Starry, Starry Night

12 Dec, 2017

This time of year the daytime turns to nighttime in a blink of an eye. Winter days are short.  The nights are long, dark and cold.  That cold air seems to brighten and boost the streaming light of the stars. Much in the same way, my daughter Kelliann turned from a baby girl into a young lady in that blink of an eye. The years have been short.  On a cold, dark night last week she set off to give a speech, the final part of her Senior Project, and when she came down the stairs, she shone as bright as any star that dotted the Carolina sky. I was a bit star struck by how much she looked like a star…a little Audrey Hepburn.

There was a bit of irony that night.  Gracing a little black dress, pearls and hair in a bun, she was prepared to deliver a speech on the disparities between women playing softball and men playing baseball.

Maybe wear her softball uniform, she is a Ragsdale’s varsity softball pitcher after all.  She has played since middle school.  Her ride is about to end.  Only the elite play in college, 100 professionally.  While Alex Rodriguez made a half a billion dollars over his career as the best hitter in baseball, his softball counter part at the same time, the University of Arizona’s Leah O’Brien made next to nothing. She does have 3 Olympic Softball Gold Medals.  This was  Kelliann’s speech in part.  

The best part of her project was the product, which was an DVD interview with Leah O’Brien via FaceTime. As a former television producer/interviewer, I was incredibly impressed the way my 17 year old daughter handled herself with this 3 time Olympian. multiple NCAA Softball Champion, NCAA All American athlete. Kelliann may not be ABC’s Elizabeth Vargas yet,  but Elizabeth may need to keep her 20/20 eyes on her.  

She aptly named her project “Fair Ball?”  As parents we turn ourselves upside down and inside out trying to teach our children that life isn’t fair. Leah O’Brien did this for us in a 15 minute FaceTime interview. In games where the ball, the field and the bat may be different, everything else remains the same- the love of the game, the passion to play and the drive to win. But opportunities to play, to be compensated, to be recognized, well those 3 strikes are against you. If you play it simply because you love it, you win something else altogether-O’Brien called all the women athletes that came before her trailblazers.  She said it was all worth it just to be in the game and to pave the way for the next generation.

And so my “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” young woman made her case to the judges. In the end she hit a home run-a perfect score. Telling the judges, “I don’t regret a practice, a game, a pitch, a swing and even running sprints.”  Kelliann played it for the love of the game and learned a valuable lesson.  Shine Kelliann, Shine!