Softball teams with diversity

[Anonymous]

Arlington Impact

[Anonymous]

Some teams have roster photos posted. Google around and see what you see.

From what I see, I don't think softball is quite as lily white as the coach/umpire PP. As diverse as the DMV? No. But I don't think there are a lot of all white teams out there. After that you start getting into really wierd territory if you determine which identities make things "diverse enough" or "the right diversity."

[Anonymous]

Come on, folks. Giving OP a hard time for wanting her kid to not be the only brown kid AGAIN on the team isn’t strange. My son plays baseball and there has usually been economic diversity on his teams but in a team of 15 or so he’d usually have maybe one or two kids who weren’t white. That can make a kid feel like the sport isn’t for them, you know?

Over the years we have seen a handful of predominantly black teams. My son actually plays for one now, but it’s baseball not softball and they don’t have a softball program, I’m afraid.

[Anonymous]

Check out dc elite. https://dcelitesoftball.com/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Come on, folks. Giving OP a hard time for wanting her kid to not be the only brown kid AGAIN on the team isn’t strange. My son plays baseball and there has usually been economic diversity on his teams but in a team of 15 or so he’d usually have maybe one or two kids who weren’t white. That can make a kid feel like the sport isn’t for them, you know?

Over the years we have seen a handful of predominantly black teams. My son actually plays for one now, but it’s baseball not softball and they don’t have a softball program, I’m afraid.

My DC is in a predominantly homogenous sport as well and if you want to be in such a sport, you really just need to get over that initial shock and not see everyone as one bloc. My kids felt a bit like outcasts at their sport camp this week. I told them to see people as individuals—and they started making friends, thankfully.

The tendency is to want to retreat into your racial affinity group but I think that is a reason groups misunderstand each other.

[Anonymous]

Try cricket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm assuming you mean "diversity" as shorthand for racially diverse, as in you don't want a team of all white girls.

I've been around softball for about 20 years as a coach and an umpire. The plain truth of it is it's a white girl's sport. Occasionally I'll see a team where there are some black girls, but it's rare and it's noticeable. Latino girls are even more rare because Hispanics generally discourage females from doing athletics -- I know this because a softball association I used to be a part of actively tried to recruit for players in that community (which was a sizeable one in our area) to no avail.

The reason softball is a "white sport" is money. Fields are more plentiful in the exburbs, which are whiter. And it's an expensive sport -- bats cost $400, for example -- so socio-economic factors are at play.

I wish I could tell you to go check out this organization or that organization, but I think it's really going to be a team-by-team thing. I'd just go to tryouts and try to get a sense for overall team vibes while you size up the racial components.

I will say there was one team associated with the Washington Nationals that might be more diverse, simply because it pulled from DC proper. But I don't know what age levels they're at. https://www.mlb.com/nationals/community/youth-baseball-and-softball

What, what??

I am Latina. Are you kidding? Quit it with the ridiculous stereotypes. Soccer is HUGE for Latina girls in MoCo. And volleyball, FWIW. Now, we’re also getting into softball and field hockey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm assuming you mean "diversity" as shorthand for racially diverse, as in you don't want a team of all white girls.

I've been around softball for about 20 years as a coach and an umpire. The plain truth of it is it's a white girl's sport. Occasionally I'll see a team where there are some black girls, but it's rare and it's noticeable. Latino girls are even more rare because Hispanics generally discourage females from doing athletics -- I know this because a softball association I used to be a part of actively tried to recruit for players in that community (which was a sizeable one in our area) to no avail.

The reason softball is a "white sport" is money. Fields are more plentiful in the exburbs, which are whiter. And it's an expensive sport -- bats cost $400, for example -- so socio-economic factors are at play.

I wish I could tell you to go check out this organization or that organization, but I think it's really going to be a team-by-team thing. I'd just go to tryouts and try to get a sense for overall team vibes while you size up the racial components.

I will say there was one team associated with the Washington Nationals that might be more diverse, simply because it pulled from DC proper. But I don't know what age levels they're at. https://www.mlb.com/nationals/community/youth-baseball-and-softball

What, what??

I am Latina. Are you kidding? Quit it with the ridiculous stereotypes. Soccer is HUGE for Latina girls in MoCo. And volleyball, FWIW. Now, we’re also getting into softball and field hockey.

While I agree with you, PP is correct that softball is mostly white girls. Which is weird because MLB is FULL of latino men.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP said different ethnicities. So racial diversity in code.

Maybe looking for a Jewish team? Softball and baseball are popular amongst Jewish families in this area for sure!

[Anonymous]

Lots of Latina girls play for NVGSA and Firebirds …

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm assuming you mean "diversity" as shorthand for racially diverse, as in you don't want a team of all white girls.

I've been around softball for about 20 years as a coach and an umpire. The plain truth of it is it's a white girl's sport. Occasionally I'll see a team where there are some black girls, but it's rare and it's noticeable. Latino girls are even more rare because Hispanics generally discourage females from doing athletics -- I know this because a softball association I used to be a part of actively tried to recruit for players in that community (which was a sizeable one in our area) to no avail.

The reason softball is a "white sport" is money. Fields are more plentiful in the exburbs, which are whiter. And it's an expensive sport -- bats cost $400, for example -- so socio-economic factors are at play.

I wish I could tell you to go check out this organization or that organization, but I think it's really going to be a team-by-team thing. I'd just go to tryouts and try to get a sense for overall team vibes while you size up the racial components.

I will say there was one team associated with the Washington Nationals that might be more diverse, simply because it pulled from DC proper. But I don't know what age levels they're at. https://www.mlb.com/nationals/community/youth-baseball-and-softball

What, what??

I am Latina. Are you kidding? Quit it with the ridiculous stereotypes. Soccer is HUGE for Latina girls in MoCo. And volleyball, FWIW. Now, we’re also getting into softball and field hockey.

While I agree with you, PP is correct that softball is mostly white girls. Which is weird because MLB is FULL of latino men.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm assuming you mean "diversity" as shorthand for racially diverse, as in you don't want a team of all white girls.

I've been around softball for about 20 years as a coach and an umpire. The plain truth of it is it's a white girl's sport. Occasionally I'll see a team where there are some black girls, but it's rare and it's noticeable. Latino girls are even more rare because Hispanics generally discourage females from doing athletics -- I know this because a softball association I used to be a part of actively tried to recruit for players in that community (which was a sizeable one in our area) to no avail.

The reason softball is a "white sport" is money. Fields are more plentiful in the exburbs, which are whiter. And it's an expensive sport -- bats cost $400, for example -- so socio-economic factors are at play.

I wish I could tell you to go check out this organization or that organization, but I think it's really going to be a team-by-team thing. I'd just go to tryouts and try to get a sense for overall team vibes while you size up the racial components.

I will say there was one team associated with the Washington Nationals that might be more diverse, simply because it pulled from DC proper. But I don't know what age levels they're at. https://www.mlb.com/nationals/community/youth-baseball-and-softball

What, what??

I am Latina. Are you kidding? Quit it with the ridiculous stereotypes. Soccer is HUGE for Latina girls in MoCo. And volleyball, FWIW. Now, we’re also getting into softball and field hockey.

While I agree with you, PP is correct that softball is mostly white girls. Which is weird because MLB is FULL of latino men.

MLB is full of men from the Caribbean and Central/South America, not who grew up playing baseball in the US. My son is a senior and on all his teams across all of the years he has had one Latino teammate. One.

[Anonymous]

My kid is a couple years older so can’t be totally helpful but her MoCo based teams were never all white — usually a couple Asian girls, a couple Latina girls and one or two Black girls. Most teams post roster pictures or have instagram reels so you can get a sense. But PP is right that most teams are established at this point so you’ll be lucky to just find a spot.

You might want to look at the Lions — the coaches are Black. The head coach is the former UMD pitcher and she is great—I don’t know the other coaches.
https://mrhalions.org/coaches

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm assuming you mean "diversity" as shorthand for racially diverse, as in you don't want a team of all white girls.

I've been around softball for about 20 years as a coach and an umpire. The plain truth of it is it's a white girl's sport. Occasionally I'll see a team where there are some black girls, but it's rare and it's noticeable. Latino girls are even more rare because Hispanics generally discourage females from doing athletics -- I know this because a softball association I used to be a part of actively tried to recruit for players in that community (which was a sizeable one in our area) to no avail.

The reason softball is a "white sport" is money. Fields are more plentiful in the exburbs, which are whiter. And it's an expensive sport -- bats cost $400, for example -- so socio-economic factors are at play.

I wish I could tell you to go check out this organization or that organization, but I think it's really going to be a team-by-team thing. I'd just go to tryouts and try to get a sense for overall team vibes while you size up the racial components.

I will say there was one team associated with the Washington Nationals that might be more diverse, simply because it pulled from DC proper. But I don't know what age levels they're at. https://www.mlb.com/nationals/community/youth-baseball-and-softball

What, what??

I am Latina. Are you kidding? Quit it with the ridiculous stereotypes. Soccer is HUGE for Latina girls in MoCo. And volleyball, FWIW. Now, we’re also getting into softball and field hockey.

While I agree with you, PP is correct that softball is mostly white girls. Which is weird because MLB is FULL of latino men.

MLB is full of men from the Caribbean and Central/South America, not who grew up playing baseball in the US. My son is a senior and on all his teams across all of the years he has had one Latino teammate. One.

My kid plays softball in MoCo and there are a lot of families that are immigrants from those countries, as well as Japan and Korea where baseball is also huge, that put their daughter in softball. The softball dads are almost all guys who grew up playing rec baseball. I’m surprised your son didn’t have that experience but maybe you just don’t have the right mix of immigrants in your area.

[Anonymous]

Latino population in the DMV doesn't come from the baseball hotbeds of Latin America, in metros with larger Dominican and Puerto Rican popations you see plenty them playing baseball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking for 14u or 16u A/B. We’re in DC so somewhat flexible on location. Looking for a team with different ethnicities.

How odd to pick a team based on the racial make up of kids.