 Jerome teamed up with one of Atlanta’s favorite Braves, Javy Lopez, to spearhead the sales initiatives of Bones Bats. He also directed a team sales operation where he gained insight into yet another side of the sports industry servicing local leagues and sports teams.
Jerome stays involved in his local community, where he helps coach several youth baseball teams.