Post by subdjoe on Jun 1, 2010 16:26:08 GMT -5
In my 5 years at Roncalli I have been very blessed to see the amazing power of God time and time again in my students and players. I have always felt like one of the luckiest people on earth that I get to spend day after day with these students. In all of that time I have never felt more blessed than I did April 14th 2010.
On that day I was at the softball field after practice helping get our field ready for a freshman softball game. We were playing against Marshall High School which is an IPS magnet only in its second year re-forming as a High School. Their team was about to play their first game as a school. They arrived to the field with a set of mis-matched catchers gear, a bag of extremely overly used gloves with no padding, 2 bats, 5 balls, 2 coaches who had never played softball one of which had never seen a softball game, and 11 of the most determined young ladies who I have ever had the privilege to be around. These 11 girls showed up with no cleats, no sliders, no sliding shorts, no long socks, no gloves of their own, no batting helmets, and no experience playing softball among the 11 of them. They had only had 1 week of practice on a field that has trees growing in the outfield.
Upon their arrival and after speaking with their coaches I asked if I could help out in their dugout which they were more than willing. I spent pieces of that time answering questions such as "which one is first base?" and "how do I hold this (bat)". While also showing the coaches where the coaching boxes were, how to fill out a lineup card, etc. What I encountered though were 11 girls who had joined a team that they had no experience for because they wanted to be a part of something. Marshall High School was featured in the paper 2 days before as one of the extreme underperforming schools in the city. I cannot imagine how with the quality of student that I met.
After an inning and a half of girls not knowing where to stand in the box and their pitchers walking 9 batters I had a discussion with their coaches and athletic director. We decided to call the game as a forfeit at that time to get the umpires off of the field. The purpose was to spend some time that I and our coaches might be able to work with them. Their coaches talked to the Marshall players about this, during this time I was fielding requests from half the JV team at Roncalli to come into the dugout and work with their girls on stance and hitting. It was amazing. The Marshall players did NOT want to quit, they were willing to loose 100 to 0 if it meant they finished their first game. The Roncalli coaches were willing to forfeit and take the loss and with that offer the Marshall girls realized that they should do it.
On that day I was at the softball field after practice helping get our field ready for a freshman softball game. We were playing against Marshall High School which is an IPS magnet only in its second year re-forming as a High School. Their team was about to play their first game as a school. They arrived to the field with a set of mis-matched catchers gear, a bag of extremely overly used gloves with no padding, 2 bats, 5 balls, 2 coaches who had never played softball one of which had never seen a softball game, and 11 of the most determined young ladies who I have ever had the privilege to be around. These 11 girls showed up with no cleats, no sliders, no sliding shorts, no long socks, no gloves of their own, no batting helmets, and no experience playing softball among the 11 of them. They had only had 1 week of practice on a field that has trees growing in the outfield.
Upon their arrival and after speaking with their coaches I asked if I could help out in their dugout which they were more than willing. I spent pieces of that time answering questions such as "which one is first base?" and "how do I hold this (bat)". While also showing the coaches where the coaching boxes were, how to fill out a lineup card, etc. What I encountered though were 11 girls who had joined a team that they had no experience for because they wanted to be a part of something. Marshall High School was featured in the paper 2 days before as one of the extreme underperforming schools in the city. I cannot imagine how with the quality of student that I met.
After an inning and a half of girls not knowing where to stand in the box and their pitchers walking 9 batters I had a discussion with their coaches and athletic director. We decided to call the game as a forfeit at that time to get the umpires off of the field. The purpose was to spend some time that I and our coaches might be able to work with them. Their coaches talked to the Marshall players about this, during this time I was fielding requests from half the JV team at Roncalli to come into the dugout and work with their girls on stance and hitting. It was amazing. The Marshall players did NOT want to quit, they were willing to loose 100 to 0 if it meant they finished their first game. The Roncalli coaches were willing to forfeit and take the loss and with that offer the Marshall girls realized that they should do it.
For the rest of the story: sportsleaderusa.blogspot.com/2010/04/roncalli-softball-compassion-and.html
and
sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=5218228