Joel was a standout two-sport athlete at Grand Valley State University. In addition, he has a wealth of baseball coaching experience.
Joel has coached the 18U team at Diamonds Sports Academy for the past three years. Many of the players have gone on to play college baseball. The 2017 team won the Connie Mack regional for the first time in program history. In addition, they qualified for and played in the Connie Mack World Series in New Mexico.
As a four-year starting placekicker on the Grand Valley State University football team, Joel was a four-year letter winner and a first team all-conference selection in his senior year. Joel had 54 consecutive starts at GVSU. His teams had two national semi-final appearances, one Elite 8 appearance and one perfect regular season. Joel is the second all-time leading scorer in GVSU football history.
As a baseball player at GVSU, he garnered three letters. He twice earned GLIAC All-Academic honors. He was an integral part of the teams that won three consecutive GLIAC championships and competed in three NCAA Division II Regionals. In his junior season, he was the fourth leading hitter with a batting average of .327.
During his prep career at Grand Rapids Christian High School, he played in three consecutive baseball state championship games. His teams won back-to-back state championships in his junior and senior campaigns. As a high school senior, he was named a first team Division 2 all-state shortstop. He also kicked the game-winning overtime field goal in GR Christian’s only football state championship. Schipper sent the game against Orchard Lake St. Mary’s into overtime with a field goal on the last play of regulation.
