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Head Coach for the women's US National Baseball Team

Veronica Alvarez

Woman

of the

Month

FROM

A TEEN’S

POINT OF VIEW

By Miya Schaffner

Member of the United States women's national baseball team which won a gold medal at the 2015 Pan American Games.

  • Backround

    As Veronica grew up in Miami she began to play the sport she’s now idolized for. She started out in a mini league, where her love for baseball continued to grow, as well as her skill level. When fastpitch softball came around they immediately reached out to Veronica for her talent. At first Veronica politely declined, but eventually she accepted their request, commencing her fastpitch softball journey. Fast forward a few more years, after Veronica ended up playing collegiate softball, she does a google search and finds the women's national team for USA baseball. After re-discovering her past sport, Veronica played for eight years on the women's national team. After years of playing, and ultimately deciding to end her baseball career, Veronica already knew what was next in her story- coaching.

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  • What challenges did you face being a girl on a boys baseball team?

    “Right now, it’s very common for the girls I coach to be on a boys team, because there are such limited opportunities for women and girls in baseball. A lot of them play high school baseball with boys, and even collegiate baseball with boys, so a recurring challenge is always being different- just by being a girl you would stand out from the rest of the team, which people love to comment on. As soon as other people see a girl on a boys team, the stereotypes and remarks come flooding in, which unfortunately occurred constantly back then, hopefully now not as much. It’s always said that girls are weaker and lesser than, and a lot of my girls still face this so my whole goal is trying to get away from that idea, and to show that being a girl and a woman is an incredible thing. Along with this it was often difficult to prove how good you are with the way you play and not respond with anything verbally. I like to think that these obstacles gave me the superpowers that I have now, and try to see the positive even though it wasn't the best thing to experience as a kid.”

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  • Fun Facts

    “I love photography, gardening and things like that. Photography is one of my favorite hobbies. I’m good at it, and I love to spend time doing it!”


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