Inspiring Story: Former SEC Player Tammy Vermeulen Overcomes Trauma-Filled Childhood to “Live Out the Purpose God Intended for Me!”

Meet coach Tammy Vermeulen—the current owner and founder of D1VISION SOFTBALL and former SEC player, college coach and entrepreneur—who took her adversity and trauma-filled childhood through homelessness and foster care and turned her love, passion and energy for softball towards fostering the dreams of the next generation of young athletes.

Coach Tammy had it tough from an early age: “At the young age of 6, I watched my parents’ lives slip away as we became homeless, she begins.” When she was 8, the Long Island, New York native recalls: “I began to watch my parents’ priorities switch to substances and leave me out to dry. In 4th grade, I made the decision to turn them in and place myself into foster care as a way to provide stability and to help me get away from the bad influences of my drug-addicted parents.”

Tammy was adopted by her grandmother, Barbara, and her aunt, Bonnie, and spent her teen years with her relatives. She began playing fastpitch softball at the late age of 16 and it quickly became apparent that her physical gifts and talents could provide an education via a college scholarship and be the ticket to a brighter future.

Initially, she played for the Long Island Express travel ball team until “I got super good and then went to the Gold Coast Hurricanes in Florida,” she laughs. Playing for Bayport-Blue Point High in Bayport, New York, Tammy hit an eye-popping .700 and was also a dangerous hitter for the Hurricanes, batting over .500 consistently against top national teams.

The teenager was known for her blazing speed, recording a 2.56 home-to-first time which, combined with defensive talents in the outfield and her ability to bunt, power slap and swing away, drew the heavy attention of top programs all over country.

With one year of first stepping onto the softball fields, Tammy had offers from schools like Florida State, Tennessee, LSU, Alabama, Hofstra, UMASS and more. Ultimately, she found her home at Louisiana State University.

“I chose LSU because of the atmosphere that, honestly, was one in a million!” she begins. “The people in Louisiana are unlike any other in the country and the coaching staff was a second family to me. People don’t really understand the impact these coaches have on our young female generation. Coach (Beth) Torina is such a mentor not only on softball but on life for her players and looks after them as if they were her own.”

That influence became critically important when, a month after signing her Letter of Intent in 2010, her grandmother passed away from Stage 4 cancer. It was especially painful because she was unable to have the chance to see Tammy graduate from high school or watch her live out her dreams in the SEC.

“Her last words were to the nurses in the room: “Hey, you know my granddaughter is going to LSU to play softball!” Tammy remembers. “ I was so embarrassed! After I heard the news, my heart was broken, my dreams felt shattered and I questioned why I would continue to fight if I had no one to make proud.”

With her grandmother gone, Tammy was blessed to have the unwavering support of the Bayou Tigers coaching staff.

“They (coaches) all were such an amazing support system for me through some of the hardest times of my life,” Tammy remembers. “Feeling thankful and blessed will never be enough to explain my experience at LSU.”

With zero parental or guardian support at that point, it was difficult for the athlete to play for an SEC school without a way to support herself.

After two years (2011-2013) at LSU, Tammy transferred to a DII program, Dowling College in Oakdale, New York, to be closer to home and where she worked three separate jobs to take care of herself while playing softball (2014-2016) and ultimately graduating with a 3.9 GPA.

“I worked at a bagel store on Tuesday mornings and Thursday mornings from 4:30 am-to-10 am before school,” the softball standout recalls. “Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays we had 6 ams (meetings) so I couldn’t work then.”

“I also bartended on Thursdays through Sundays during our off seasons from 5 pm to around 2 am and I also was a waitress so, during the actual playing season, I was waitressing so the hours were easier on me. My boss would schedule me around our softball games so I could go in and work shifts.”

Despite her busy off-field schedules, Tammy was able to hit .462 in her college career between LSU and Dowling College as a lefty power hitter and slapper.

After college, she admits she couldn’t give up on the sport that had “given me a home, taught me about discipline, instilled responsibility, commitment and gave me teammates who turned into the family I never had.”

For the next five years, Tammy was a college coach at Baton Rouge College teaching many young athletes about her experiences through game and the recruiting process. Her time there helped her realize what she really wanted to do.

“I loved coaching in college,” she begins, “but I didn’t feel I had the range to really make an impact, not to mention the long hours! But I did love every aspect of recruiting. After sending a few kids off to college on my own, I started my own recruiting company called Real Time College Recruiting.

Eventually, Tammy decided to get into the softball recruiting business full time and transformed Real Time into a one-stop softball organization called D1VISION SOFTBALL. Today she fields five teams ages 12U through 18U with hubs in Louisiana and Georgia and consisting of players from nine different states. She also employs a coaching staff of eight current and former collegiate softball coaches and players.

Her vision, she explains, is to “have a staff that will teach—through their own softball and life experiences—how to foster and guide these athletes to the next level, not only on the field but in life.”

Over the last year, D1VISION has had 45 student-athletes committed and/or signed to play collegiate softball.

There is excitement in her voice when she says, confidently, “Keep an eye out for us, we’re going to have Top 20 players in your (Extra Elite 100) rankings very soon!”

It’s a driving passion and her life’s work, Coach Tammy stresses, to give other young players the chances in life that softball accorded her.

“I received so much love and support over the years from my coaches, teachers, instructors, and teammates,” she says. “Softball was such a privilege and, truthfully, was a driving force that saved my life.”

Tammy knows it’s been a long journey and she’s humbled and grateful that she’s come out on the back end of it successfully.

It’s been a rough road getting here and a lot of hard work,” she admits. “I knew I wanted a better life than where I started and, although I wasn’t given much and I easily could have taken a bad path, I knew I wanted to provide for myself and all the ones I loved. I knew what I wanted out of life and I was shown exactly what I didn’t want!”

“My childhood trauma was the driving force in my wanting to keep going. There was no looking back, I wasn’t stopping until I got there; I’m still not there, but I am living out the purpose God intended for me.”

“Softball was the light at the end of the tunnel and D1VISION was created to be a stepping stone to assist these young women, empower them and give them the tools to be successful. My staff and I are here to show them what it takes to be strong, powerful, resilient women who are capable of leading and succeeding in anything they desire in life.”

“Our greatest successes in life are often found in helping others succeed,” the successful young entrepreneur concludes. “Our most lasting and fulfilling achievements are often earned by helping others fulfill theirs.”

— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball