What the mind wants, the body sometimes can't provide. Especially as the body ages.
It is with this thought in mind that Dirt the Skirt, a softball league for women over 30, was founded last year.
"Once you hit 30, the body begins to sort of break down," says Christine Sullivan Higgins of Haverhill, president and founder of DTS, who adds that several similar leagues in the area allow players under 30 to play. "It's a different game when you're not 30 or over. We want to give women the opportunity to play against an equivalent peer group."
The demand was huge.
In 2009, Sullivan Higgins and Vice President of DTS Jennifer Miller-True expected, based on initial e-mails, phone calls and registrations, that the inaugural recreation softball league would have four to six teams, with 13 to 15 women on each squad.
On assessment day — the day where the women are given certain grades depending on what they show skill-wise in the field and at the plate — 95 women showed up, after only 66 registered.
Seven full rosters.
"There is such a demand to keep women in shape," Sullivan Higgins said. "To keep the socialization, and to get women out and exercising one night per week."
Dirt the Skirt works to make every roster fair, with an equal number of newcomers and skilled veterans on each squad.
"Our teams are pretty close," Miller-True said. "There are no undefeated teams, and every team has won a game."
The time commitment isn't consuming, either, which is often a concern for women over 30.
"It's only a four-hour-per-week commitment (for the recreational softball league)," Miller-True said. "One two-hour game and one two-hour practice."
The softball league, which is slow-pitch and hold its games at the Pines Recreation Center in Groveland, requires no experience. Its rules require that each athlete plays at least three innings and bats, regardless of whether they play in the field.
"With slow-pitch, it's a little less competitive, the games aren't quite as strategic, and the pitch comes in at a 6- to 12-foot arc," Miller-True said.
This year, the slow-pitch league grew to eight teams, and Dirt the Skirt is adding more sports to supply the increasing demand.
A dodgeball and volleyball season will to the mix, says Miller-True, to go along with softball, pickup flag football and floor hockey. Additionally, DTS is rolling out a competitive fast-pitch softball league to begin in the fall, with registrations due July 25.
"We'll get practicing in August," Miller-True said. "And the games will start in September."
The competitive softball league will be a six-hour-per-week time commitment, with each squad practicing twice per week with one weekend game.
The registration fee is $55, and all the money is pumped back into the league,
"We'll order shirts, bats, balls, equipment, hire umpires, get a field, everything," Miller-True said.
With just one full season completed, it may seem premature to think about the future of the organization. But not to Miller-True and Sullivan Higgins.
"(In two years) I think we've gone from one tree in the forest to growing an entire forest," Sullivan Higgins said. "We've established committees, applied for grants, all with the vision eventually building our own sports complex for women."
With interest increasing each season, Miller-True continues to plan for the future.
"We're looking at being operational with our own facilities and our own field for women over 30," she said. "That's what we want."
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