Jordan Garcia

I started playing in the Natasha Watley league when I was 6 years old. I had already played a season of soccer and a season of tee ball at one of the parks and this was my first season playing softball. My mom said I mostly picked flowers and asked for snacks but one of the student coaches told her that I was a natural.

My mom said she told her: “Jordan is going to be spending a lot of time in the parks because she is going to be good”. I LOVED it. Everything about it was so much fun being around girls that became my best friends, having coaches that looked like us it was all just so cool.

I remember my very first NW Coach. Her name was Brooke and she went to Hampton University. She was beautiful and tall and I remember just wanting to be like her. That was my best summer. I have played in the Natasha Watley league every summer since then. I even won a championship.

Softball changed my life. I remember when I began to look into playing travel ball and Ms. Watley gave me the best advice: “To be myself”. I’m sometimes shy and it takes some time for me to feel comfortable but I took that advice to my tryout, made the team, and never looked back. I just completed my first complete year of travel ball, I have a 3.4 GPA my batting average is a .444 and I had an ERA of 2.74 at 11. My fastball was 52 mph and my change up was 36 mph.

My dream is to compete on the college level and be one of the student coaches and hopefully intern for the NW foundation. My family doesn’t have much but softball and the Natasha Watley league changed my life forever. I appreciate everything I have gotten from this program and for giving girls like me, that

live in neighborhoods like mine, a shot at something bigger.

I will forever make you proud