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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.