Thursday, July 26, 2018
By Brian Foley, Web Content Specialist
Even with the Milwaukee Brewers on the road for a four-game series in San Francisco, the Miller Park grounds still played host to a crop of budding athletes on Thursday, July 26. Over 120 Girl Scouts, who have completed third, fourth, or fifth grade, participated in the 18th annual Girls of Summer All-Star Day at Helfaer Field, located within the shadow of Miller Park.
Girls of Summer is a collaborative program with the Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Southeast (GSWISE), the Brewers Community Foundation, and Milwaukee Recreation.
The girls across all 10 teams dug into the batter's box, donned the catcher's gear, and touched the bases on Thursday morning, but this was not their first softball event of the summer. For each of the previous four weeks, the teams learned the rules of softball at their respective Milwaukee Recreation camp sites and met twice a week at Wick Playfield for additional reps. The Girls of Summer tournament works off a round-robin schedule, allowing each team to spread the at-bats around equally.
"[The players] get to learn something," GSWISE CEO Christy Brown said. "I think when you're learning something new that's fun, you don't even understand that you're getting a life lesson, [especially] in terms of trying and failing."
Gathering life skills was a common theme around the tournament, especially because overcoming failure is such an inherent part of the sport. As the Hall of Famer Ted Williams once said, baseball and softball are "the only field[s] ... where [someone] can succeed 3 times out of 10 and be considered a good performer." Of course, Williams hit .406 for the Boston Red Sox in 1941, so he had more success than most, but for the Girls of Summer, that same battle between the pitcher and the hitter is what makes the game - and the eventual base knock - so sweet.
The crowd was heavily involved throughout the morning, chanting "hit that ball!" and erupting whenever a girl rounded first base. The public address announcer called each girl's name as they strode to the plate and the grounds crew watered the field between innings; Helfaer Field was a walk-up song away from matching Miller Park's atmosphere.
"[This event] provides confidence, team-building, and enjoyment for the girls [as they] learn the game," Milwaukee Recreation's Denise Smith, a former Washington High School softball player, said.
The Girls of Summer incorporates players of all skill sets; each year, roughly 20 percent of the competitors are playing softball for the first time, while several other Girls of Summer alums have gone on to play high school and college softball. Regardless of talent level, the goal is to teach new skills and complement existing ones.
"We have a wide range of girls, and this is an opportunity to get out and try a new sport," GSWISE's Community Outreach Specialist Raifeh Saqer said. "You see a lot of teamwork between the girls."
Congratulations to our 2018 Girls of Summer All-Stars! We look forward to the event's 19th season next summer.