RANKINGS
EVENTS
I COMMITTED
COLLEGE
ABOUT
Our first blog from Stef Daniel of Softball Is For Girls called “Today My Daughter Drove Herself to Practice… And Why I Hated It” was a huge hit and we’re happy to have Round 2 from the mother of four softball players!
Extra Inning Softball has partnering with Stef and her site, one of the biggest and most successful softball sites around, to share content and work together to promote the sport.
Softball Is For Girls, which is closing in on 250,000 followers, was created in 2010 as a way to bring more recognition and interest to the amazing female athletes of fastpitch softball. The main goal, says Stef, “is, and always has been to provide a community that empowers the athletes, parents, coaches, families and fans of fastpitch softball, at all levels of the game!”
And be sure to check out the Softball is For Girls store where you can get all types of great gifts—from cool shirts to towels to yard signs!
In today’s blog, the author warns about giving a young child a softball because of what may follow… you’ll just have to read on to see what that may entail!
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If you give a girl a softball, she will want a bat to go with it.
You’ll buy her the best bat you can find, and then she will probably want a bucket of balls and a glove and some cleats too (and maybe a bow).
When she realizes she cannot carry all these things with her own two hands, she will want a bat bag… in her favorite colors of course.
Then, she will probably spend hours begging you to go out in the yard to play with her bat, glove and balls, even though you may want to sit on the couch and watch college football.
She will insist… and her insistence will win.
When you go out in the yard to hit and throw and pitch and catch, she will not want to go back in the house for dinner and she will swear that even at dusk there is enough light to continue playing.
Next, the backyard will get too small, and she will want to see how far she can hit a ball with her new bat and she will want you to drive her to the softball field.
Once she gets to the softball field, she will get all dirty… and she will be happy. She will probably smile, giggle and laugh.
Once she’s all dirty and enjoys the way dirt feels underneath her fingernails and in her hair, she will probably want to learn how to slide. In the rain, on a muddy field.
During your favorite college’s football game.
And when she slides in the rain—on a muddy field—and swings her bat and sees how far she can hit the ball and finally learns how to catch, she will want friends to play this new game with her.
Then you will get the girl a jersey…. and when a girl gets a jersey, she will want pants and socks and a belt to go with it. And a TEAM.
And then life as you know it will end.
There will be no more lazy weekends watching college football. You will see more Saturday morning sunrises than you ever thought possible. Every spare minute of your time will be spent hauling buckets and bags and stinky cleats and giggling girls all over the place to play softball.
You will get excited about new bows and new Softball is for Girls t-shirts. 🙂
Your backyard will be transformed from a neatly-mowed place for friends and family to hang out on the weekends to an overgrown weed-speckled faux practice field complete with a Bownet.
And your house may be a mess. And your car may be dirty. And laundry will pile up. And your wallet will be thin.
All because you gave a girl a softball.
Your weekends will be spent grueling it out with a fold-up chair. And her weekends will be spent gaining confidence and friends and learning new skills and having fun and getting dirty.
So dirty in fact that you will have to learn how to do laundry in a whole new way, like maybe at a carwash using the pressure washer.
Her smile will grow bigger and bigger and each year she plays with that softball, she will get better and better. And her love for the game, and confidence in herself, will grow right along with her jersey size.
Then she might try to be a pitcher or a catcher or outfielder or infielder because softball teaches her she can be anything she wants.
And you will be there the day she hits her first home run or makes her first double play and she will make you proud. So proud that you will get her ice cream and her coach will give her a game ball.
And right before your eyes, your little girl will be transformed into a softball-playing beast, who set aside a Barbie doll one day long ago simply because you gave her a softball and a bat and glove and a batbag and jersey to go with it.
When you give a girl a softball, you give her more than just a ball. You give her a sport, and a talent, and hope, and dreams about her future, and friends, a new family, a place to learn about life, room to grow as a person where she can push her limits and bravery and courage and LIFE!
And memories… lots and lots of memories.
She will have ALL of these things, simply because you gave a girl a softball and a jersey!
Then one day—many years from today–she will be in her room and a softball will roll out from an old dusty bat bag underneath her bed and she will pick it up and realize instantly that when you gave that girl a softball, you also gave her a childhood that she would never forget.
And then she will hug you and your eyes may leak because you realize that everything YOU gave up along the way was worth it!
All because you gave a girl a softball…
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Looking for a great Mother’s Day, Father’s Day or just a reason to give a gift to your favorite softball fan? Click on the following link to go to Softball is For Girls: