Photo provided by the author
The new Suffield Middle School Softball Team is pictured with Coach Kelli Conroy. This spring was a pilot program, with donated funding; next year the funding is in the budget.
Last summer, the Suffield Board of Education approved the pilot of a Suffield Middle School softball team, with the full support of Johanne Presser, SHS varsity softball coach, Damon Pearce, SMS principal and Michael Bosworth, Athletic Director. The Suffield Middle School Softball team, coached by Suffield High School psychologist Kelli Conroy, recently completed its inaugural season. By all accounts, it was extremely successful. The team finished with a winning record, and the players thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
There were many valid reasons for the creation of a middle school softball team. All one needed to do was glance behind the middle school on fall and spring afternoons. There are many students who participate in our interscholastic sports programs. The softball team offered one more option for students to represent their school.
It is widely documented by numerous studies that participation in athletics results in positive educational and social outcomes for girls. Girls who participate in sports show stronger academic performance, experience less stress, are less likely to use drugs or alcohol and exhibit more self-confidence than their peers who do not participate in athletics.
In addition, the softball program helped fill a gap for our girls who have participated through either Parks and Recreation or Suffield Little League. Little League International has strict age guidelines for their divisions. Until 8th grade, teams are often made with a combination of girls from two or more grades. When girls reach 8th grade, these girls must move up a level and often, there are not enough Suffield girls to form one team. They must either combine with a neighboring town or join an expensive travel team. Many girls have not played at all. A middle school team allowed these athletes to continue playing the sport in the year before they reach high school. The Little League softball program has enabled girls to make strong bonds across grade levels. These bonds strengthened and grew as these 8th grade girls continued to play with their younger teammates and represented their school.
Although the team will be fully funded in 2017-2018 and in subsequent years by the BOE budget, it was not funded this spring. The team was possible because of the generous support of a variety of people and organizations. Local groups such as the Suffield Rotary Club, Friends of Suffield, Suffield Little League and the Suffield Middle School PTAC made generous donations to form the program. The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving also provided financial support. Dick’s Sporting Goods’ “Sports Matter” program provided necessary equipment for the new team.
The students themselves supported the program by participating in a variety of fundraisers – selling Mrs. Murphy’s Donuts and hot drinks at a fall soccer game, sponsoring a “Hat Day” at Suffield Middle School and running a raffle at a boys basketball game.