RBI Austin Spotlight: 9U Softball Nationals
Meet this week’s spotlights from the 9U Softball Nationals!
Nyah Muckerson
8 Years Old
1st Year with RBI Austin
9U SB Nationals
Q: Is this your first year playing with RBI?
Nyah: Yes. It is my first year playing RBI, not first time playing softball.
Q: How did you hear about RBI
Nyah: From my mom!
Q: What do you hope to learn this season in softball or skills outside of baseball?
Nyah: How to slide and stuff like that. My mom said if you don’t know how to slide and you don’t slide into home then it’s an out, and I don’t want to get out.
Q: Do you really like it?
Nyah:Yeah, it’s my favorite sport! I want to play forever.
Q: Who is one of the biggest influences on your life?
Nyah: Jackie Robinson. He was the first black person to play baseball.
Q: Why do you think it’s important to play on a team sport?
Nyah: Because if you’re not playing on a team you don’t necessarily have the experience of softball or a sport.
Q: What do you like most about having teammates?
Nyah: They cheer on for you.
Q: What’s one of your favorite things about the summer league? Practices or games?
Nyah: Both!
Jacquelynn Dolly
Mother of Nyah Muckerson
1st year with RBI Austin
9U SB National
Q: How did you hear about RBI?
Jacquelynn: A friend of a friend.
Q: Why did you decide to enroll her in RBI?
Jacquelynn: She just started playing in the spring, and I wanted her to get more experience. I heard good things about it so we enrolled!
Q: What is one thing that you hope Nyah will learn this summer?
Jacquelynn: I’m hoping she advances her softball skills and also just how to be a team player, like a real team player where she communicates with her team and hopefully a team leader.
Q: What do you think a team leader looks like? What qualities do they have?
Jacquelynn: She’s a positive role model, she cheers the team on, cheers her teammates on and shows them how the game is played.
Q: What is the best thing about having Nyah play softball?
Jacquelynn: I like that she gets to meet a lot of people from all kinds of backgrounds and hopefully she’s able to advance with them. Lifelong friends is what I’m hoping for and maybe they’ll play together in high school.
Q: Why do you think it’s important to play on a team sport?
Jacquelynn: They learn things that you cannot learn at school or at home. Working as a team versus being selfish and wanting to get the shine, I just think it’s important. Everything in life, when you go to work or school you have to do things as a team.
Q: How do you think the sport of softball prepares the player #BeyondtheField?
Jacquelynn: Well with my child, I think it helps her think quicker. She has to be able to move and think and react. I don’t know about softball being a sport that teaches teamwork differently than any other sport. What I like about softball is that it’s with girls and it’s her first team sport where it’s just girls and you know they get to act like a girl and do girly things.
Rebecca Poulos
9U SB Nationals Coach
2nd year with RBI Austin
Q: How did you learn about RBI last year?
Rebecca: I’ve been going to the Austin Stone community church for about eight years and RBI is talked about there because of For the City and the connection and how they work out of the same building. I did a women’s development program and they had a section where they talked about For the City and talked a lot about RBI.
Q: What made you come back this year?
Rebecca: I would say just because of how much joy it brings to coach a team. I got to coach a coach pitch team last year with the Benjamin family and there’s no greater joy than getting to play baseball during the summer with a bunch of 7 or 8 year-olds and getting to share my faith and tell them about Jesus. It’s an added bonus and probably the best part.
Q: What is something that you hope these kids will learn this summer?
Rebecca: Gosh, I think if anything how to play softball. I think the skills that they learn and just as a team, working together with other people and other girls that they may not know. Getting to know them and cheering each other on and I think at the end, just knowing that they’re known and loved, and that somebody cares for them, and that they can do anything.
Q: Who is one of the biggest influences on your life?
Rebecca: My parents. I love them, and they’ve done a lot for me and sacrificed a lot for me to get me where I am today. Loved me well and provided for me.
Q: Why did you want to coach this age group?
Rebecca: I’m a teacher for 3-5 year-olds so I’m not really around the older kids, but I think part of it is that after t-ball they kind of start developing skills and they’re pretty independent and so you’re just teaching them those skills. There is something about 7-8 year-olds and they’re fun to coach. They’re an enjoyable age group and bring a lot of joy. I think they’re able to communicate and they don’t necessarily need their mom and dad right behind them.
Q: How do you feel the game of softball improves players #BeyondTheField?
Rebecca: Well it motivates them, and it makes them push themselves to get out of their comfort zone and learn that they can do a lot of different things they may not have thought of before. It makes them work hard and develops something inside of them to try new things.