Sandhya Kaul, above, a junior at High School South, completed her Girl Scout Gold Award project. She has been a Girl Scout for nine years. A member of Troop 70207, her leader is Pat Helck. She is the daughter of Sandeep and Kiran.
Kaul’s project focused on training kids, with and without disabilities, to play softball. She worked with Hamilton YMCA Special kids Organized Recreation (SKOR) and Gametime Performance in Hamilton. A softball player since elementary school, she became a varsity softball player in her freshman year at South.
“My goal was to share my knowledge and love of softball with kids that have a growing interest in the sport like I once did,” she says. “I have always wanted to make the game of softball more appreciated in my community and portray it as an equal to its sibling sport and national pastime, baseball.”
Her father taught her how to play softball, and she taught her younger sister, Priyanka. “Along with my dad, I have had many great coaches who taught me the game and gave me an example of a fun and great coach,” she says.
She created a week of training on softball drills such as hitting, infield and outfield fielding, and base running. “The issue my project addressed is kids — and their lack of knowledge of softball as a sport,” she says. Although softball was a focus, she also wanted to work with kids from Special Olympics, an organization she volunteers for.
Kaul devised skills including hitting a softball off a tee, throwing and catching drills, base running drills, and the basic rules of rounding bases, when to run, and the difference between being safe and out. “I noted through the drills that the kids developed improved hand-eye coordination, learned basic judgment on catching balls with a glove, learned how and when to throw to other teammates, how to properly swing a bat to make contact with a pitched ball, and how to run bases and tag each other out, or in the same vein, how to avoiding getting tagged out — all while having fun,” she says.
The biggest achievement, though, extended beyond the development of physical skills. “Throughout my experience, I realized that softball teaches you a lot of life lessons, such as teamwork and never giving up,” she says. “There are a lot of let downs and slumps in softball, but you should never become discouraged; instead, one just needs to make corrections through coaches, teammates, and self-motivation, and then get back at it and try harder.”
Kaul wanted to show them that success is the result not only of hard work and dedication, but also in having fun, since people rarely succeed at something they do not enjoy.
“The steady improvement in the skills and self-worth of the participants, and the development of my coaching abilities, were the most rewarding aspects of my project,” she says. “My main goal was to be an insightful and positive coach and mentor, just as my coaches have been to me,” she says. “I was particularly gratified to see the positive outcome of my coaching through the rapid development of skills, self-confidence, and camaraderie in the young participants.”
She noted that the participants in the program were developing the fundamental skills of softball, as well as developing self-confidence and strengthening bonds with their peers. Kaul also realized that their success was also because they were enjoying softball.
“I have finally been able to pass down my inherited softball skills to kids in my community, and henceforth I feel that I have made a difference that I am proud of,” she says. “I found the kids infused with a sense of pride and achievement in learning and mastering new skills, developed improved self-confidence, teamwork skills, strengthened bonds, and camaraderie.”
