OK – you’re on the team: now what?!? – A rant…

You spent a lot of time and took heat from a lot of different directions to get on your school’s Coed Baseball team: now what? If you think I have the answers – then stop reading this. But if you want to hash this one out – venting with outrage if you need to and find that helpful, too – making contributions as you can, please read further…

One boy who tried out for the school Baseball team didn’t make the cut – for the past two years. After long negotiations, he was appointed Manager. He is responsible for the score book among other tasks. His very supportive mother can be found in the stands simultaneously tracking everything on the field, all plays, both teams; her son sits in the dugout tracking really just his own team. I wonder how he feels when his supportive mom walks down from the stands, leaning over the rails and talks to him on the field – at all – let alone about something relevant like confirming what the other team just did.

I can’t even wave or say hello to my kids – they just scoff at me and if they don’t get on base I won’t hear the end of it for a week that I jinxed them. If someone else wants to hoot and holler for them fine – but if they hear my atrocious voice, forget about it.

Title IX seems to have a double edge to it. If you raise the case to the authorities the athletic directors and coaches feign ignorance and cave. But do they also have to play you or your kid? It seems that getting on the team has nothing to do with the asset the player provides. Hey, they don’t care if the player is a boy or girl; young or old. If they perform well or show progress they will be permitted to develop. Guess what: Title IX is there to protect the boy’s right to succeed, too. – another edge to the sword.

Each year the school’s district-affiliated Inter-mural sports handout sheet goes out in the Spring, just before Summer break, allowing the kids and their families the chance to consider what sports to come out for in the Fall. Each year, for the past three that has been of keen interest to us, when we receive this sheet our family goes into a tizzy: it says “Boys Baseball” – rather than JUST “Baseball” – and “Girls Softball.”

This business about Girls Sports is rationalized in one distinctive way in our community – in the California Interscholastic Federation’s (CIF) purview: boys overpower girls, so: create divisions – leagues – that prevent that from happening. Hence: all-girls sports. There is a lot of support for this in the Free World; heck, our daughter will be playing in an all-girls and all-women’s Baseball tournament very soon and fortunately it is there for her to attend, participate and flourish. Guess what: it is a TOURNAMENT and each girl there understands they are there to win so they will probably sit on the bench when they appear to not be contributing toward that goal.

If i was a regular team mate or their supportive family member I might take exception to that approach. If each coach was on the same page that they were to play not (just) to win but to the balance of the teams – with respect and dignity; with control and subtlety. Comparison to an abstraction seems questionable.

This will seem like a tangent…

I’ve written about this before trying to not punch a hole in a wall when our daughter was treated badly in a highly competitive situation that took precedence over the opportunity to share in the experience. Who doesn’t want to win, right? In that situation, the separation between the administration and coaching didn’t exists and, even though our daughter was there to play; had the skills to contribute the organization stacked the team at the last minute with insiders who were given the opportunity to develop in the game regardless of their actual skills.

“Regardless of their actual skills” has a double meaning and I don’t want it to be misconstrued.

The players did demonstrate their abilities well in their local league of all-girls. Out of respect for the coaches, who were exposed to the other girls’ skills far more than the unknown skills of our own daughter, and they needed to hedge their success (while not alienating their own community members) it is entirely understandable that the two players were given preferential treatment, as catchers and pitchers both, trading places game to game.

The all-girls team only squeaked in one win – and it was on a rainy day; with a significant delay; tied going into the final innings; the opponent not particularly high in the rankings among the 95 teams in the running that week. So, the argument that the players were there to win is questionable.

Any bad coaching decisions aside, our daughter was not given equal access to demonstrate her abilities and was not treated fairly by a private organization that sold itself and the opportunities it provided to support girls playing Baseball: they had much self-interest at the heart of their efforts: their OWN self-interests, among the coaches and in support of their own future efforts to improve the opportunities for girls who are intent on playing Baseball.

Clearly, they have the best interest of the game and advancing opportunities for girls to play Baseball somewhere in their hearts and minds.

Sounds like a paradox: it is…

Each person who is involved in the enterprise to “support” girls in sports and specifically Baseball, in this case, seem to triangulate among three discrete intentions:

1) Appear to be concerned that the girls are disenfranchised; define a violation of rights to access; present findings to overriding organization exposed to Title IX violation enforcement and any punitive damages;

2) Upon guarantees from the overriding organization that they support remedies: lay out an ideal scenario for providing access and resources to girls: with the explicit goal of the girls having the opportunity to excel to the greatest heights possible in the field.

3) Set expectations for families and girls that they can achieve the level of success experienced by their male counterparts, that all resources are in place and now they will be assessed for skill – based on prior involvement in the given sport, outside of the newly formed team or league supported by overriding organization.

With each piece in place, interacting with one another continuously, new opportunities flourish for communities, players (read: students); their families – AND professional athletic administrators, directors and coaches. It increases opportunities that simply didn’t exist before.

Our daughter can play Baseball as well as any individual on her Middle School team. She can play any position; she can hit and get on base; she can pitch and catch well. She can do more on her Baseball team than any individual who has been conformed to a specialization as soon as the coaches were able to define – even though the players are in Middle School…

Specialization seems to be the means by which a coach and athletic director can find an out to achieving parity – either on a Coed team or a Single-sex team.

Yet, if a new Softball team forms, which was the case just last year – the first year – and there are no girls who have played it before then no one can assert skill as a factor in defining positions or amount of time in the game: they simply make their way. By the time skills have developed the kids have moved on into High School and are no longer a variable: their well-developed skills are not applicable.

What about the team after one or two years, where a 6th Grade player develops those skills in 7th and then as a Star in 8th?

In sympathy with the Image Builders for a given school’s Athletics Department – as a way to stimulate interest in attending the given school, they run into a daunting situation when their previous 8th Grade leaves and need to rebuild the team over the next three years.

But this is the exact moment when the athletic director can set expectations at each grade level without sacrificing a beneficial system. In our case, it seems, our expectations of 8th Grade glory were crushed under the cleats of the incoming 6th and 7th Graders…

Regardless of gender or sport: the highly skilled players pose the greatest challenge to Title IX execution or evaluation IMHO. As Poster Children of What Can Be Achieved under the best of circumstances any opportunity for the less innately talented or physically distinct child is significantly diminished – and will have a hard time making a case that they have been mistreated or disenfranchised.

In conversations with the head or the CIS – local chapter – when our daughter was not selected for the 6th Grade team – for no apparent reason – it was clarified that we were up against a philosophical argument preventing her participation – not an equity argument…

Her team was formed 10 years ago on a premise of Competition – not Inclusion. These are options – not directives from the Equity departments in the school district – that a given school, athletic director and coach – and PTA – come to an agreement upon. No individual school is required to be inclusionary or be competitive. It doesn’t even matter if your child is approaching the team’s leadership with the intention of advocating one over the other: if the leadership chooses Competition over Inclusion and you can’t demonstrate ability based on select criteria (i.e., speed on the base paths, coordination, power, quickness of the bat, intelligence, etc.) during tryouts – or – more – impacting once selected during regular pre-game practices: you will not be selected for the team or you will sit on the bench.

Or, to make certain that the child who has used the Title IX trump card to get on the team; practices regularly, does get to play a reasonable quantity of games: what of the QUALITY of the games to be had: the opportunity to grow and develop?

In a terrific article published in the San Francisco Examiner sfgate.com web site:

A WOMAN’S PLACE – Female athletes don’t need to be ‘protected,’ they need to grow” by Gwen Knapp – sfgate.com – Thursday, February 16, 2006

Ms. Knapp stresses the most important point of all:

“… In the Olympic Games, evolving women’s sports usually run into two obstacles: the talent gap and the fear factor. In hockey, body-checking is forbidden, partly because the two North American teams are so much faster and stronger, they might knock an opponent into the rafters.

Mostly, though, it’s because some of the men who run Olympic sports are too squeamish. They no longer believe that a woman will be rendered barren if she runs 200 meters, or if they do, they don’t say so out loud. But when it comes to blood and guts and eviscerated cartilage, they cling to double standards….”

If our younger daughters – with seemingly the SAME LEVEL OF SKILL GOING IN – are not provided the SAME opportunities as the boys to struggle on the mound; throwing down the runner at Second Base behind the plate; getting stuck in Right Field paying their dues and in strategic positions in the batting line up:

they won’t be able to demonstrate to the world that the arbitrary decisions made by career professionals, semi-pro coaches and volunteer PTA-subsidized parent volunteer coaches – in cahoots with school administrations everywhere – are interfering with the evolution of the sport, and redefining all roles and distribution of tasks in our society.

Reflecting on the Middle School Baseball team manager – a boy who didn’t make the team, while a girl did:

his opportunity to become a General Manager, securing a position with a Minor or Major League Baseball team when he matriculates from college in few years is TODAY far greater than the opportunity of the girl to ever play in the Minor or Major League as an equal to one of her Male peers.

What I did this weekend to advance Girls and Women in Baseball…

On Saturday, I called back Mary Jo Stegeman, Founder, Chicago Pioneers. Mary Jo is gather steam for the larger community interested in Girls Baseball tournaments: in October, the Roy Hobbs Organization is putting on a 15U All-Girls tournament along side the Women’s Tournament. I talked with Mary Jo about what steps need to take place to get a team from the Western states – if not just the San Francisco Bay Area – out there to Ft. Myers, FL, in October.

Also, we discussed a conflict many young athletes run into: coaches insistent that their players show commitment either devoted to a single sport or to their team: that it is common for coaches to discourage their players from multiple sports at the same time, same season. The two of us are in agreement: the diversity is good for developing a sound body; some kids thrive on being involved in multiple sports at the same time: it is who they are.

I called the leadership of the two most geographically-extreme Women’s Baseball organizations – those in Washington and Southern California – to see what could be done to stimulate a West Coast Baseball league: from San Diego to Vancouver. I see it as an opportunity to build organizations supportive of girls playing Baseball rather than as harnessing individual efforts; each leadership has a unique vision which has up until now consistently is focused on maintaining opportunities for existing players to continue playing and less on community outreach to build reserves of younger players to come into the ranks. Each of the organizations in the Mid-West and East Coast have found synergy I’m hoping we can all work together to build.

As I maintain a few different web sites – girlsbaseballleague.com, .org; and a YouTube site, I received a couple of messages from people associated with the Women’s Baseball League, Inc.’s Sparks, a relative and parent of two players from this year’s most successful team returning from Cooperstown Dream’s Park where the all-girls Baseball team succeeded in defeating 3 of their 7 opponents. I took a few pictures from the live webcam broadcasting two of the Sparks games last week; created a slide show; uploaded it to the YouTube site. Somehow, one of the parents discovered it; wondering what my interest was in the Sparks.

I contacted her about the web sites; about our efforts in San Francisco to build an all-girls Baseball league; that our daughter had been a Spark last year.

The relative of another Spark also contacted me but through this web site, posting his comments regarding the play-by-play blog posting below. We have since struck up a conversation about his experience; I have also been invited to view certain photos capturing the Spark’s tournament well. They are so inspiring – you will want to run out and start a team today!

Sunday morning, I emailed the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Angels Community contacts about their commitment to girls and women who are interested in Baseball – like what the Dodgers do.

Our daughter is getting ready for her Middle School Baseball team tryouts tomorrow; we went out played catch, worked the infield; I hit her some flies; she hit some soft toss.

Today, I plan on doing a number of outreach emails but they aren’t as affective as a phone call so I may just do some info gathering then call tonight.

Why does a man make a Softball travel so far?

Last night, at AT&T Park, before the San Francisco Giants played against the Chicago Cubs, four men touring the globe exhibited their ability to send Softballs into Baseball’s Home Run territory.

Each wearing a uniform more like a WWE wrestler’s coloring and design than that of the more understated uniform of a Baseball team each of the four men sailed the soft tossed balls over the fences – 409′ in Left Field and 309′ in the Right.

I was a bit taken aback that these entertainers were provided the opportunity to pass a sphere over the same passage as many a challenged Baseball talent into the drink of McCovey Cove…

As this was happening I tried to wrap my head around why. It may be a perverse attempt to rationalize Softball for girls and women: “See, men choose Softball, too!”

In San Francisco, Adult Softball dominates many Baseball fields. It seems to be a successful socialization opportunity after work. Men and women together practice fielding and hitting; evening games draw large crowds of beverage-guzzling, attractive singles nightly across the city. Apparently, there are many athletic Middle-Aged – and older – men and women who participate, too.

There should be no coincidence drawn by the success of Adult Softball and our local Little League’s dominant position on girls playing Softball and not encouraging them to develop as Hardball Baseball players.

Before our city’s last Little League Spring season began, I contacted the local Little League’s VP of Baseball to discover the numbers of participating girls in Hardball Baseball at the time, as there was an opportunity for a girl to participate in the World Children’s Baseball Fair 2007 (Our daughter participated in the WCBF in 2005 at the sponsorship of the Women’s Baseball League, Inc.’s Justine Siegal and considers it to have been quite a “growing” experience.) The WCBF encourages each participating country to send at least one girl among their 5 or more players in total.

The VP was hesitant in his response, encouraging me to contact the new President of the league to discover the collective position on girls playing Baseball, but: as far as he knew there were no girls signed up for Baseball going into the 2007 Spring season in San Francisco and that as far as he knew the league’s mission was to encourage girls to participate in Softball.

This was not surprising but the degree to which this position had reached such an official but not publically-known stance was endemic of our experience prior to leaving Little League, as a family, in 2007.

Each year that our daughter was signed up for Baseball, we received a letter from an innocent volunteer (the first year, from the VP of Softball) that stated the following:

“This note is to families of girls who have registered to play Little League baseball:

Although I know for certain that many of you have girls who play or intend to play boy’s baseball with San Francisco Little League. For those of you in this camp, I apologize for your getting one more Little League email!

I am writing because I know that some girls registered for baseball inadvertently because they filled in the online baseball registration form instead of the online softball registration form. If any of you intended for your daughters to play Little League Girls Softball, please let me know and we can get your registrations corrected and get your girls out for the softball skills evaluation session.

I also know that there are some girls who registered for boys baseball not knowing that Little League offered a Girls Softball program. If any of you are interested in Girls Fastpitch Softball and your daughters would rather play that than baseball, please let me know as we can transfer your registrations and get your girls out for the softball skills evaluation session.”

A rather harmless message, no doubt, but: no similar letter is ever sent to each and everyone of the 1000+ boys who may have also mistakenly signed up for Baseball when they intended on signing up for Softball…

A mine field – or court – for girls to traverse

As proud of my daughter as I am in her Baseball abilities, enamored by her continued love of the game, how far can she go playing organized sports: her opportunities to excel in our society are not found in her preferred sport.

Look at what it takes for any girl to be recognized in co-ed Baseball in one’s community – the opportunities to play Baseball with other girls in challenging mostly all-boy teams with the WBL-Sparks and succeeding there are no different than what is expected of teams that have been playing together for months if not years, building a foundation on the best their own community offer up to the most competitive situations.

It is satisfying playing the game in the most encouraging and hospitable environments – or only to be challenged by the best. But this is is too rare an opportunity for girls who prefer Baseball in our American culture.

It might not be this way if in our society girls simply came out to play Baseball – whatever drives them to it.

Girls do attend practices more than once a week in every community across the nation in Basketball, Soccer, Volleyball – there are other sports but these are probably the most popular of the more physically demanding team sports, played competitively, today.

There are reasons for this that are historic and each sport has evolved and emerged from a Recreational form to a highly competitive one. It is intentional providing girls equal access to the same rules and expectations as boys. In these other sports girls have the opportunity to demonstrate parity – if not while playing with boys at the same time.

The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) has provided the framework allowing non-Academic special teams to thrive within each of your communities in Basketball for example.

In San Francisco, one Recreation and Park facility has established a feeder program allowing Middle School girls access to some of the best High School programs in the city. In conjunction with the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) many players find themselves in line to be considered for school scholarships.

This is because they know their designated position (1 of 5 in Basketball) and their plays and work drills quickly to make it from one end of the court to the other faster than their opponents. They have that opportunity thanks to the AAU, its local and regional member organizations, which challenges them to play beyond a recreational randomness.

Getting the ball in the hoop is of course the most important developed skill – or is it?

We discovered AAU Basketball when we learned that one of the most skilled girls we know of playing Baseball since early childhood has made the tough decision in giving up her favorite sport for the opportunities to become a honed competitor in Basketball and Soccer, to leverage her skills in both of these sports to advance onto Parochial High School teams.

Our daughter, the product of Public School, and not particularly geared for a Catholic School orientation, sees the opportunity to develop in Basketball as a way to support her Middle School as one of the leaders in her school community, as the plethora of 8th Grade players departs – the school’s Athletic Director building towards another 8th Grade team a few years down the road: after our daughter has departed and found her own unique pathway in High School.

She sees the opportunity to develop higher skills within the AAU program as unique and worth investing time, energy, commitment (and our money) towards fulfilling emerging goals, barely formed in her mind, in her experience.

To recall her most competitive experience playing with the WBL-Sparks, with notable expert Baseball players from throughout the globe, discovering the strategy that a coach will implement – a blend of skill, experience; teaching and mentoring; politics and self-preservation – to define the strongest unit, stick to it and build a rhythm over a number of games, days: at the expense (again, including money) of those equally committed and ready to deliver the goods: our daughter has discovered what is expected of our youth by the competitive Youth Sports machines we are asked to hand them over to in leveraging these amorphous entities hedging success later in our children’s lives.

Australia as Pathfinder for Girls and Women in Baseball in the World Today

From the news down under, Australia is building a foundation for girls and women who prefer Baseball to Softball like no other country. I challenge anyone to prove otherwise.

The recent smash success of their 2007 U15 Division gathering shows just how strong Baseball is across their landscape of “Club” Baseball that is all-inclusive of girls, women, boys and men: it is a family activity to play Baseball and the novice to advanced amateur are equally welcome.

When the Ausie Hearts came through San Francisco for the first time two years ago, and followed up in 2007, we were honored by their presence. Watching the women practicing on the 90 foot and the girls practicing on the 70 foot fields at our fog-enhanced Moscone Recreation Center last Fall, Jeneane Lesko mentoring them as their national stars put the women through their paces, each clad in fresh white pants, singular in their blue and red jerseys, jackets and hats, it was awesome and distinct, setting a distinctive tone.

Upon the return to Australia after the first Ausie Hearts tour of the US, its participants were determined to utilize the momentum and enthusiasm. The parents and participants on the local level stayed in contact and worked constantly to build the fabric of a network. Girls throughout Australia could then come together and play Baseball in an annual event. Its success left its participants energized to return home and tell of what opportunities exist for girls and women who love the game.

Those determined to prop up Baseball as an all-boy or male activity can learn a lot from the example set by our neighbors to the south. they are building community across all demographics including girls and women as equal partners. Each person embraces the skill development only Baseball requires. Respect for that accomplishment is earned by each person who steps up to the plate even just to give it a go.

Little League, Inc.: as a girl Baseball player’s best hope? Probably – but I’m not holding my breath…

I’m not endorsing any organization or policy that excludes ANYONE from playing and enjoying Baseball within their own community – whether that community is San Francisco or Earth. And, most important: it is up to you if you are going to challenge prejudice and the wall of resistance to a girl playing hardball Baseball. If you run into it you need to reach out to find resources that can help support you in getting onto a team and getting the opportunity to play like all of the other players. In Little League they have to bat you in the line up until you reach the Majors.

Actually, I was corresponding with John Kovach, a very successful girl’s Softball and Baseball coach from Indiana, who has designed a logo for a t-shirt. He plans on making it available soon. It points out that a girl’s only obstacle to playing Baseball in Little League is the smokescreen of Softball and the diversion from Baseball by local league officials from the Baseball sign-up.

But, as I was watching the Little League World Series (I missed the final International game as it was rained out on Sunday – missed the broadcast as it was during family dinner time on Monday, Pacific Standard time,) and the games leading up to it, I noticed a very distinct and similar kind of play among the teams: one of grace and balance, one that was not forced and required both aggression and tact.

Have I seen it before, in our local Little League games? Sorta – as a coach and as an assistant coach, I have experienced some of it, but: the teams that play in the ultimate tournaments across the World, the ones that reach this level of play are harmonized in a way that clearly defines certain principles – in action, in time.

By contrast, I was lucky enough to catch some of the Cal Ripken World Series on a cable TV channel much higher up on the dial. After our family’s experience two summers ago we have some perspective of the clear differences between these two organizations and their philosophies and developmental approaches.

Our son’s Little League coaches took a team, assembled from the best, available Little League Rookie players, to Concord, California, to play in a Junior Optimists’s tournament, hosted by the Cal Ripken and Babe Ruth Baseball organizations.

Without getting too much into the details, right now (I think a separate article on a deeper, technical level is in order in the “How…” section of this site,) let’s just say that NOT running the bases is NOT and option in the Cal Ripken league: it is a tactic to steal on each pitch thrown: despite the lack of control and power of a given catcher to throw the runner out. Truly a trial by fire, or. giving the coaches of tournament-ready teams credit: the players who see clearly what the goal is in winning will work harder to develop their skills. Harder than what, you may be asking…?

In communities other than San Francisco, which has a Little League intentionally set up to prevent teams from staying together from T-Ball through even Senior level (again, more on this, later,) it doesn’t matter if it is Little League; Cal Ripken-Babe Ruth or Park & Rec: if the weather permits; and your community supports its members who volunteer to work with kids to achieve success through Youth Baseball; and the kids are focused on Baseball as a primary activity: you can see success as a natural result of that kind of commitment.

Then why, you may be asking now, is Little League a Girl’s Best Hope: if the real deciding factors are available time and commitment to developing a team towards reaching its potential?

It is the lack of these resources (and, in San Francisco for example, where the goal of building on-going from ages 6-13 singularly exceptional teams isn’t another barrier to participation) that forces Little League to adopt the open door policy that should include girls. it is only the pervasiveness of Softball and the self-fulfilling destiny that it brings to girls worldwide, again: diverting attention from the simple administrative task of signing up your daughter for Baseball this Fall Ball, as offered in some communities, but DEFINITELY FOR NEXT SPRING SEASON!!!

Three leagues share Christopher Field at once – San Francisco, CA or Anywhere , USA

Wednesday, 3-5 PM, three leagues share the field at Christopher Playground in San Francisco, a quintessential field perched above Glenn Canyon, one of the truly amazing natural features that makes San Francisco distinct with contrasting environments in such a small, 49 Square-Mile plot of land by the Pacific Ocean. The Recreation Director put in her request for the city’s Rec league team, for five days, two hours a day, but didn’t account for kids with different school schedules. The next league interested, from the Parish leagues, took over the field with a cadre of parent coaches an hour into it. Little League is never too far behind, third in the pecking order, having a practice across town from their regular fields found on an island in the middle of The San Francisco Bay.

Little League struck a deal with the City of San Francisco to take over dormant parcels of land on Treasure Island, renowned for the Worlds Fair site, currently it is a port for personal sailing vessels; site of lower-cost rental and charity housing and the SF Fire Department’s training facility for Industrial accidents. Adjacent to these service-accessible towering training metal conduits is one of three Baseball fields maintained by the local Little League and only for their use during the regular seasons. When I hear of the now-former President of Little League leaving the city’s field scheduling office irate that he was unable to secure enough or the Recreation and Park’s fields (considering the heavy rain season of 2006 which had put everyone’s schedule back) I can’t feel much sympathy: they have all the resources they need to maintain their level of play without impacting the rest of the city’s athletic needs including many other Baseball programs.

Because LL does have three fields they can call their own despite the somewhat inconvenient location in the middle of the San Francisco Bay, the city’s Recreation & Park and the Parish leagues can breath a bit easier – or so one would think. We also have both Public and Private High School Baseball leagues in full-swing. Youth and Adult Soccer also takes a lead on many fields in San Francisco, having been champions of a rollout of new artificial turf options that supposedly will lead to more year-round continuous use. Add Adult Flag Football, Soccer and Softball beginning at dusk, city-wide, and the dedicated Recreation & Park staff have an almost unmanageable task deciphering and scheduling field options. (This is the first year the city has used a computer to help with actual scheduling though that is still a work-in-progress.)
Two days earlier, at the Moscone Recreation & Park facilities (coincidentally the practice fields to the Ausie Hearts when they have come through San Francisco on their way to the Women’s World Series at Disney World in Orlando, FL the past two years), to begin the inaugural practice intended for the Middle School-level All-girls Baseball team I am coaching, I had to kick a Private High School team off the diamond; they adjusted their practice to running adjacent to the field a row of mature boys eating into our outfield, running across the entire field, seeming to make a statement with the path they cut also interfering with another team’s practice on Moscone #2.

At two of the other corner fields were two different Public High Schools practicing – one more recreational while one is competitive within the same division; a Softball diamond dormant until 6 PM but its outfield usurped by the Adult Soccer field laid out in cones; a full-length flag Football game laying out fluorescent orange cones marking their turf; buttressed up against the Adult Soccer field, the field goal touching the Baseball diamond’s Infield dirt. three sets of dads with kids in their first bonding moments tossing, hitting and catching artificially-encased orbs of Americana (softer than those we collected over the past 4+ seasons of Youth Baseball) jammed in between leagues of more determined and organized citizens. I did pity the few dog owners hoping to get their charge out for the first run after being cooped up in the home all day in the surrounding Marina and Cow Hollow district of San Francisco.

Coincidentally, Christopher Playground and Park is a site of a very controversial turf war between city youth and dog advocates: if the youth are not present as often as possible the dog advocates challenge the rights to the field and encroach on one of the only usable Baseball diamonds conveniently located in the city. Though, the city did hand over another Baseball diamond to the dog advocates, at Douglass Playground, literally across the street from Christopher, the success at City Hall seems to have emboldened the dog owners rather than appeasing them. It boggles the mind that Douglass Baseball diamond sits dormant, among the trees.
All of this was happening at 5:30PM on a Monday, the orange glow of sunset, the canvas behind the twin towers of the Golden Gate Bridge and the rolling hills of the Marin Headlands across the San Francisco bay, peeked above the field fences and surrounding $1M+ homes and apartment buildings, finishing off this seemingly traditional portrait.

Cut From the Same Sage Cloth

Finally heard from our son’s Little League coach for Fall Ball 2006. He called at 9:21 PM on the first Tuesday night of the new school year, the early morning rise had not quite kicked in for our kids, yet. I had been waiting for the call since Sunday, when our former coach Richard called to tell us about his kid’s Minor Division Fall Ball assignment. As our son is almost 10, since we hadn’t heard back yet, I had thought his wish to jump up to the Majors for Fall Ball, at least, were being honored.

Majors Coach Chris had the most optimistic and friendly voice on the other end of the phone. He introduced himself, to me, wanting also to talk to our son.

Our son was just saying good night to me when I handed the phone to him. They had the customary brief and slightly awkward intro talk, one that we have had 11 times in the past six years. But I think our son was as excited about this call as he seemed when he received the call from his first coach, Farm Coach Glenn.

Our son is a dedicated Baseball player, seemingly more so than other kids in the league. I’m not so sure where he gets it from since neither of his parents are currently athletic. But, since his sister is very athletic, competitive and a Baseball player, these may have something to do with it.

Majors Coach Chris and I lapsed into the expected validation period of the call: “what coaching experience do you have; where have you coached; what level(s) have you coached,” etc… When I discovered he had assisted on the Sunset Playground and Rec Center team this last Spring, everything changed…

He not only knew who our daughter was but acknowledged her participation in the city-wide All-Star game representing one the two most distinguished teams in the city, West Sunset Red – the other being West Sunset Blue.

“Your daughter is quite a talented Baseball player.”

Sunset had the distinction of having three girls on their roster, though one had to bow out to play Tournament Basketball (seemingly, now, an all-year affair.) But the three girls that were officially on the roster are some of the most dedicated girl players in San Francisco.
The girl that bowed out of Sunset was actually trained at West Sunset since she was 5 years-young, coming up behind her older brother – himself, now, a producer on one of the city’s top Private school Baseball teams.

Coach Chris and I were also on the same page about the other two girls who actually played on Sunset.

When coaching Minors Baseball last Spring he picked the only girl signed up for the division. Coincidentally: I had picked her a year earlier along with two other girls, including our daughter, when we were the Rookie champion Red Sox.

Each girl was instrumental in achieving that proud goal, Spring 2004, as we beat the Rangers 1-0 – unheard of in Rookie Ball San Francisco Little League. I will never forget a wonderful ground ball fielding by the least experienced, the least practiced, but highly focused girl – when she tossed it to First Base for the easy out.

I can only wonder if having given each girl the chance to give pitching a try it helped build their confidence in whatever activity they choose to do.

Stepping in as Head Coach for the Day

There we were at our LL Pizza Party at the end of the season. The team mom, parent of the girl on our team (I think she is the only girl playing at the Minor level this Spring), coordinated it. We ended up with 50% participation but with a lot of warmth and joy in getting together at our local pizza place at a convenient intersection for a number of boroughs in San Francisco.

It wasn’t much of a celebration as it was a chance for the kids to hang out once last time before the Summer kicks in; before shelving the official season – maybe the last time they even spend time with one another. Although a potential reality, you wouldn’t know it as they were running around on the sidewalks having a great time with one another.

The girl, no younger than my daughter, and I talked, as usual. During the season we would discuss Baseball; what was new; how was school, what kind of iPod do you have these days; when the two of us were hanging out in the dug out. In our last conversation of the season, after the Head Coach had relieved her of her duty in Center Field, she told me, with a slight laugh, that she was probably not going to continue playing Baseball, due primarily to the Boys.

Back at the game while we were talking, I was doing what I could to not be distressed that she had been evicted from the field by the Head Coach for failing to stop a ball that had not been stopped by either boy Second Base-person and Shortstop; so she hesitated before throwing it in: she was looking to see WHERE to throw it in (give her a break, man…)

Before the game started, I was conducting Batting practice. Throughout the season, our coach had it in his head that one particular facet of batting – hitting down on the ball to “guarantee” or hedge one’s bet – was more important than the big picture.

In the previous Fall season, one parent-coach, beginning that season chose to not coach, wanted his child to have the opportunity to experience being coached by another person with good intentions. When he discovered his child’s coach was evoking “chop wood,” albeit with good intentions, rather than engaging the batters with the state-of-the-art Batting technology, this parent could barely contain his frustration. Actually: he couldn’t contain it, insisting that his son NOT listen to the coach, speaking loud enough for all of the players around to hear. I guess he thought it was ok to invalidate his kid’s coach since, as coach in the prior Spring season, the anonymous dad had opened up everyone on the team with all of the advantages of full motion; opening the hips; “squashing the bug.”

As the Unofficial Official Assistant Coach I was not certain what else I could do throughout the season but work with our coach on why focusing exclusively on the goal of getting the ball down for a grounder may not acheive that goal – while I filled in the gaps that our batters were missing out on.

The girl in question is truly a gifted batter and committed, aggressive player on the field. This season any player should be give some slack as we experienced over 100 days of almost continuous rain that interrupted the season – it was difficult to bring the team back together after a month of attention drawn elsewhere, to other indoor activities (attempts were made to have batting practice, pizza outings, but in reality we were unsuccessful in bringing the entire team together during the break.)

The opportunity to work on batting with her, and others on the team, prior to the last game of the season provided the change for one last chance at slugging the ball (even if it meant to heck with the coach’s ideas.) But none of it was working for the girl – or many others on the team.

Three batters were expressing the same frustration with the “Chop Wood” method, interfering with any success at the plate. When I acknowledged the difference in technique each was familiar with, they felt redeemed, sharing just how much they were frustrated.”

Just listen to their advice; demonstrate what they tell you to do; say ‘Thank you,’ then: do what is comfortable for you,” was my advice for this last game of the regular season (and usually when an adult wants to tell you what to do and how to do it.)

Although I would probably have to probably answer for it, I proceeded to offer my own guidance, based on much success I observed in my own children; in the students of the coach mentioned above (the one who told his son to not listen to his coach); as observed in practice in our city’s sister Youth Baseball program’s most successful players.

When I deconstructed each batter’s motion and reassembled it, each found it to be consistent with all they too had previously learned; felt natural; the motion flowed: they could now challenge the pitcher at the plate.

To see these three batters in particular, all affected in the same way by the incompleteness of the Chop Wood methodology, uncoil on the ball was simply awesome! Each of them have long arms and can extend as needed, while maintaining terrific contracted elbows; each needed to work more on the pivot, but: each was coming up on their hind-toe, flattening out the swing, ending in a complete follow through over the shoulder.

Each made contact early enough to scare the life out of the over-confident pitchers.

The girl’s at bat, each of the opposing team coaches jaws dropped as she unleashed on their fast ball hurler – each viewing the girl as a sleeper in the league.

But what the girl acheived that day may keep her wondering what may happen if she were to trust herself – or get a second opinion – when considering if something is right for her.

Why SFGBL? Why not GBL or Girl’s – or Girls’ – Baseball League? Or, San Francisco Girls with Ausie Hearts

I’ve been asking myself why this web site is about the San Francisco Girls’ Baseball League (SFGBL). You may be wondering, too, if it is a general all-purpose site about girls who play Baseball.

Originally, there was no all-girls Baseball league in San Francisco. Period. So, it made sense to start one. But, I ran up against the Softball barrier that had grown to a level of support, community involvement and Little League backing that simply overwhelmed any effort to bring girls to Baseball: even within the same Little League.

Softball is Softball is Softball: it isn’t Baseball. But try telling that to a guy just like me who had been spending much of his spare time over the last 3.5 years building a league from scratch.

It doesn’t hurt that Little League, Inc., and Major League Baseball have made it pretty clear that girls play Softball and only as an exception play Baseball (yes, I, too, think girls who choose to assert their right and will stop at nothing to do what they want to do are exceptional!) – but I think they seem to mean it in a different way than we do…
But these are mere excuses for why we didn’t have our own girl’s league – for 150 years!
Thanks to a unique funding opportunity, a league was launched in San Francisco, California. The efforts by a team of not-for-profit, community-focused professionals, working within The City’s Park and Rec system, provided the base to launch it this last Spring, here, in my home town.

That’s all well and good, but it still doesn’t answer the question why “San Francisco Girl’s Baseball League!”

Aside from a personal connection to our home town San Francisco evokes a lot of different feelings, generates thoughts and creates imagery for anyone who has followed the history or has visited our fair town at the edge of The Golden Gate. Heck, our (albeit adopted) MLB Baseball team is called the Giants!

Respecting your own bias towards some of the ideas proposed by some of our officials or local citizens, we have always been on the cutting edge of most social policies and programs that push the envelope in the name of Progress.

Also, this month, an Australian touring all-female Baseball organization takes up a breif layover her, in rooms with views of the Golden Gate Bridge, down the road from the tourist destination of Fisherman’s Warf and the lesser-known Marin Headlands; a short bus ride from the Giant’s AT&T Baseball stadium.

They will play Baseball with San Francisco girls and the women from Northern California.
True, San Francisco isn’t their ultimate destination – that would be Orlando, Florida, for the Women’s World Series. But, as with last year, they will kick up their heels, here, after their very long flight. They will take in the local scenes and meet local girls and their families and dedicated women who love the game of Baseball.