Mt. Kisco Dad Pens Book About Girls and Baseball
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The following is an excerpt of a column from our Examiner+ newsletter
By Jason Klein
My daughter is surrounded by boys.
This scenario could make some dads uncomfortable.
Instead, it’s just another baseball Saturday in May. We’re at the Leonard Park fields in Mount Kisco, and I’m coaching my eight-year-old daughter’s little league team. She’s the only girl on the roster.
Aside from her hot pink batting helmet, she’s really no different than any other player on the team. She’s just as fast, strong, and eager to learn as anyone else.
There are a handful of other girls scattered throughout the league, but on our team, my daughter plays alongside nine boys every weekend. It’s her choice.
Our town doesn’t offer a little league softball program. She could play in the Katonah-Lewisboro Bedford Softball league if she wanted to, but for now, she prefers baseball. It’s a difficult decision for some young girls to make.
A few years back, my older daughter questioned her place in the game. Before signing up to play in the MKLL, she asked me if baseball was a sport that girls could play, too. I did my best to reassure her but could tell she still had some doubts.
Like a resourceful, modern-day #GirlDad, I decided to tweet about it. I asked Twitter to “show my daughter she’s not alone.” I asked my fellow tweeters to “show her how many people agree with me,” that baseball is a sport for girls, too. The response was overwhelming.
The post garnered 5.1 million impressions and collected over 80,000 combined likes and retweets, including support from Major League Baseball, Little League International, USA Women’s Baseball, and Baseball For All, an organization that advocates for girls in the game. The Washington Post even picked up on the story and wrote a feature about us.
After the tweet went viral…
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Klein coaches youth baseball in Mount Kisco and is an advocate for girls getting a fair opportunity in the game. He is also the author of YES PEPPER, an empowering new book for girls who play baseball. Follow Jason on Twitter @ByJasonKlein and @YesPepperBook. Pre-order your copy of YES PEPPER by clicking here.
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