When I was in middle school, I played in the summer softball league for the city I lived in. I was what many people saw as the typical girl playing a sport though; I couldn’t throw a ball for the life of me, and I could not catch a ball just the same. My undiagnosed Attention Deficit Disorder would kick in and I would find myself getting bored and wanting to do something else half way through practice. I’m also not the most coordinated person you’ll ever meet; I can’t even walk up or down the stairs without falling. I commend all the women who can play sports; all the women who are coordinated enough to throw a ball, run around a track, bend and flip, and whatever else is out there for sports. To these women I say, “good for you!”

Eri Yoshida is a sixteen-year-old female from Japan who has been drafted to a newly independent amateur baseball league in Japan. At her age she already has a job; I’m 22, still in college, and trying to keep my head screwed on because of all the homework that is given to me each week. It’s easy to be jealous of her abilities but at the same time I’m so happy to see a woman, let alone a woman of her age, playing along side a bunch of males.

Yoshida, a 5-foot, 114-pound woman known for her knuckleball, was drafted just recently to the now co-ed Krobe 9 Cruise team. The last time I saw a co-ed team in the U.S. was when I went to my brother’s T-ball games years ago. Of course, I should warn you all that I’m not a sports fanatic, nor do I know anything about sports. But it doesn’t take a SportsCenter commentator to see that it is a new day in history for the Japanese culture, allowing women into the sports field to play with them. I hope that they continue the trend.

Yoshida is quoted saying “I never dreamed of getting drafted. I have only just been picked by the team and have not achieved anything.” She’s never achieved anything yet? She has achieved so much, and she’s only 16. She’s achieved getting a spot on a men’s baseball team, in a country where in the last 20-plus years, has only seen an increase in women in the workplace. That is quite an accomplishment on its own. I hope to see her do well in the big leagues.