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About ABGSL

Our League

ABGSL offers recreational and competitive fastpitch softball for girls and gender-expansive youth in kindergarten through 9th grade. Founded in 1983, ABGSL is a nonprofit, all-volunteer league that offers a positive softball experience for all players. Our main recreational season runs each spring from March until June. We practice and play on fields in Albany and Berkeley, though we welcome players from across the East Bay. 

ABGSL also fields competitive travel teams—our Sting program—to play in tournaments in Northern California. Typically, ABGSL creates a 10U team and a 12U team for the summer and fall seasons. Some years, ABGSL forms a 14U team for spring that may continue to play together in summer and fall. Tryouts are open to all rec players.

Who We Serve

ABGSL provides a safe and empowering athletic experience for girls and gender-expansive youth from all East Bay counties.

Our league began in 1983 as a program for girls as athletes who were often excluded from other sports. From kids to coaches, parents, and board members, the entire ABGSL community has worked to create a culture of positivity and inclusivity where players can thrive. 

Forty years in, we are renewing our commitment to positivity,  inclusivity, and diversity by updating our policies to reflect our current community. We want to assure nonbinary and transgender players that they, too, belong here. Everyone deserves a safe space to participate in youth sports. 

Our Philosophy

Our guiding principles are simple:
•     Active participation for all. Players have fun as a team, participating equally on the field.
•     Sound skill development. With the help of good coaching, all players improve in ability during the season.
•     Parent involvement. Parents encourage good play in a good way, cheering for all players at games and never coaching from the sidelines. Parents contribute both on and off the field to making the team and the league successful for all.

We want all players to enjoy softball. What makes a sport fun is playing, not sitting on the bench, regardless of who wins or loses any particular week. We believe a team that wins by playing only its best players at key positions jeopardizes the development of all the players. We want all teams to start out with the same chances. Each year players are assigned to new teams with new teammates, so every team is fresh and different each season.

Our long-term success—spanning nearly 40 years—is due to a philosophy that embraces every player who wishes to play and encourages them to have a good time learning and playing the game of softball.

Our Commitment to Equity and Justice

We are a community organization made up of volunteers who care deeply about equity and justice. The Board of ABGSL fully supports the Black Lives Matter movement and the current nationwide push for racial justice. We know there are systemic barriers and racial inequities throughout our society, and that is true even in a local softball league. We will work to find ways to make ABGSL a more welcome home to all families and a stronger leader for checking white privilege. We are hopeful that this time of protest and listening brings about actual changes—big and small—to make our society stronger and our kids healthier and happier.

—ABGSL Board of Directors, Juneteenth, 2020