Calgary girls baseball camp encourages players to stay in the sport

The Sandarac baseball diamonds in northwest Calgary had been buzzing with exercise on Sunday afternoon, as an inaugural women baseball camp hit a house run.

The Calgary chapter of Women with Sport, a little-league Canada-wide initiative, held its first one-day baseball camp for women aged 4 to 16.

Hilda Siemens, an organizer of the occasion, said they weren’t anticipating such an enormous turnout.

“We actually had been hoping for about 50 women and we’ve got over 100 right here. However we simply [wanted to] hold it as extensive open and as accessible to everyone [as possible].”

One of many goals of the day camp is to get women concerned in baseball and encourage them to keep it up. Typically, Siemens said, women start to play softball or fast-pitch after a sure age.

“Softball is great, however I simply do not agree that women should be pushed [into it]. In the event that they wanna play baseball, allow them to play baseball, and let’s make alternatives for them to play baseball.”

Siemens added that the group was intentional concerning the coaches they selected to run the occasion, choosing an all-female roster made up of predominantly Crew Alberta gamers. 

Eighteen-year-old Calgarian Tyra Stanich is considered one of them. Along with being on the Crew Alberta roster, Stanich performs for the Chestermere crushers. She’s the one woman on the crew. 

“Oh I boss [the boys] round,” Stanich said. “It is fairly enjoyable.”

Stanich said she thinks the camp is essential in providing help to feminine baseball gamers, particularly youthful women. She added that because of the lack of feminine baseball leagues within the metropolis and the province, women who wish to keep within the sport typically find yourself enjoying on boys groups as she does now. 

“After I was youthful I knew I used to be higher than half the boys, however as you grow old they begin to develop and deal with you in a different way and it simply kinda sucks.”

She said she would like to see a feminine baseball league in Calgary sooner or later.

“If we had sufficient women [at the camp] we might undoubtedly make a baseball league for women.”

For Kyla Hiebert’s seven-year-old daughter Raya, the camp is an opportunity to have some enjoyable and meet different women curious about baseball like her. 

“I simply suppose it is so nice to encourage younger women to maintain in sport,” said Kyla.

“Studying the statistics of what number of women drop out of sport in comparison with boys I feel it is actually nice to have extra camaraderie with [other] women enjoying sport and feminine position fashions.”

As for Raya? She said her favourite a part of the day was batting.