'One Of A Kind' Softball League Creates More Opportunities For Growth

LINDENHURST, NY — As Emma Tiedemann's 13th birthday grew closer, she prepared for an emotional goodbye.

Since the age of 7, she'd played in the Lindenhurst-based Sunrise Softball Little League, which allows girls ages 7 to 12 from the Town of Babylon area to play softball.

"League has always been a big part of my life," she said.

For five years, her mother, Barbara Maier Kulick, who is also a coach in the league, watched her daughter and other girls develop a love for the sport, make lifelong friends, and form their own identities.

"I've made a lot of friends through the system, and I hated the fact that I knew I was going to have to leave it someday because I was going to be too old to play," Tiedemann said.

Once players turn 12, the division's age limit, only a few girls who wished to continue the sport had the ability to do so, Kulick told Patch.

The select opportunities to play are school teams, where a select group of students is chosen, or travel teams, which can cost up to thousands of dollars.

"When my daughter was playing this past spring, the players that aged out the year before were at every game supporting the girls," she said. "They were like, 'I wish we could play'."

Matt Amore, coach and parent of two daughters in the league, also felt the same way.

"You hear everyone complain about how you should let kids be kids," said Amore. "But if you don't have programs for kids to be kids, it's kind of hard for them to do that."

So in August, at the end of the summer season, Kulick's gears turned.

"I was talking to a couple of parents, and a couple of my coaches. And they were like, we have to do something for these girls," she told Patch. "I was like, alright, I'll get it done.'"

Fall Season

In only three weeks, Kulick had 44 girls registered for a Sunrise Junior League, ages 13 to 14.

Its first season began in August, and will end this weekend with league championships.

Tiedemann told Patch she was excited about the creation of the older league, but did not expect as many girls to sign up.

"We were under the impression that nobody was going to sign up," she said. "We thought Juniors might not happen because Juniors might not have enough girls. And now we have too many girls."

The Juniors League is also more affordable than a travel team, as the fee is only $250 per season, Kulick said.

The season has so far consisted of four teams from players from different hamlets such as Copiague, West Islip, Lindenhurst, Babylon and North Babylon. This season, there are four teams: The Blizzards, The Flamingos, The Lady Diamonds, and The Undertakers.

The coaches make sure to diversify the teams by picking players from different hamlets and levels.

"It's really impressive to me to see a bunch of girls who probably would have never crossed paths and in this lifetime, from all different neighborhoods and cultures and backgrounds to just non-stop caring together," he said. "You can't break the bond."

Kulick, who coaches the Blizzards, said each team practices and plays games in Tanner Park in Copiague each week.

"We're cheering for everybody, which really builds that sportsmanship up," Amore said. "If we know the pitcher on the other team, and she's pitching well, we're going to tell her she's doing a good job, because we're not enemies. It's just a good, fun league."

The program also

The Juniors League is truly a "one of a kind" program, as many little leagues are not available for the girls' age groups.

Girls from other towns can also register with the Juniors League, as long as their town does not already have a program.

"When they play each other, the girls go back and forth to the dugouts to visit each other before and after the game," Kulick said. "Everyone knows each other."

Fun While Preparing For The Future

Kulick also want League to help girls who want to become better athletes, or eventually play college softball, like her daughter.

Unlike a school team with one season, the league offers opportunities for year-round playing. Girls can opt in for each season, depending on their goals or other activities they may have.

This winter, Kulick is organizing a clinic for girls in seventh to 10th grade, to help them prepare for their school tryouts. She hopes to expand the league even more, and to recruit a pitching coach to help athletes train in certain skills.

The league is also expanding by introducing a Seniors division to accommodate girls who were born in 2007 and 2008 this spring.

"It gives them more flexibility to play for their school teams," said Kulick, whose daughter is playing field hockey this fall. "I think the older girls are more serious about the sport. We want to go to college for it. So we wanted to create this program to keep them playing."

The league is also completely by run volunteers, many of whom played softball at competitive levels. Since all involved adults go through mandatory background checks, safety is not a concern, Kulick said.

"Anyone who wants to coach the older girls, they have to have the knowledge and the dedication to coach, which is a lot because we're all working full-time," she said. "I'm a cop in the city, and I'm changing my hours and running between games and work."

Another reason she finds the league to be so important, she said, is that softball is constantly competing for the same recognition and respect as baseball.

"We work really hard to ensure softball and baseball get treated as equals," Kulick said.

For instance, when you look at Long Island's fields, including Tanner Park where the league plays, Amore said, only baseball fields exist. Also, baseball travel teams and little leagues are more abundant, therefore boys get to play for longer, as it is less competitive than softball.

"Softball has to do everything twice as hard, because it's softball," Amore said.

Overall, the league provides a strong, female environment for the girls, which is crucial to their sense of self.

"I love these kids. I would do anything for any of these girls," said Kulick. "They're phenomenal."

If you are interested in joining the league or volunteering, visit its website here or contact Kulick at: Barbarasunrisesoftball@gmail.com.