Sliders bring youth softball to GlenEd
July 29th, 2010The GlenEd Sliders were recently formed with the overall goal in mind to create a youth fastpitch softball league based in Edwardsville/Glen Carbon and eventually consisting of all Edwardsville/Glen Carbon players. Currently the Sliders will have 10U-14U divisions with the hopes of instituting 16U and 18U divisions at a later date.
The mission statement for the Sliders reads, “Engaging young women in any organized sports program in general gives them an important boost to their self-esteem, our softball program has been designed to foster and create female athletes and empower the individuals to be successful on the field and as individuals to be positive role models within society.”
The creation for the Sliders came from the minds of Crystal Goodwin and Daimon Russell, the founders/directors of the program. They have created a marketing plan plan, by-laws and a code of conduct to help articulate their commitment to their cause, along with becoming a member of the EdGlen Chamber of Commerce to better get involved within the community.
“This is what we’re looking at as being good for our community as a whole,” said Goodwin. “All girls that are within these age groups (10U-14U) that play this type of competitive ball leave Edwardsville and Glen Carbon. They go to other towns where they practice and play and spend their money on lunch and dinner and hotels, along with receiving all types of fundamental training. Not to say that one is worse than the other, but if we can somehow bring all of those people together and do fundamental training that is the same, it will create an alignment with our district program one day and support coach (Lori) Blade and her efforts with the high school team. That is our ultimate goal.
“Under our five year plan we’re looking at forming an elite team that will support the high school, but at this time we can’t limit to only Edwardsville and Glen Carbon athletes because this is the first year for our organization. I would hope once we establish a name for ourselves we can do that.”
Goodwin has turned to the EdGlen Chamber of Commerce, looking to it as a tool to get the word out to the public about the Sliders and serve as an olive branch for cooperation within the community.
“We’re definitely excited about becoming Chamber members, as our chamber continues to grow and do good things for the community,” said Goodwin. “We’d like to get the word out and gain support through the chamber.”
The Sliders are currently searching for coaches for their teams and have scheduled tryouts for Aug. 7, 14 and 21 at the JV Field inside the District 7 Sports Complex.
The 10U tryouts will be between 9-10:30 a.m., with the last half an hour dedicated to pitchers and catchers. The 12U tryouts will span from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. with the final 30 minutes for pitchers and catchers. The final tryout will be for 14U between 1-2:30 p.m. with the last half an hour for pitchers and catchers.
The plan is for the Sliders to begin their inaugural season in the fall somewhere outside Edwardsville/Glen Carbon, with the idea to form a league in town very shortly to bring teams into the community for tournaments and league play.
“We’ll probably play in the Collinsville league because it hosts a select league, which is where you play 16 games over an eight week period,” said Goodwin. “As for tournaments, each age group will play in at least eight plus tournaments and most of them will be in the St. Louis metro area. The 14U team will be according to the coach’s discretion if they would like to take their team further out for traveling and that will be based on their level of play.”
Within the marketing plan plan, the Sliders have created five year goals they are striving to meet to make the program a success and Goodwin is keeping her eyes on those goals.
“We want to have both developmental, 10U, 12U, 14U and elite teams, which would be 16U and 18U,” she said. “The 16U and 18U you could call a college showcase level, along with going back to being under the district and their coaching staff. If we were able to get our program in line with the coaching staff at the high school and have their input, they could foster some of their teachings to our coaches, so we could all be coaching the same and the expectations are the same. That’s the hope to do that.”
For more information email the Sliders at glenedsliders@gmail.com.
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