WORDS: Sheri Roca
PICTURES: Whitney Patton
What is it that constitutes a great team? Is it defined by the number of games they win or how many points they score? Would you describe it as a group of players with unparalleled talent honed to perfection? Or is it simply that a great team is the one that takes home the largest prize or wins the major game of the season? I suppose all those things are true, but what ultimately makes a great team is how well they work together. When a group of people come together and truly mesh, working for the whole with the same goal in mind and boosting each other up to their greatest potential, that is when the magic happens. And that is exactly how the Florida Select 12U girls’ softball team has begun to take Florida by storm.
This is a very new and very young travel softball team led by Head Coach Billy Cole and Assistant Coach Kenny Diab. They built the team from the ground up, starting in 2020 as a 10U, or ten and under, team. The team, at that time, consisted of girls primarily between the ages of 8 and 9. More than half of those original team members are still playing on the team today, and although most of them are now only 10 and 11 years old, they have moved up to a 12U team and are winning!
Their success is directly related to the amazing bond that they have created. According to Coach Billy, “They have top-tier team chemistry. These girls just mesh so well! Even the newer girls bought into the culture.” He continues, “They genuinely care for each other, unlike any other team I have worked with.” Billy proudly describes the girls, “They are a wild group, with loads of personality, and very accepting of each other and to the game of softball.”
According to the girls, these young ladies are always trying to support each other and help to build each other’s confidence. So much so that they describe the team as their “safe place.” Never wanting someone to feel bad, they have created a game for when a team member falls. The first player to notice is to yell, “sniper,” and they all fall to the ground in solidarity. Although they all have varying reasons for joining the team, their favorite reason is their connection to their teammates. One of these exceptional players even wrote a poem that describes herself and how she feels about her team and, along with a few of her teammates “giving her a beat,” they like to perform it as a rap.
“First base is where you’ll find me.
They call me Miller-Time. My number is 3.
Softball is the game I play.
You can tell I’m always covered in clay.
Hitting, stealing, running the bases.
Hopefully, this sport will take me places.
My team wants to win, and we know we could.
We have each other’s back; we’re a sisterhood.”
It is not just on the field that these girls have bonded. They come from different schools with varying backgrounds and have very diverse interests, from Vex Robotics Club to Swine Club. Still, they have become the best of friends, giggling together at sleepovers and birthday parties when they aren’t playing or practicing together—even showing up to support one another at their other sports games and competitions. A self-proclaimed “Mom Squad” member acknowledged, “The one thing ALL these girls have in common is the way they work so hard for their coaches and their softball sisters.”
One of the young athletes travels over an hour each way to practice and play with this team. Initially, she was playing with a team much closer to home, but they did not have the same enthusiasm for the game that she did. A friend had recommended the Select 12U team, and as soon as she started practicing with the team, she knew she had found her softball family. After becoming part of the Florida Select teams, they did find that there are other travel teams closer to home, but as her mother explained, “Once you’ve become part of a team like this, how can you leave it?”
Despite the team’s recent accomplishments, it has not come without lots of hard work and perseverance. Coach Kenny recalls the first years, “This team started as a bunch of underdogs. It was over two seasons before they started winning games. Now, two years later, they are competing and WINNING at a higher level than we could have expected! We were told many times that this team didn’t have what it takes to be champions. Now they are a run or two away from the championship game every tournament or claiming the championship title for themselves.”
The Mom Squad certainly remembers the struggles of the first years, one confiding with a grin, “I used to call them ‘Bad News Bears’!” While another mom recalls, “The first three seasons were rough, but by the fourth season, these girls had worked so hard they were winning or placing in every tournament they entered.” And it is not just their remarkable girls that deserve their kudos; they give a ton of credit to the coaches, acknowledging, “Both coaches are amazing leaders that help the girls become better people and better ball players.”
Finally, they qualified for the World Series in Vero Beach. Always working as a team, even off the field, the girls raised more than $20,000 for the trip in just three months. It was an amazing week and an experience the girls will never forget. They even placed fourth out of 28 teams. Many of the girls made it to the top 10 leaderboards for their stats. Players, umps, and coaches from all over were starting to recognize them and praise their skills and sportsmanship. And the cherry on the cake of this fantastic week was when they had the opportunity to meet some of their heroes from professional teams, like the Pride and the Vipers. One of the teammates was heard saying, “This is the best day of my life.”
Playing on a travel team is a commitment. All 11 members of the team attend travel ball practice two days a week and play from 5-8 games a weekend. They are also involved in recreational ball at both Miss. Palma Sola Park and Miss. Manatee Park, where they participate in another practice and game each week. During the off-season, December and January, these athletes participate in off-season training, which includes endurance, agility, fielding, batting, weight training, and yoga. More than half of the team also participates in private one-on-one lessons at Square Up Academy in Bradenton. And somehow, these wonder girls are still doing well in school! But they all seem to agree that their parents feel that school comes before sport, so it is important to keep their grades up so they can continue playing.
“They are more than amazing athletes,” declares Coach Kenny. “All students are A and B honor roll; most are multi-sport athletes, involved in extracurricular activities such as band and STEM. They helped clean up the community after Ian and have proven to be well-rounded young ladies who will continue to crush every goal they set,” says Kenny, continuing his praise of the girls, “This team has faced adversity and overcome every obstacle in their way with grace and resilience. They are truly best friends on and off the field. This is what softball and youth sports should be about, and this is what our team strives for.”
