Sunday, December 21, 2008

New Sponsor!


I am thrilled to announce that Line Drive Baseball Academy is sponsoring me! It's a baseball player's dream to have a place to practice during the cold, winter months, and Line Drive is providing me with free indoor rental space! I am so grateful to have a home away from home. I practice 6-days a week, so this sponsorship is saving me hundreds if not thousands of dollars. The owner is a genuinely nice guy who went out of his way to help me. I can't thank you enough Bill!

Line Drive is located at 6501 W 65th St. in Chicago, IL. It's a great facility with dirt pitching mounds, batting cages, & top-notch instructors. I started going there because their prices are much better than any place around. If you play ball in or around Chicago, check them out!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

2009 Hong Kong International Phoenix Cup

I am so excited to be representing North America at the 2009 Hong Kong International Phoenix Cup. There are not many international women's baseball tournaments that exist, maybe two total, so this is truly an opportunity of a lifetime. We will be playing teams from Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, and Australia. I am training hard so I can help my team win the gold cup.

Almost more important than winning, is the global networking that will occur. We all have a common goal of further developing women's baseball. There is so much we can learn from these other countries. Asia is way ahead of us in terms of organized women's baseball. Japan has girls baseball leagues, competitive high school and college teams, and even a woman that will play for a professional men's baseball league.

America has not quite embraced the idea of women playing baseball. Here, it is illegal for a woman to play in the major leagues. We are seemingly condemned to playing softball. One of our goals as a team, is to invite international teams/players to national tournaments in the states. There is a pro-league in development right now. In order for it to work, it would have to generate enough interest from fans to make a profit, and recruit enough talented players to create solid, competitve teams. If it does happen, my dream of playing professional baseball may finally come true!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Sponsorship Packet

I need to raise about 3Gs to play ball in Hong Kong in February, so I put together this sponsorship packet. It has a bunch of info about me and my history in baseball. If anyone wants to help out, donations can be made through paypal to jliu7@sbcglobal.net or through my fundraising website. If you know of any businesses that might want to sponsor, please forward them the packet. Thanks for your support!

Find more photos like this on CheckSwing.net

Newspaper Article

Here's a link to an article my local paper wrote about me.

Going to Hong Kong!

I am so psyched! I've been invited to play in the 2009 Hong Kong International Women's Baseball World Cup!!! I'm playing for the North American Liberty Belles. We'll be playing against some of the top teams from Japan, Taiwan, Australia, Hong Kong, and Korea. Now, I just need to raise $3000!

Thanks to family and friends, I am now $2,730 away from my goal, yipes! Guess I have a ways to go. I'm not getting any younger, so I'm taking every opportunity I get to play ball while I still can! I put together this sponsorship packet. Please send it to everyone you know! Every dollar gets me closer to my goal. Individual donations can be made through paypal, to jliu7@sbcglobal.net.

I may have to take out a loan, but one way or another, I WILL play ball in Hong Kong!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

New Blog!

I created this blog to keep family, friends, fellow ballplayers, and sponsors up-to-date with my life in baseball. This is my first blog page, so I hope I do this right! Enjoy everybody!