Less than 3 percent of female college student athletes are Latina or women of color, according to the ELLA Sports Foundation.
When Melanie Hernandez came across the ELLA Sports Foundation Instagram page last year, she asked to become an ambassador. The now 14-year-old then set up a clinic to help teach the younger generation of softball players with the help of her teammates.
“I'm a catcher and second baseman," Hernandez commented. "We're all helping, volunteering and helping with these little girls and just going through the drills with them and showing them our experience.”
Cornell University Division I softball player Lilly Travieso created the ELLA Sports Foundation to help other Latina athletes overcome obstacles and disparities faced by Latinos culturally and economically. It inspired Hernandez.
“When I was younger, I didn't really have these clinics," Hernandez expressed. "So, I didn't really get to experience this. I think it's really good for these girls to experience it because it's really helpful.”
“It was pretty amazing to have her see somebody in that path and then now be able to pass that along to people who came out to our clinic," Cesar Hernandez, Melanie's father, said.
“That's where ELLA comes in," Melanie's mother, Marlene Hernandez said. "This is a clinic that Melanie, as an ambassador, has been thinking of doing since she got on board with ELLA earlier in 2023.”
Saturday’s clinic was the first held by Hernandez and her teammates. The donations from the camp-goers go toward equipment for Hernandez and her teammates to help ease the burden of the cost of playing softball.
“Softball’s fun," clinic volunteer Sofia Murillo encouraged. "You meet people, so it is a great experience overall.”
Marlene Hernandez said the further away from Latino communities they traveled, the higher the cost of the tournament along with the disparities in Latina representation on the softball field.
“That's probably the biggest separation that the Latinas are facing is they don't have all the money to get the personal training, the side work," Cesar said. "It's all a lot of them rely on our practices or a clinic like this.”
The ELLA Sports Foundation helps not just with softball but all sports. The foundation has Yaneisy Rodriguez, a professional soccer player in Mexico, as an ambassador helping young female athletes in sports reach their highest potential.
For more information on ELLA's mission to support young Latina athletes in becoming leaders through sports or for ways to get involved, you can click here.
