Sitting In

This article was submitted by Glenn Kessler, a member of the Board of Directors of the Swampscott Little League. 

These days, there are so many activities for girls other than softball; lacrosse, soccer and dance to name a few.

At Swampscott Little League softball, we want to make our programs more dynamic so that the girls can get more out of them at all levels from Farm, Minors, Majors to Seniors. 

In the past if you went to a Farm league game, not only did the games go on for too long, but often it felt as if the girls weren’t always sure of their “role” on the team…their positions, where to throw the ball, etc.

I believe SLL can do more to bring in the necessary skills training at the younger levels, while, of course, still have fun at the same time! 

We’re going to set up the building blocks from the youngest kids to the older kids to teach the skills they'll use as they grow with the program. As the girls get older, we'll add on to their skill set to add more depth to the games.

 I’ve been a coach at the Farm through the Majors levels, and now I’ll be coaching at the Senior level. What I (and others) found frustrating was watching the girls (and boys in baseball), just standing around at practice.

If you’re hitting “fungoes” (fungo means in practice sessions a ball tossed into the air by the batter and struck as it comes down) to different parts of the field, that’s one or two kids doing something. We want all the kids to be engaged in activities during practices to increase their skills.

We’ll be working with training centers like The Hit Zone and other coaches who have taught girls at different levels to help us run more effective practices and by extension, we’ll have better games. The girls will get more out of the program and the league will be better for it.  

My good friend who will be coaching Seniors with me, is Chris Mauriello. Chris plans to teach the girls “situational awareness” so that they'll constantly be thinking of what they'll do if the ball comes to them. 

With that, players will know what’s happening with each play, where they need to be, or where they need to throw to whether they’re involved in the play or not. Managers from the little kids to the Senior level can all use this concept during practices which hopefully can be applied during a game.  

 Recently, Swampscott Little League has enjoyed great success with its girl All Stars coached by Eve Gambale, Chris Kennedy and Glenn Potter. 

Our Swampscott Major League All-Star team won the state championship in 2010.

We need to have positive female role models in managerial and board positions. We'll be looking for women to help manage and coach teams and I hope to see women join the board of directors. 

Any women that love softball and who want to be involved with Swampscott Little League softball, please contact me. It will be with your help that we can have a more vibrant program. My contact information is at the bottom of this column.

This year, we will continue to work with surrounding communities like Marblehead, Saugus and Salem to have some travel games for Majors and Seniors which will also make it more fun for the girls. 

They won’t be seeing the same faces all the time; it’ll be competitive yet friendly.  

There is a big wave of talented 13-year-old players coming up out of the Majors into Seniors (ages 13-16), so I hope to have at least 4 Senior League teams.

Along with the Storm, the Seniors are basically the farm team for the high school. Chris Mauriello and I are looking forward to having the opportunity to work with the high school coach and be able to give them our input from what we’ll see as coaches.  

 Our number one goal as directors is to have a successful league where the girls at all levels learn skills and have fun. I think that is what we all want. 

Glenn Kessler is also the director of the Senior League (ages 13-16). To contact him, send an e-mail to gemm29@verizon.net.