The HISTORY of Virginia Lady Eagles
The Virginia Lady Eagles softball team started as a dream in 1990. Two coaches and a financial man decided to set up an organization to help girls with an interest in softball get college scholarships. The first team was an 18U team. Money was raised by selling candy and doing car washes. Later on, we grew to two 18U teams and two 16U teams. We were winning most of our games but it was getting expensive. It was also determined that in order to travel and get our girls seen by the caliber of teams needed to get them college funding, we would have to come up with some idea for fundraising. One of the founding coaches approached his wife to help us fundraise by running a bingo game. She was already running a bingo game for another athletic organization. The first six weeks were slow with the new bingo fundraiser because of snowstorms, but soon we were making money so the girls could travel and start showcasing. We had become our own team sponsors.

In the next couple of years we grew by leaps and bounds. We had a Red and Blue 18U and 16U team, a 14U and a 12U team. The bingo fundraising was covering our expenses and we were having a lot of fun. The Board of Directors was composed of a President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Bingo Chairperson, and Managers from each team. Our board meetings lasted for hours and not much was being accomplished.

We later dropped the Managers from the Board and added three at-large directors. This effectively separated the softball and the business part of the organization. We also decided that no manager would manage a team on which his or her child plays.. This policy has seemingly given us a better quality of coaching and a higher class of teams.

In 1999, we took our 12U team to NSA Nationals and finished tied for 11th place in a field of over 100 teams. The next year, 2000, our 12U team finished 3rd at Pony Nationals. In 2001, both our 12U and 14U teams finished 3rd at Pony Nationals. In 2002, our 14U team finished in 5th place at Pony Nationals, our 16U team finished in 3rd place, and our 18U team co-hosted the ASA “A” Nationals in Salem, Virginia.

Parent participation was, and still is, a must in our organization. We request that parents volunteer to work bingo once per month to help generate the funds needed to operate our organization. We started paying for tournament fees and hotels for our out-of-town tournaments with the parent’s car pooling the girls to the prospective fields. For over fifteen years, we've paid for virtually all expenses for our teams to travel.

Our teams are year-round softball teams. We start our season in mid-August with tryouts. In the fall all of our teams practice and our 12U, 14U, and 16U play in local tournaments. Our 18U team continues to play in fall showcases through the end of October. With the cold weather we start winter fitness and conditioning programs. In the spring our younger girls start their regular tournament play and the older girls start their tournament season after completion of their high school programs.

We look at the entire picture when drafting a child into the organization. Our rigorous schedule and the physical demands alone make it critical that both the child and the parents are fully committed to our organization. The good news, the many rewards all of our players receive are well worth their hard work and dedication.

Virginia Lady Eagles Board of Directors