Alex Sickinger: one of Five Pacificans selected for induction into Sports Hall of Fame – Pacifica Tribune, Pacifica, CA

 

Alex Sickinger:

Five Pacificans selected for induction into Sports Hall of Fame – Pacifica Tribune, Pacifica, CA

For Alexandra “Alex” Sickinger, baseball runs in the family. The daughter of a San Francisco Giants minor league prospect, Sickinger grew up in Pacifica with glove, ball and bat always close at hand. Natural talent, a relentless work ethic and love for the game have taken her from the sandlot to the top of her sport as a professional women’s baseball player.

At Oceana High School, which did not offer girls softball as a sport, she tried out for the boys’ baseball team as a sophomore, becoming the starting second baseman on the varsity team. She later moved to starting catcher and received All-League recognition in both her junior and senior years. Upon graduating, she turned down a full-ride softball scholarship to pursue women’s baseball.

A 1997 graduate, Sickinger was the youngest player on the field when the Ladies Professional Baseball League began play in 1997. Drafted out of high school at age 17, she needed an exception from the league’s age limit to sign a contract. The youngster proceeded to lead the San Jose Spitfires to the league’s first World Series Championship, winning Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors along the way.

In 2002, Sickinger helped form the California Women’s Baseball League and was twice chosen as its Most Valuable Player. She was recruited for the 2003 United States National team in the Women’s World Series of Baseball, winning a Gold Glove award for defensive play. In 2004, she received all-tournament honors while playing for the USA Baseball Women’s National team, which won the Gold Medal at the Women’s World Cup of Baseball in Canada.

Regarded as one of today’s best women baseball players, Sickinger and teammates have visited the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, where they autographed items for future display. She also participated in ceremonies featuring players from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (made famous by the movie “A League of Their Own”) during 2007 Major League Baseball All-Star Game festivities in San Francisco.

A San Francisco State University graduate, Sickinger is the national director of training for Fitniks, a children’s fitness club based in Santa Rosa. She continues to roam the diamond, coaching girls’ softball and playing baseball across the country for the four-time Women’s National Champions, The Boston Sox.

San Francisco Recreation & Park – Fundamentals for Girls – 6468 – Ages: 8 Yrs. to 13 Yrs.

sfRecOnline : Programs : Course Details
Fundamentals for Girls – 6468

Ages: 8 Yrs. to 13 Yrs.

Fees:

- Free Course $0.00

Description:

Find your field of dreams. Learn basic fundamentals in offensive and defensive baseball skills in a fun recreation setting.

Spots Open: 20

Registration Date: 03-08-2008 10:00AM

To register for this course – go to the actual web page for this program – then, click on the ADD button to add to your basket. Upon completion of check-out, including payment, enrollment is immediate.

Last Updated: 03-31-2008 11:08AM

Meets:

Monday 03-31-2008 4:00PM – 5:00PM Diamond #1-ST. MARY’S RECREATION CENTER

Monday 04-07-2008 4:00PM – 5:00PM Diamond #1-ST. MARY’S RECREATION CENTER

Monday 04-14-2008 4:00PM – 5:00PM Diamond #1-ST. MARY’S RECREATION CENTER

Monday 04-21-2008 4:00PM – 5:00PM Diamond #1-ST. MARY’S RECREATION CENTER

Monday 04-28-2008 4:00PM – 5:00PM Diamond #1-ST. MARY’S RECREATION CENTER

Monday 05-05-2008 4:00PM – 5:00PM Diamond #1-ST. MARY’S RECREATION CENTER

Monday 05-12-2008 4:00PM – 5:00PM Diamond #1-ST. MARY’S RECREATION CENTER

Monday 05-19-2008 4:00PM – 5:00PM Diamond #1-ST. MARY’S RECREATION CENTER

Monday 05-26-2008 4:00PM – 5:00PM Diamond #1-ST. MARY’S RECREATION CENTER

Monday 06-02-2008 4:00PM – 5:00PM Diamond #1-ST. MARY’S RECREATION CENTER

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Grand Avenue True Value Hardware & Sporting Goods

I stopped into the Grand Avenue True Value Hardware & Sporting Goods in South San Francisco because I needed a new kitchen sink faucet – Delta’s Model 200, a classic – and since the name included “Sporting Goods” I could convince my son to get out of the car (he was getting more and more impatient with my quest for the faucet…)

A nice, white-haired woman behind the counter asked if she could help; she took us to the faucet headquarters, pointing out a nice option to replace ours for $84.00. It was a nice option but even though it looked a bit ancient, with ivory-enhaced sailing vessel steering wheel knobs, and a long arched tube outlet, it would have been out of place in our 1947 home. I was determined to find the Classic Delta Model 200. Besides: the last time I picked one up at Home Depot, in 1999, it was $84.00 – but they didn’t stock it any longer “special order only,” stated the nice employee.

She was kind enough to direct me to the large lumber company and competitor Ace Hardware just down the road (“…The way you’re car’s pointed, just go straight; turn right on Railroad; you can’t miss it….”)

Before we left, I asked, “it says “Sporting Goods” outside – I take it you have some?” “You’re into Baseball, I take it.” she respond, clearly observing my son’s Baseball cap. “Why yes, and could you also direct us to the Baseball store in the area, the one with letters in the name?” “You mean C & L,” she stated definitively.

Out of the blue, somehow it just came up as she mentioned a girl who was interested in Baseball…:

I mentioned that girls are not prevented from playing Baseball even if an organization thinks that offering Softball is sufficient.

“She just loves Baseball. All she can talk about is Baseball, same with her brother. She’s good, I mean really good. She pitches but needs some work on that. The other day, she hit it over the fence. She gets going with good extension and wow it goes far!”

When the matter of if and how well girls can play came up, my son stated matter-of-factly:

“It is the bad players who have a problem with girls playing Baseball…”

I provided the web addresses to our sites; gave her our phone number, suggested she give us a call so our daughter could help her; I told her about Star Maker Sports and the opportunities for Baseball training there, in Belmont. “Don’t be confused by the two sides – one Baseball, one Softball – take the left side to Baseball training opportunities….”

“How do I get to the Baseball store from the lumber company?” I asked, assuming : “Go past the lumber company; turn right on orange; left on Grand then Right on Mission Blvd.; it is in the same shopping center as the Salvation Army Store, to the right of it.”

I had heard of this sporting goods store for 2+ years, from our esteemed Baseball coach at West Sunset, Tim Roff, who I was under the impression purchases all items exclusively from C & L. At least, he gets his hats, jerseys, coach’s pullovers from there. During our Friday Night Under the Lights league season, throughout the Fall and into Winter at West Sunset, eventually, Tim posted a long banner on the Right Field wall, dwarfing the small, LED score board, with the name of the preferred purveyor of sporting goods large enough to finally recall (maybe) the name of for those in the stands behind the diamond.

Amazingly, I was able to locate and purchase (grudgingly, at a premium of $32.00 above what I had paid for the same item 9 years ago) the Delta Model 200 faucet. (The nice lady at the Grand Avenue hardware store suggested either driving another 6 miles down the road to San Mateo, to a home furnishings supply emporium – or going “online” (it did sound strange hearing her say the word in such a timeless vintage shoppe in the village of South San Francisco and San Bruno, California) to find the specific model I was looking for. Well, with the discovery of the cause of the leak that was dumping gallons of fine Hetch Hetchy water…

…into the bay by way of our drain,…

…being a pin hole on the copper piping of the older Model 200, I knew that I had to return home with some wall-mount faucet by the end of the morning’s journey (I knew my son would not last the trip to San Mateo.) So, after confirming I could return the faucet, box opened(!) if I needed to, any time, I purchased it; grabbed a complimentary bag of freshly popped corn, the sound and aroma the only things catching my attention – stating it was for my son who was about to kill me for this prolonged agony and transgression, and made for the car, now, in search of the best darn Baseball store in the neighborhood of San Francisco and surrounding boroughs…

The journey to the Baseball Sporting good store was a bit of a lark, as I had never in my 45 years traveled these streets for any reason but now in the quest for a jewel.

When we entered the smallish shoppe in ye strip mall, adjacent to a Domino’s Pizzeria, the large man sitting at the desk did not look up, nor greet us accordingly. As I am known for reaching out to strangers, exuding excitement having not only finally found the shop – let alone remembering the name, I describe ourselves as “West Sunset Baseballers”, that we were aware that “all” items purchased for our team was obtained through him, to which he commented, “well, not all…”

We did discover one of the most amazing sources for team gear, as many logos and colors unfamiliar to us were visible on racks, in stacks and boxes. No prices adorned the items, no doubt available at the discretion of the generous soul who devotes himself to guaranteeing the the South City Youth Baseball Association league players are garnered in the finest to provide the glimmer of hope at High School and College aspirations.

A Diamond in the Rough

Although SFYBL has decided not commit up-front to an all-girls Baseball league in 2008, the opportunity has not been put to rest.

Rachelle “Rocky” Henley continues to offer an all-girls Baseball training program as Rec Director of St. Mary’s Recreation Center in San Francisco. This program is under the auspices of the Girls and Women in Sports Department, under the management of Veronica O’Boyle, San Francisco Recreation and Park Department.

Allowing for a Softball program to flourish, with the support of Rec Director Joe Ting, girls currently have options.

Each Stick Ball program in San Francisco for boys and girls has a passionate and driven person at the helm. For Coed Baseball, it is Rec Director Tim Roff, who manages the West Sunset Baseball program. Until the end of November, Tim offered a Friday Night Under the Lights Baseball league. It was a huge success, five teams managed by kids from all over San Francisco participating. Each year, Tim has managed to city All-Star Summer tournament program for the West Sunset kids; as of 2007, he is helping to manage the process city-wide.

Tim Figueras, who manages Youth Baseball and Basketball for the Rec & Park Department values each of their commitment and skill.

San Francisco is offering Winter Baseball Fundamentals to kids through various Rec & Park centers.

New San Francisco Girls Baseball League; New Blog Site Design – New Year…

I apologize for any confusion about the Girls Baseball League Blog site. It is still in transition from the original, now-defunct Bubbler-based Blog site.

As it has been a WordPress site for some time, I am trying a cleaner, less stark design though a stock layout template provided by WordPress. I would rather invest in a comprehensive site that includes both our Dot Com and Dot Org sites for the long-term, which we are working on for a later release.

A photo from our local, infamous all-girls Baseball game, October 7, 2005, Burlingame, California (between girls from California Vs. Australian “Aussie Hearts” wonders, girls who’s families are committed year-round to the game of Baseball “down under”) dominated the mast head of this site. It is also time to let go of the past as all but one of the girls from California in the picture has moved onto other activities, ranging from Softball, Basketball, Volleyball to Electric Guitar.

Each player who was exceptional at Hardball Baseball seems to have reached a point where opportunities to gain access to Higher Education dominates their and their family’s consideration for success.

All of us who spent that afternoon together were inspired to build a new, great opportunity for girls everywhere, but starting At Home.

Each person and organization committed to this same goal finds themselves reaching much farther than their neighborhood Rec & Park center though I’m sure each of us wishes that was as far as we needed to go to develop fundamental Baseball skills. As we entered into the third and most vital year of our local program, our family was ready to continue supporting our building effort on behalf of girls who live in San Francisco. Yet, we discovered a lack of motivation to continue supporting the effort, locally.

San francisco is re-vamping our entire scheduling and program offering for all ages and continuing to define unique opportunities by gender. Our own Girls and Women in Sports Division of the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department in conjunction with the California Interscholastic Federation – San francisco Division is presenting an event on January 12, 2008 entitled “WOMEN IN SPORTS DAY: EXPLORING YOUR FUTURE POSSIBILITIES.”

The same department has vacillated on the existence and viability of an all-girls Baseball league which they supported for the past two years.

In the Winter 2005, a partnership began to bring all-girls Baseball to San Francisco. The umbrella organization, the San Francisco Youth Baseball League, its Executive Committee including local Fire and Police Department officers associations; Rec & Park officials and a couple community-connected interested parties with long-term commitments to Boys Baseball in San Francisco, engaged the Excelsior Sorts Collaborative and Team Up for Youth, a 501(c)3 supporting girls sports programs throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

The effort to get the word out was commendable; our city’s annual launch of the Spring Youth Baseball season highlighting the at-the-time new all-girls division was impressive including two original members of the AGPBL presenting and four members of the California Women’s Baseball League. With accolades from the leadership of the City Attorney’s office, Kamala Harris; the Police Chief and Assistant Fire Chief on hand, one would be convinced a long-term vision was then solidly in place.

SFYBL has proven it is committed to a gender-neutral and balanced approach as our daughter has succeeded in Baseball because of their openness and support of her in our public, local community of Youth baseball. However, one has to wonder how the players in the otherwise entirely all-boys entity would react to more girls playing along side – I think they would be quite welcoming and appreciative as they have only been supportive of our daughter as she has made many friends at West Sunset Playground. Many of the boys have transitioned as friends when our city’s youth attends other organized social events and Teen dances.

As SFYBL has limited resources to devote to Youth Baseball, and in their collective mind they have invested long enough in a fledgling program for all-girls Baseball, they are now pursuing a Softball strategy yet-to-be-determined.

The writing is on the wall: Little League has built and maintains a viable Softball league, one that can be dropped into SFYBL’s apparatus. I would hazard to guess that both organizations believe they would be addressing any fundamental gender and youth disparity and satisfy Title IX consideration by doing so. But, it is my understanding they would be wrong about that assessment as Softball is considered a different sport than Baseball by law.

Concerns about providing greater field access to other High School Softball programs, including those offered by Independent schools, adds to the discussion and validates an initiative to build a comprehensive Softball portfolio in San Francisco, all necessary field access fulfilled at the Rec & Park Scheduling level. Generally speaking, this is ultimately the wedge issue most communities across America are faced with as even the ACLU has had to step in to defend equal access to public facilities for privately- and publicly-funded girls divisions of youth sports programs.

A girl’s access to all-girls Hardball Baseball has been obfuscated and sublimated as a fundamental issue in the public forum…

San Francisco Girls Baseball League 2.0 or Softball 1.2

It is confusing:

The city’s Youth Baseball organization has come out and said they will not pursue All-Girls Baseball in favor of All-Girls Softball. Not an unusual position, despite disappointment that they are not willing to go the distance with the Baseball league as they had committed to in 2006.

If enough girls do sign up for Baseball then the same organization is able and willing to build a league of its own.

Otherwise, they are supporting the city-wide effort to grow Softball for girls.

Here is where the ambiguity lies:

Girls need an All-Girls Baseball league of their own. If the city’s Rec & Park department, in conjunction with the independent Youth Baseball program, San Francisco Youth Baseball League (SFYBL), is unwilling to support and sustain an independent league is there an opportunity for another independent organization to jump in line and access fields for that purpose?

I’m getting an ambiguous message on this point from the leadership in San Francisco: they are suggesting that if they offer Coed Baseball for girls they don’t need to offer All-Girls Baseball; if they offer Girls Softball they seem to be addressing Title IX issues.

Keeping the door open for girls to have their own league if enough sign up is the only reason they have for dedicating the resources to Baseball.

But here is the message I’m getting from the top:

Dr. Terry G. Schwartz,
Superintendent of Citywide Services,
San Francisco Recreation and Parks
501 Stanyan St.
San Francisco, CA 94117
415-831-2746:

“We are allowing girls to sign up for baseball in SFYBL. just as we always have. We are not devoting any further promotional efforts to separate girls from boys. If you have a long list of girls who have an interest in registering for baseball, then get them to sign up for the program under SFYBL. Until there is greater interest expressed through this registration process, we are not going to allocate what limited resources we have to create space in an area where limited interest has been expressed through registration or participation. If enough girls sign up, we will create a program/league for the girls.

So you know, I am fully supportive of our efforts to promote an interest in girls softball. There is a reason for that. There is established opportunity for those girls to move toward participation in that sport after our program and into high school or college. We simply don’t have the personnel resources to devote to the creation of a program that has no long reaching support for the girls once they leave the SFYBL program.”

Feast and Famine

I call Todd the coach of the Pawtucket Slaterettes every few weeks to check in after our terrific time in Ft. Myers, FL, where our daughter joined them as a team member in their challenge to the Chicago Pioneers. (She also did suit up for the Pioneers Women Division Team to engage both groups of girls, to share in the unique experience.) Usually, I’m catching and interrupting him in a fundraising activity to support the Slaterettes. They as a community raise funds and awareness year-round about their girls and women’s interest in playing Baseball.

San Francisco experiences very mild weather most of the year; on rare occasion, we get intense rain periods, like in 2006. (I’m convinced the strange weather pattern that year added to the opportunity for our daughter to develop as a player, as the weather disrupted the annual pattern of Boys Playing Baseball. Historically each year the goal of tournament play in the Summer is the primary objective of our illustrious West Sunset Playground program’s Baseball director, Tim Roff.)

A Reprieve for All-Girls Baseball in San Francisco?

The Thursday after I had been informed the previous Friday that the San Francisco Youth Baseball League had decided to reconsider their commitment to All-Girls Baseball, I got a phone call from one the of the saints of Youth Sports in our town on the bay, Joe Hallisy, Director of the San Francisco Fire Department’s Youth Sports organization, Flame.

His apology in not returning my phone call was validated by the amount of time and effort was going into finishing the season’s Volleyball tournament, as he became the official Coordinator for the organization, followed by the Basketball championships.

I can never fault Joe as one of many of the amazing people who support our city’s youth programs.

I had 2 minutes to talk at 8 AM; more time, later, after 6, if I had more to discuss. In the first two minutes we determined it would be best if i simply came in to the board meeting the following day and made my case for All-Girls Baseball.

Considering how vital it was to keep our fledgling league now of two years headed into its third going constantly, I risked losing my job – or some extra vacation time – and made my way into the back room of the Rec & Park offices next to Kezar Stadium in Golden Gate Park.

I will follow up this brief update with the minutes and exhibits I presented but, for now I want to cut to the chase:

After a seemingly compelling presentation, Larry Medcalf, long-standing board member and facilitator of the city’s annual Summer All-Star Tournament team, Professor Medcalf asked me, simply: “what is it you are asking for; what do you want?’

“Just keep doing what you are doing and the girls will discover, with time, they have a league of their own. Right now, they simply are not aware of the opportunity to play Baseball at all.”

“That’s it – you aren’t asking for anything more?”

That’s it.” I responded, and prepared to drive away to my desk job as soon as i could return to the daily grind.

“Thank you for coming in and speaking with us,” Joe said. I shook hands with each man in the room – the women on the board could not make the presentation – after reiterating my sincerest gratitude to all for everything each of them do to support our city’s youth in providing sports opportunities for them.

I received a call that Friday night, as i was walking to catch my son’s Baseball game during our now infamous Friday Night Under the Lights at West Sunset Playground Field #3.

“Thanks again for coming in, Jim. I wanted to get back to you and let you know that we are not meeting this next week due to Thanksgiving but will reconvene the following Friday at which time we will get back to you about our consideration of your presentation.”

“Thank you, Joe, for the opportunity to present today. I look forward to hearing from you at that time. have a terrific Thanksgiving, Joe.”

“Thanks Jim – you and your family do, too.”

“The SFYBL board decided today not to pursue having a girl’s division of baseball for 2008…” or, what is it going to take?

Follow up response from Maureen:

“Happy to – the discussion mostly focused on the fact that there hasn’t been
huge interest in girl’s baseball over the last two years and the fact that
there aren’t many options for girl’s to play baseball and our time would be
better spent on softball.”

From me:

As you asked and I provided a level of detail that would help define a
positive context for Girls Baseball [see the blog entry above]: can you explain the reasoning behind not pursuing Girls Baseball?

===

“The SFYBL board decided today not to pursue having a girl’s division of baseball for 2008. We will continue to welcome girls teams into our league and as always we welcome co-ed teams, but we will have a separately run girl’s program. The board would like to investigate adding a softball component to our league or partnering with another organization to deliver a softball program.”

Maureen Carew

Executive Director

SF Police Activities League (SFPAL)

350 Amber Drive, #203

San Francisco, CA 94131

www.sfpal.org

State of Girls in Baseball in San Francisco – SFYBL All-Girls Baseball Division going into its third year: a proposal

Jim Nemerovski – 11/7/07

State of Girls in Baseball in San Francisco – SFYBL All-Girls Baseball Division going into its third year: a proposal

by Jim Nemerovski, girlsbaseballleague.com and girlsbaseballleague.org

The issue:

Girls, their families and support system providers don’t know they already have a Baseball league of their own in San Francisco – or that they are welcome to play Baseball in the SFYBL Coed division if they are comfortable with that.

The obstacle:

Limited resources for a girls-only Baseball league compete with other well-established sports and leagues within SFYBL as well as offerings from other organizations.

The goal:

Provide Girls, their families and support system providers with logistics on ongoing clinics – teams in formation – around the city.

A transitional approach:

Provide access to entry-level development in SFYBL all-girls Baseball while also continuing to support girls playing at a high level in SFYBL Coed Baseball.

***Great benefit would come from working with other youth activity and sports
organizations to recognize girls who are only interested in Baseball to bring them together in one city-wide program despite divisions between these different organizations.***

Getting the word out now:

At 4 months out, we are in a good position to let all youth sports programmers know that the opportunity is here for girls to play Baseball: Inform public after school programs that girls Baseball is offered at after school program; work with independent youth activity organizations to get their staff and community involved; reach out to independent private and all-girls schools.

Promote and build the all-girls Baseball program beginning in the Winter:

Teams in SFYBL are based on existing and evolving rosters but only a very limited base exists from which to build similarly an all-girls league. Start building now: have Rec Centers include Baseball clinics and practices during Winter, inside as well as out considering weather. Promote a similar program among private organizations. The sessions would meet at least twice a month, each session focused on a specific skill development. These sessions would not need to be exclusive to girls but highlighting that they are for girls, too – maybe even discretely targeted marketing but allows for the two groups to show up at the same time, coached at a skill level rather than also strictly along gender lines.

These could also be an ad hock activity among those provided by after school and
latchkey programs. SFYBL would provide a manual and training clinics to staff.
Even if fewer girls arrive to these sessions, the regularity of them will build awareness for the Spring.

Coaching:

At the Rec site level start with whatever the skill set of the Director and staff will allow for. Many Rec directors and staff prefer T-Ball: a perfect level to start building all-girls Baseball. Again, at this level simply promoting that Baseball is for girls, too, will lead to bringing more kids to the field.

Bring skilled coaches to the program, earlier, from other sources. Among the private
contracted coach at the time the league was formed in 2005 one very successful all-sport coach was more interested in supporting a program that would have allowed him to develop players from a younger age: it would be much easier to offer to families, with long-term goals in site (including Softball opportunities and regional, national and international girls’ and women’s Baseball tournaments.)

School athletic directors will recommend their own sport-specific contracted coaches and older students. Community Outreach is an essential part of any Middle or High School curriculum. This could be managed as a program within existing after school programs, (the YMCA offers at Claire Lilienthal and Marina Middle School, for example.) Tap into a program in San Francisco that is now providing essential training to young people as coaches for inner city youth sports programs – more information including contacts on this existing local organization to follow.

Gathering and managing teams at the Rec Center Site level:

Each Rec center continues to offer all-girls Baseball with no preconception of how many may be interested or are needed to start practices. If 1 or 2 girls show up to a previously scheduled activity the Rec center builds from there.

As the number of girls interested grows, Rec centers work with one another to bring the girls together for skills clinics and Sandlot games distributing skill levels between two teams.

Full teams will eventually form and be able to play actual games within their own league. As skill level increases to parity with Coed league, if there are not enough teams formed, an all-girls team would consider playing in the SFYBL Coed division.

Number of teams:

Accept a minimum of two teams and grow from there; schedule of games TBD.

Size of teams:

Team size can vary at each regularly scheduled gathering of players without being fixed: if too small for actual game work on skill development, as occurs in SFYBL Coed today.

Providing for high skill levels:

Girls who already have skill from playing in other leagues are to be encouraged to
become leaders within the all-girl league. During practices as captains and managers they will conduct skill sessions under the guidance of the coach or athletic director. Playing side by side with these higher-skilled players the esteem and progress among the developing players will grow rapidly.

This can be the student’s Community Outreach program fulfillment as well.
Building through peers will empower the girls to take ownership of this program.
For now, highly developed players will prefer playing in the Coed division of SFYBL
sacrificing the opportunity to play with girls. That option will always be there for them: to play on a Coed team from a public facility or other private organization that includes girls.

If enough girls of a high skill level in the upper grade or age ranges emerge the option should exist for them to field an entire team of girls within the SFYBL Coed division. When enough teams have formed then we can build a all-girls competitive division into the league.

Age groups:

Initially offer Baseball as All-girls to each of two grade ranges: K-2; 3-5. Focusing on these at a Rec site level – and among established professional coaches and independent organizations – can develop into enough girls to play in either All-girl or Coed Middle School levels.

Baseball rules:

Modify the rules to accommodate the number and skill level of players who are interested.

Funding needs:

At this time, funding for getting the word out and scheduling field time is essential; funding for uniforms necessary, complete Baseball gear is required as it validates the choice to play Baseball made by the participants; equipment needs will include field and player’s gear but could be from shared equipment managed by a given Rec site for all SFYBL programs.

Conclusion:

It would be ideal to build on the ongoing efforts of SFYBL with the Women and Girls in Sports division of the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department, the impetus
and vision of Excelsior Sports Club, and leadership training support from Team Up For
Youth. Many other GO and NGO programs were excited about this program two years
ago and did what they could to spread the word.

If we could continue with that approach, with more advance notice, strategy and planning our success rate may be well beyond any expectations.

===

(I was asked to provide recommendations to our local, San Francisco Police Athletic League (not affiliated with the California or National PAL organizations) by Executive Director, Maureen Carew, as San Francisco ramps up for Spring sports league registration. As the administrative branch within the San Francisco Youth Baseball League, Maureen’s concerns not stretching their organization too thin, defining their roles better going into the 2008 calendar, raised real concern about their ability to continue supporting the initiative.

As of 2006, San Francisco had only the second all-girls Baseball league in the United States of America; in 2007, the league received significantly less resource city-wide to sustain itself, despite millions of dollars targeted at inner-city youth programming, which would have significantly benefited from such a unique opportunity for girls. Recently, the third year came seriously into question considering major changes to city-wide league registration procedures and moving up the calendar by two months.

These recommendations include a synthesis of discussions with Deb Bettencourt from the Pawtucket, RI, Slaterettes, the only other nationally-recognized, all-girls Baseball league, now of 35 years; from conversations had with Mary Jo Stegeman, Founder, Chicago Pioneers, who is taking Girls Baseball to a new dimension, defining Tournament Baseball, tapping in to the Chicagoland area and others for players.

Considering the ideals and the realities in our community that provided the opening for our new league – particularly the sharp contrast in resource allocation in the past year and a half to build our own league, Softball has emerged as a higher priority to the Youth Sports leadership.)