Gilroy’s Stanford Cardinal, a youth softball team made up of
players from all over San Benito and Santa Clara counties, is
turning great athletes into great students as well.
Hollister – To be on Gilroy’s Stanford Cardinal softball team, a girl’s got to be able to crack the books as well as the bat. It stands to reason. When you name your team after one of the world’s top scholastic institutions with the intent of living up to its image, you’re setting your standards pretty high.
Put together by GPA & Sports Inc., a not-for profit educational charity, Gilroy’s Stanford Cardinal is a youth softball team comprised of players from Gilroy, Hollister and Morgan Hill. The team isn’t just preparing its athletes for life on the field, say its coaches, it’s preparing them for their upcoming years in the classroom.
So far, so good.
Not only are the young women on the team doing better in school since the team’s emphasis shifted from a softball-first focus to a classroom-first focus, say the team’s instructors, they’re honing their softball skills in preparation to play at the high-school level.
Players and coaches from Gilroy’s Stanford Cardinal recently attended a skills camp put on by Stanford – the collegiate version – in Palo Alto which featured instruction from three of the Cardinal players were named to the last Team USA softball squad. Stanford head coach John Rittman, who was an assistant coach on the 2004 U.S. Olympic team that brought home the gold also took part in the camp.
“It was a great experience for the girls,” said Cardinal coach Joe Hernandez of the Stanford camp experience. “It was a phenomenal time. We figure, it’s Stanford University, it says ‘class,’ it says ‘education,’ so that’s kind of what we model this team after.”
Last Sunday’s practice consisted of two hours of speed and strength training followed by two hours of softball practice with coaching by Kristine Miles and Destinee Powers, both standouts on the Gavilan softball team. After the grueling workout, the girls sat down and talked about personal and team goals.
It wasn’t just an in-one-ear, out-the-other kind of discussion. Coach Hernandez passed out composition books and pens to each of his players and asked them to map out three goals they wanted to achieve, both personally as well as with the team.
“Always give 110 percent, both on the field and in the classroom.” “Work on my speed.” “Work on my hitting.” “Work on my fielding.”
“Work on my algebra.”
Just a taste of the goals the girls of the 14-and-under team came up with.
The coaches at GPA & Sports Inc. say they are there to help the girls reach those goals.
If a member of the Cardinal is having trouble with grades, Hernandez said, he and the rest of the coaches do whatever it takes to get the problem corrected. If it means keeping in close contact with parents and teachers, that’s what happens.
“Our whole theme is that the scholastics come first,” Hernandez said. “The girls’ grades are coming up. Girls who have brought their grade point averages up to a 3.0 are now being asked to get it up to a 3.5 or a 4.0. So, a 3.0 isn’t always good enough, we want the girls to do as good as they possibly can in school.”
Right now, GPA & Sports Inc. is made up solely of the softball teams, 12-and-under and 14-and-under squads. But Hernandez is hoping to expand to other sports.
Before long, he said, the organization will be forming basketball teams, boxing clubs and volleyball squads, all with the same focus on scholastic achievement.”
