Back in 2015, the Oxford Diamond Divas was formed with the intent of being a 16u Tournament Team based out of Oxford, Pa. Unfortunately, this team was not able to completely form and folded.
Fast Forward to August of 2016. Elisa Van Zyl was playing for the West Chester Pegasus 16u and had just finished their national tournament in Connecticut. Our family had decided to take a vacation on Peaks Island in Maine. While we were there, Elisa's younger sisters Lily and Cailyn, both said they wanted to play softball. Up to that point, they had never really expressed any interest in the game besides what kids they were going to play with at the next tournament.
A couple of weeks later, they were registered to play fall ball and I had offered to coach the team. In years past I had always coached the older girls (13+) and had never coached a team this young. My wife, Shannon and Nick Sloan both jumped in to help and the season turned out great for not only the girls, but us as well.
When the season ended, we offered to extend the Diamond Diva Winter Workouts to the younger girls as well. In years past, the workout was geared towards high school aged girls looking to make their school teams. I truly only expected a handful of girls to register. On our second night we had over 20 girls! It was amazing. Girls were coming from all over. The workouts were a challenge for the younger girls and a real challenge for the older girls. The girls not only got to throw, catch and hit but they were also getting into softball shape working hard with Coach Shannon to get stronger, quicker with greater flexibility.
During the winter workouts, it was apparent the girls were getting better and we were totally hooked on coaching all of them. As a family, we decided to form our own organization called the Oxford Diamond Divas. We were going to have enough girls to form a 10u and 12u team. Our organization decided to join the Brandywine Valley Girls Softball League (BVGSL). By registering as USA Softball team (formerly ASA), we can not only play recreation softball, we have the option to enter tournaments as well.
Words truly cannot express how excited we are to be doing this. As a newly formed organization, we are putting everything together quickly and things are going great. Our parents have been nothing but supportive and offer assistance almost at every turn. Honestly, we are truly humbled by all the support.
Thank you for entrusting us to teach your girls the game of softball and helping us form something that we hope will last a long time.
Oxford Diamond Divas - 2017!
