Justine Siegal

Justine Siegal is an American baseball coach and sports educator who is particularly interested and involved in sports gender equity, and noted for her success in coaching baseball in contexts that were previously male-only.

Academic and Professional Background

Siegal holds a B.A. from St. Olaf College with a concentration in "Leadership: Religion, Military, and Baseball", an M.A. in Sport Studies from Kent State University, and a Ph.D. in Sport and Exercise Psychology from Springfield College (MA); her academic focus is in performance enhancement, sport management, coaching, gender equity, and youth sports. Siegal through her academic backgrounds as well as experience on the field has given her an edge above the rest allowing her to become a coach having a method of coaching players on the field and off in a classroom setting Currently, Siegal is the Director of Sports Partnerships at the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University.[1] As the director she is continues to work towards expanding the academic programs and relationships with Major League Baseball and other sports organizations. In addition, Siegal is the founder and executive director of Baseball for All, an organization that provides meaningful opportunities and instruction in baseball, especially for girls.[2]

Coaching Youth Baseball

In 2002, Siegal formed the Sparks, the first all-girl team to compete in a national "boys" baseball tournament. A documentary film, "Girls of Summer" (not to be confused with the 1988 film of the same title), was made about the team. Siegal is also the founder and director of the nonprofit organization Baseball for All, which works toward gender equity in youth baseball[3] by strongly encouraging and providing opportunities for girls to participate in baseball.[4] This programs works on giving girls the sources needed to participate in the sport whether it means becoming a player, coach, umpire, or filling other baseball roles in hopes that other communities will extend their baseball programs to girls. Along with coaching youth baseball, Seigal has worked with Springfield College as an assistant baseball coach, being the only woman coach in the collegiate baseball ranks[5] in the years of 2008-2010. In addition Siegal has been a coach and Technical Commissioner for the International Baseball Federation where she has coached for the World Children’s Team USA. This team went on to win gold at the Women’s Baseball World Cup.[6]

Coaching Men's Professional Baseball

Siegal in 2009, became the first female coach of a professional men's baseball team when she worked for the Brockton Rox as thefirst-base coach. In 2011, at the age of 36, was the first woman to throw batting practice to a MLB team, the Cleveland Indians during spring training.[7] She has also thrown batting practice to the Oakland Athletics, Tampa Bay Rays, St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Astros, and New York Mets.[8][9][10][11] Siegal has proven to be more than qualified offering various skills and talents to players, which has led to her next big career move being hired by the Oakland Athletics in 2015 for a two-week coaching stint in their instructional league, becoming the first female coach of a major-league baseball team.[12] David Frost, the A’s assistant general manager,stated that they we’re thrilled that Justine will be joining us for instructional league….she brings with her a wealth of knowledge and expertise from years of playing, coaching, and teaching the game and all of our young players will benefit greatly from her time in camp.[13] In response, Siegal has stated that she will do whatever they need[14] in order to provide a successful season for the A's.

External links

References

  1. ↑ Bio page at Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society
  2. ↑ "Baseball For All". Baseball For All. Retrieved 2015-11-28.
  3. ↑ Bio page at Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society
  4. ↑ "Baseball For All". Baseball For All. Retrieved 2015-11-28.
  5. ↑ "Justine Siegal". www.northeastern.edu. Retrieved 2015-11-28.
  6. ↑ "Justine Siegal". www.northeastern.edu. Retrieved 2015-11-28.
  7. ↑ "Breaking down barriers, one pitch at a time", Sports, Yahoo!, 2011-02-21.
  8. ↑ "Baseball Video Highlights & Clips", Siegal moves onto Athletics batting practice (Video), MLB.
  9. ↑ Advocate for Women in Baseball Finally Gets to Be One, The New York Times, Sports, Baseball, Pitcher, 2011-02-22, retrieved 11 October 2013.
  10. ↑ "2011 spring training: Cleveland Indians put first woman on MLB mound — for batting practice", ESPN, Go.
  11. ↑ Dream Comes True For Female Pitcher, NPR, 2011-02-23.
  12. ↑ A’s hire woman coach: Justine Siegal to be guest instructor By Susan Slusser Updated 8:26 pm, Tuesday, September 29, 2015
  13. ↑ "Justine Siegal first female coach in Majors". Major League Baseball. Retrieved 2015-11-28.
  14. ↑ "Justine Siegal first female coach in Majors". Major League Baseball. Retrieved 2015-11-28.
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