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One might wonder why
Nicole doesn’t just play for the girls’ softball team. Why
go through the difficulty of trying to beat the “girls-don’t-play-baseball” stereotype?
Considering Nicole’s lifelong participation in baseball, it
would be understandably difficult to give up her favorite sport.
She did give softball a try, however. “When I played softball,
it felt weird,” she confessed. “The ball was so big and it just
felt awkward. The whole flow of the game was different than
what I’m used to.” After playing with very athletic and competitive
boys for so long, she can match her male teammates on the field
and enjoys the stiff competition. She has often tried to explain
her love for baseball to her friends but she says it is hard
to explain.
It was not easy for Nicole
to decide which sport she was going to play this year. She did
not play for the school team last year due to discouragement
from her peers. But she
came face to face with a problem this year. If she were to play
softball, she would be able to excel in a slightly less competitive
sport which might take her all the way to college and possibly
even farther. “It can get me places,” she said. She might never
have made a decision if the coaches hadn’t offered her a deal. “The
coaches talked to me and made me and offer which let me try
out for both teams. I could still try out for softball after
I had already made the baseball team, and if softball grew on
me, I would stay and play for them. After trying out for both
teams I decided to play with the baseball team instead.” |
