The Sport Of Women's Sport: Softball

Softball What started out as a men’s football game in Chicago, Thanksgiving day of 1887, lead to the greatest women’s sport, softball. At the end of the Yale football game, brooms were being used as “bats” to hit boxing gloves that were being thrown. There may be a lot of women’s sports, but what makes softball the best of them all? Is it because it was a sport that generated from one of the manliest sports? Or was it because of how it has changed tremendously throughout the years? Years ago softball was just played as a team sport using a 16” ball. As the years went on they started to add more ideas to this sport. They started to develop more teams because more girls wanted to play of different ages. What came of that was the many different …show more content…
In this league the girls play with a 12” ball. This gives them a bigger area to grasp, which will be easier for them because of the size of their hands. This league is within high school and college years. It is played by 14 year olds to around 23 year olds. Most of the time the girls in this league are developed by the Junior Fast Pitch league. When they move up to this league they typically have more experience of this sport. The older they are, usually they have a better understanding of the sport. They realize that they are now in it for the competition rather than just the learning and the fun. These girls will compete against other schools. They have goals to reach in this league. The ending of this league is the state tournament. The girls have to have a good enough record to reach the playoffs. In order to make it to the state tournament they have to win every game up to it, which includes regionals, semi-finals, sectionals, and then state. This makes the sport more competitive because usually the teams to keep going, usually means they 're the best in their conference. Once they make it to state they play other teams in their division, but different conference. What makes this the best experience, and is key to making it this far, is becoming a family. Throughout the years on Junior Fast Pitch, the girls learn how to play as a team, and slowly …show more content…
These teams are generated with girls from different towns/cities. Traveling teams usually consist of different aged groups ranging from 8U to 18U and play their season in the summer. These girls come together, not knowing who anybody is in the beginning of the season and are forced to play with each other as a team. Throughout the season their bond becomes stronger than they could imagine. They never would have thought that they would become this close. Teams like this teach sportsmanship. With girls coming from different towns, most likely they are going to play each other in their school league. This creates an awesome relationship between the two opposing teams. They compete for the win, but in the end they are there to congratulate each other on the effort that they put into the game. This idea makes softball a sport to look forward to because it builds so many relationships with so many girls that are unknown of. “The by-product is that you build friendships that last long after your years of high school years,”(Crean Lutheran High). Boxing gloves and brooms were the beginning to the amazing friendships made throughout the years of softball; the years of Junior Fast Pitch, Senior Fast Pitch, and Traveling team. Going back to 1887, the end of a football game was the beginning to the greatest women’s sport,