Craig Snider is well-known in the softball world as both a hitting coach and a recruiter. Over the last several months, though, the man known best with his title of Texas A&M’s assistant coach has gained acclaim in another category: Woodworking. A skill that he discovered a few years back, the quarantine period earlier this year gave Snider the perfect opportunity to hone his craft.
“The cool part of this is very coachy of me, too,” Snider said recently. “You can’t skip steps. There’s one way this has to be done; there’s a process, and you have to fall in love with that process. A lot of similarities to things that you hear us coaches say all the time,” he added with a laugh.
Even though his most concentrated woodworking focus came in the recent months, it’s a hobby that isn’t new to Snider. During his time on the coaching staff at Florida State, there were some occasions where even the Seminoles’ players got to have some fun and pick up some pointers from Snider’s workshop. He wants to continue that tradition at Texas A&M, though he wasn’t able to do so in his first year.
“I like to bring the seniors in and get them to help build something like a mug holder or something small like that,” Snider noted. “I’ll show them how to do parts of it, and I usually make the cuts and all. But they get the joy of finishing it and putting it together, and it’s something tangible that they get to take away with them. Helps teach them skills and process, and it really is just a good time to be with your team away from softball.”
When the COVID-19 pandemic ended the college softball season and saw most of the United Stated hunkered down in a months-long shutdown, Snider was in unfamiliar territory. Having free time in the spring is not a situation that he is used to, and while it presented a multi-angled predicament, Snider put his newfound free time to good use.
“There was a point where I really thought ‘Well, we’re not on the road and I’m home… maybe this is a good time to explore what this looks like with some time invested in it,” Snider recalled. “Who knows, this might be my retirement job one day! I’ll probably retire when I’m eighty, so maybe this is just giving me good preparation for that.”
As Snider created new works of art, he posted some of his creations on social media, where he was met with an unexpected reaction from people across the softball world. “I never expected such an outpouring of support and enthusiasm from people,” Snider said. “I enjoy the work, and then I really like the cool, finished product. And I like the challenge of getting better every time that I’ve done it. The progression from where I started two years ago to where I am now is crazy. The idea of it being a sustainable business never crossed my mind.”
Snider’s charcuterie boards sold like hotcakes as the year went on; at one point in early summer, Snider estimated that he had sold more than fifty of the boards, including some of different variations and with customized styles.
Never one to do things halfway, Snider handcrafts each of his creations and even sources his own wood. “Walnut is my favorite, and mesquite is a really fun wood,” he says. He has even done several customized, special projects and follows the same methodology on them. He names an 8’ x 3’ custom bar with an American flag design as one of his favorite projects to-date.
Social media is the best place to find Snider’s woodworking creations; along with his carpentry Facebook page, his Instagram account @snider_works regularly includes photos and videos of his new projects.
