Joining Club Sports is the New Division I Route

Stepping back onto the neatly trimmed green grass again after thinking she would never step back on the diamond-like field was a surprise for Melanie Navarro as her dreams of playing softball again were relived this semester.

“There was a time where he got mad at us, and he walked off the field and didn’t come back the rest of practice,” said Navarro. “We left one bat out one time and I guess we just didn’t see it when we were cleaning up for practice so what he did was the next practice, he threw all of our bats across the field and timed us to go clean them up.”

Navarro struggled with a bad coaching experience ever since she first entered high school as her softball coach always picked his favorites over her and her other teammates who played just as well as her.

It made her drag away from softball after she had finished her senior year. She no longer had an interest in playing until she found a club this semester that she decided to join.

Club softball is a new club sport here on campus that has allowed many girls who have dealt with bad experiences with softball to regain that trust and be able to play softball for fun.

Melanie Navarro hitting the softball at one of her high school softball team home games in Washington State 2022, via JohnsPhotos.net.

Second-year business operational management major Vanessa De La Torre also dealt with a bad coaching experience in high school that caused her not to be able to play Division I softball. De La Torre would always start at third base but when her coach began to favor one of her teammates more than her, she lost her position and had to play catcher the whole season.

“I was catching, and [another] coach literally told my coach, why are you not having her at third base? You know, that’s where she’s meant to be right?” De La Torre recalls a pivotal point in her Divison I time. “So, for another coach to tell my coach that they know my potential and not do anything about it is what really kind of ticked me off.”

Fortunate for her, club softball had entered campus De La Torre’s first spring semester which has now allowed her to be a part of the team and has also allowed her to coach her other teammates.

Vanessa De La Torre celebrating with her Gardena High School softball teammates when winning the softball Division II final in June 2021, via Vanessa De La Torre.

Annette Chavez, a third-year health science major also dealt with a similar experience. In high school, Chavez played both basketball and softball. She found herself no longer having that passion for basketball due to her having a bad coach who never looked out for her or any of her other teammates.

“Him not being open to really caring for us as like as a team and as individuals made me feel helpless and so I think I switched my sense of direction in high school and put more effort into a different sport,” said Chavez.

Chavez found her love for softball with a good coach who was able to see that determination and success were all she needed to continue playing the sport. She came to CSULB she decided to join the club softball team, never once looking at basketball.

For Chavez, there are days when she misses waking up early and shooting layups at the rim. Nevertheless, she knows that her teammates have helped her feel happiness when playing on the dirt field again, all under the direction of great coaches who help guide them to success.