Jays Care program looks to promote baseball — and life — skills at Hamilton school

About 30 girls sat in two haphazard rows against the gym wall at Bellmoore Elementary School donning roomy Blue Jays T-shirts and oversized baseball caps. At the instruction of their coach, they leap to their feet, leaving a trail of pink, tie-dye and polka-dot lunch bags behind.

It doesn't matter if you know their name," calls teacher Rachel Cronsberry, encouraging students to pair up for the first drill. That's part of what we're doing here, getting to know people."

Some partners are already friends, others meeting for the first time.

Introduce yourselves," the teacher says to two students smiling shyly at one another.

Softball, the teacher-coaches explain, is just as much about friendship, confidence and self-esteem as it as about perfecting a swing or learning to catch a fly ball.

It's not even just about the baseball," said Katie Mackrory-Armstrong, the teacher who heads up the program. The purpose of it is the sense of belonging."

This is the first of a four-year program called Girls At Bat, an initiative of the Jays Care Foundation. Already 120 girls from Grade 2 to 5 - and several volunteers - at the Binbrook school have signed up, forming three age groups that each play once a week during 40-minute nutrition breaks.

The program is open to students who identify as girls, and all equipment - balls, bats, gloves, bases and a tee - as well as a curriculum for teachers are provided by the foundation.

Mackrory-Armstrong said some students are really coming out of their shells."

A few years ago, I wanted to try to play baseball, but I was too nervous," said Emmy Smith, 10.

This year, the Grade 5 student decided to join some friends and try Girls At Bat just to see what it was."

I've learned how to throw a ball, I have learned how to catch a ball ... and I've learned how to hit a ball straight," she said. It just kind of made me not nervous to try it out."

Emmy is now a rookie Binbrook Bison softball player who loves to play shortstop.

Mackrory-Armstrong, a Grade 7 and 8 teacher who also coaches baseball in the community, has always been an advocate for women in sport.

There's just been a such a decline in girls sports, but then even COVID impacted it a huge amount," she said. Coming out of COVID, a lot of people aren't signing up for things."

We chose to do (grades) two to five to target kind of before they hit the middle-school years to get them involved in something," Mackrory-Armstrong said.

Mackinnley Sallows, 9, had never played baseball before and she jumped at the chance to join Girls At Bat.

I thought it would be really cool to try something out like that," she said. Not a lot of kids in our school in my grade ... get to participate in these big activities."

Mackinnley admits she was a little nervous the first day.

I didn't need to be nervous because it was so much fun," she said, adding that she's learned new skills and made new friends since the program started in April.

The Grade 3 student won't be back next year because she's starting at a new school in the fall. But now that she's learned to grip a bat properly and catch with a glove, she has an appetite for the game.

They do have a couple of baseball teams, so I'm thinking maybe if it's in my grades I'll be able to do it," she said.

Kate McCullough is an education reporter at The Spectator. kmccullough@thespec.com