Seneca Valley softball player introduces game to younger girls
Julia Valasek credits her coaches with building her softball skills, but also with giving her the work ethic that led her to make it into Stonehill College in Massachusetts, where she plans to study prelaw and business after graduating Seneca Valley High School.
Through her senior project, Julia continued the cycle of encouragement by leading a softball camp for girls ages 6 to 12, where she and a number of her classmates and teammates introduced the youths to the love of the game.
But just as the sport has affected her own life, Julia, who started her senior year Aug. 20, used softball as an arena to help her young pupils build character.
“For the younger girls, I built a foundation for them that … if they keep trying, they can,” she said. “Being able to tell them that they are good enough — to quote one of my coaches is, ‘You can, you will.’ Just building the foundations of that mentality especially is important to me.”
The camp took place from Aug. 11 through 13, with the first day-and-half session for girls ages 6 to 9, and then the next for girls ages 10 to 12. Julia said she recruited several current and past teammates to help run the camp. Her helpers included Seneca Valley students Rachael Dunmire, Riley Geyer, Brie Smith and Ryland Stewart, and Seneca Valley alumna Izzy Schall and Slippery Rock alumna Makenzie Borkovich.
The camp sessions introduced the basics of softball to the younger group, and stations of elements of play for the older cohort. Julia said that even though the session for the younger players covered the bare necessities of softball, the girls were interested and engaged. She said she has coached T-ball since she was in seventh grade for girls even younger than the group at the camp, so she has a little experience planting the seeds of field skills.
“Most of them were only 6,” Julia said of the younger group, who she taught the basics of stretching, drills helping them stay in front of the ball on the field and base running.
Some of the girls in the older group had a little more experience with hitting and fielding, so Julia created a format that let them hone individual softball elements one at a time.
“I had stations for the older group of girls, and there were definitely more girls in those sessions, and they had individual instruction,” Julia said. “Hitting, trying to also teach them that it's a very trial-and-error sport and it's a game of failure helps with the confidence part.”
Julia said confidence is one of her most valued attributes she gained through her years on the field. She said she models her coaching after the people who have inspired her most because that kind of inspiration goes beyond the diamond. Julia emphasized that the energy a coach puts behind a phrase is almost more important than the sentence itself, which is a technique she mirrors when speaking to younger players.
“With coaching, I have noticed that things my previous coaches have told me helps me coach,” Julia said. “It's very hard to be patient, but remembering where I started and my goal is to help younger girls develop a passion for the sport, so it helps.”
Through the camp, Julia also raised around $1,300, which she donated to the Seneca Valley Softball Boosters. That amount is about 1/20 of the money the district’s three softball teams spend for one year of operation, so Eric Dunmire, president of the Seneca Valley Softball Boosters, said the donation was significant.
The money is used on equipment, attire and meals during away games. Dunmire said the team members regularly contribute to the money needed through fundraisers that include selling chocolate and hoagies.
“We run the concession stand at games and it raises about that much over three months,” Dunmire said, comparing Julia’s donation to the concession stand’s revenue. “We spend about $20,000 over a season.”
Dunmire also said he has known and coached Julia on the field for more than a decade. He said her passion for softball is built into her personality.
“She is probably our most energetic and enthusiastic person, most positive attitude,” Dunmire said. “I love that she is teaching the younger generation and it's a great fit.”
And even though Julia is proud to get to make a substantial donation to an organization she said steered her through life, she said the biggest mark of the camp’s success would be seeing some of the players she taught back on the field in a few years.
“I hope to see the girls there on the softball field again,” Julia said.
Julia said her ideal job would be coaching softball, although she plans to pursue a career in defense law, because her other passion is for public speaking, litigation and politics. She hopes to continue coaching as long as she can, even if it is just in a volunteer role through college.
Already, Julia said she looks back on the camp in a good light and “as a complete success.” Although it could be years before the coached girls get on the field for competition, Julia said their attitudes at the camp were promising.
“Everything I do really is for the love of the game,” she said. “It meant a lot to help little girls fall in love in the game.”
