Senior Highlight:
Daniel Kibler
New Berlin West

As part of Burghardt Sporting Goods’ ongoing partnership with local schools and surrounding communities, we want to take the time to highlight some of the great local athletes at some of the local schools. This is our third interview, and we’re happy to highlight someone both continuing to play in college, as well as a great part of our retail team here at Burghardt Sporting Goods! Enjoy our interview with Daniel Kibler below!

-Luke from Marketing

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Q&A with Daniel Kibler

Daniel thank you for taking the time to talk with us! We’re very excited to have you featured on our blog as a 3-year Burghardt’s employee. Speaking of years, almost 10 years ago today, it looks like you competed in one of your first Baseball Tournaments with the New Berlin U8 Team, with your dad as one of the coaches. At what age did you decide that baseball was going to be your main sport? Did you play any other sports growing up?

I decided to pursue baseball as my main sport once I turned 13 years old. I had quit basketball mid season after realizing I wasn’t getting much better and I didn’t see much value in continuing to play basketball.

I played the usual sports as a young kid including soccer, football, baseball, and basketball. These days it is very difficult to be very good at multiple sports and that is part of the reason I decided to stick with my favorite one which was baseball.

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The Daniel Kibler YouTube channel has gone silent for the last year. Can we expect a senior highlight video to be up on the channel this year?

Unfortunately, there is a very slim chance you will see a senior highlight video from me. As I went throughout high school baseball I discovered Twitter (now X) which helped a lot more with getting myself out to coaches besides YouTube.

Also, my parents think filming my at bats makes me do worse, so I haven’t had much video taken of my swing this past year. Also, I may or may not be struggling a bit this season.

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Your brother Dominic played baseball with you at New Berlin West, and then went on to play at Kent State. Did you like having your brother as a teammate? Do you think you could strike him out?

Having a brother as a teammate especially at the varsity level is an experience I hope kids get to observe in their lives. Being able to share the field with him and watch him act as a leader and how he handled business on a day to day basis helped me continue to work hard.

It also helped me be more competitive because I was always trying to outdo him which rarely happened. And yes obviously I think I could strike him out with ease.

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I’ve heard that one time you dressed up as Pitbull and no one knew who you were. What’s the story with that?

This is a good question. For homecoming week New Berlin West has spirit days where you can dress up for the theme of that day. One particular day the theme was to dress like a celebrity.

I already had the beard grown out a bit and I had a perfect suit and glasses to go with it. My mom helped me with the idea so I went to Spirit Halloween to get a bald cap and the next day Pitbull was at New Berlin West.

I wouldn’t say nobody knew who I was, it would honestly be embarrassing if you couldn’t recognize Mr. Worldwide considering how realistic my outfit was.

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Do you run the New Berlin West Baseball Instagram account, and if so what inspired this amazing post here?

Sadly, I do not run the New Berlin West Baseball Instagram. That would be fellow Burghardt’s employee Rocco Conrad.

That post was part of a series of posts where Rocco had us all use that AI throwback Snapchat filter to highlight the member of our team who had won all-conference honors last year.

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Congratulations on your commitment to River Falls! How was your recruitment process? What position are you going to be playing for River Falls or will it be a mix of 3rd base and pitching?

Thank you! My recruitment process was a little slower and longer than I thought it would be or I would have liked. I wasn’t getting any attention from schools until I started reaching out myself. I reached out mostly to in-state colleges in the Division 3 WIAC conference knowing it was a very competitive conference with exceptional competition.

I reached out to River Falls seeing as they had just revived their program after 22 years and their head Coach Steve Bartlein had previously played and coached at Whitewater. I contacted Coach Bartlein through email and we had continued conversation until he invited me up to campus for a visit. There I saw facilities, walked around campus, got a feel for the place, and learned about the baseball program. No more than a week or two later I decided that it was a great fit and I decided to announce my commitment.

I hope to maintain my spot at 3rd base and potentially work in some 1st base as well. Pitching is definitely off the table for college.

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Can you share your favorite memory from your 4 years of high school athletics?

My favorite memory from my 4 years of high school athletics would probably be beating our cross town rival New Berlin Eisenhower in the Regional Final last year 15-3. They came into that game as the 1 seed and us the 5 I believe and we scored multiple runs in the first inning and never looked back.

It was a moment of complete gratification and joy for me and my team.

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What’s your lineup of equipment when you’re playing? Any favorite brands or items in your equipment bag?

Bat: Demarini Voodoo 1 2024 33/-3

Wood: Marucci AP5 33

Glove: Rawlings Heart of the Hide 11 ¾

Batting Gloves: Franklin CFX Pro or Bruce Bolts when I’m not the one buying them

Cleats/Turfs: New Balance is always my go to. Super comfortable and clean looking

Sunglasses: Oakleys with Prizm Lenses

My glove is going to have to switch next year because River Falls is a Wilson brand, but it won’t make much of a difference considering both brands are fantastic and easily available at Burghardt Sporting Goods in New Berlin.

I always like swinging a one-piece balanced bat more than a two-piece end loaded such as the select power (trust me I’ve tried this one, not for me).

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Thanks for taking the time to talk with us Daniel! Do you have any last pieces of advice or anything else you’d like to say?

Be awesome and don’t worry about what other people think you are would be my two best pieces of advice.

Interview by Burghardt Sporting Goods Staff. Looking to have your senior highlighted? Send a message to luke@bsg1881.com for more information!