Softball Girl
I have been quite pleasantly surprised at how much Sydney is enjoying playing softball. I mean, she is a bit of a girly girl. She likes fashion designing and dressing up. I didn't think she would enjoy spending her days running around the bases and trying to smack a softball around. But I am glad she's taking an interest in sports to keep from spending all of her time indoor.
Sydney took up softball in the Spring of 2014 with a team in Woodstock, GA called Lumber Queens. She had enough of gymnastics and wanted to try something else. Between soccer and softball, she wanted to give softball a try although most of her friends opted for soccer. Her choice surprised me.
As a beginner, she was not very good but she worked hard and tried to keep up with the more experienced players. Some of the girls had been playing since they were 6 or even younger. But overall, they were sooooo cute. They were just little babies running around the field after the ball since most of them could not throw or catch very well. It was absolutely adorable to watch. She enjoyed playing so much that we eventually dropped her out of ballet as well to give her time to rest and practice more.
Then we moved to Texas in the summer, to a small town in the suburbs south of Houston. Sydney wanted to continue softball so we went for it in the fall. She ended up on a team called Creepers, named after the Minecraft characters. This was a regular league team. Being in the regular league is required before she could participate in the tournament league. The teams in the city's tournament league are called the Fusion teams. There were the Blue team and the Green team. Sydney made the roster for the Blue team, which consists of slightly older and more experienced players than the Green team.
The Fusion team was pretty good but it could not compete with other teams from around the league. Many or most of these other teams were Select teams, consisting of even better players specifically selected and trained intensely by the coaches for 2 -3 days a week versus the once a week practices for the Fusion teams. So... we started signing Sydney up for lessons. She had to figure out how to properly swing the bat and fielding/throwing the ball. We were getting serious!! We got a better bat and bigger glove. We noticed that some of the other girls were using huge gloves, so we made Sydney do the same in order to be able to keep up.
Now we're in the Spring 2015 season. She joined the regular Spring league and was drafted by a team called Wonderbolts, which was coached by her coach from the Fall. As one of the more experienced and skilled players on the Wonderbolts, she was playing 1st base and pitcher mostly. My sweet girl is growing up and blossoming as an athlete and a scholar (just had to throw that in because we were also making sure she was making A's in school while doing all of these other extracurricular activities). Sydney slapped her first in-the-park home run this Spring, partially due to good hitting and partially due to some bad throws by the other team to let her keep running. I'll take it!!! She also made some outstanding fielding that earned her some stickers from the coach for her batting helmet.
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Last but not least, I'm happy to say that she has also tried out and made the roster on the All-Star Fire (8U) team. They will start practicing soon and will start competing around the region. They will also compete in the District and State tournament. I can't wait. Next up, Sydney will be taking pitching lessons. She's been asking for a chance for a little while now. Let's see how she will do.
Sydney took up softball in the Spring of 2014 with a team in Woodstock, GA called Lumber Queens. She had enough of gymnastics and wanted to try something else. Between soccer and softball, she wanted to give softball a try although most of her friends opted for soccer. Her choice surprised me.
As a beginner, she was not very good but she worked hard and tried to keep up with the more experienced players. Some of the girls had been playing since they were 6 or even younger. But overall, they were sooooo cute. They were just little babies running around the field after the ball since most of them could not throw or catch very well. It was absolutely adorable to watch. She enjoyed playing so much that we eventually dropped her out of ballet as well to give her time to rest and practice more.
Then we moved to Texas in the summer, to a small town in the suburbs south of Houston. Sydney wanted to continue softball so we went for it in the fall. She ended up on a team called Creepers, named after the Minecraft characters. This was a regular league team. Being in the regular league is required before she could participate in the tournament league. The teams in the city's tournament league are called the Fusion teams. There were the Blue team and the Green team. Sydney made the roster for the Blue team, which consists of slightly older and more experienced players than the Green team.
The Fusion team was pretty good but it could not compete with other teams from around the league. Many or most of these other teams were Select teams, consisting of even better players specifically selected and trained intensely by the coaches for 2 -3 days a week versus the once a week practices for the Fusion teams. So... we started signing Sydney up for lessons. She had to figure out how to properly swing the bat and fielding/throwing the ball. We were getting serious!! We got a better bat and bigger glove. We noticed that some of the other girls were using huge gloves, so we made Sydney do the same in order to be able to keep up.
Now we're in the Spring 2015 season. She joined the regular Spring league and was drafted by a team called Wonderbolts, which was coached by her coach from the Fall. As one of the more experienced and skilled players on the Wonderbolts, she was playing 1st base and pitcher mostly. My sweet girl is growing up and blossoming as an athlete and a scholar (just had to throw that in because we were also making sure she was making A's in school while doing all of these other extracurricular activities). Sydney slapped her first in-the-park home run this Spring, partially due to good hitting and partially due to some bad throws by the other team to let her keep running. I'll take it!!! She also made some outstanding fielding that earned her some stickers from the coach for her batting helmet.
Last but not least, I'm happy to say that she has also tried out and made the roster on the All-Star Fire (8U) team. They will start practicing soon and will start competing around the region. They will also compete in the District and State tournament. I can't wait. Next up, Sydney will be taking pitching lessons. She's been asking for a chance for a little while now. Let's see how she will do.
posted by DaddyEyeduck at 1:01 PM
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