District hires softball coaches

Green River High School is one step closer to having a softball team with its recent hiring of a coaching staff.

The team will be lead by head coach Blair Aimone.

Aimone has several accomplishments in the softball world. She was most valuable player 2002-2004 at Sterling High School in Colorado, freshmen player of the year at Western Nebraska College and Chadron State outstanding defensive player of the year. Aimone was also team captain for multiple teams and was a student-athlete advisory committee member at Chadron State.

“We are extremely excited to start Green River High School softball with Blair Aimone at the helm.” Tony Beardsley, Sweetwater County School District No. 2 Athletics Director said in a press release. “Blair brings a high energy level and a great softball background to our program”

The assistant coaching staff will consist of Danielle Kendall, Mark Hyde, Alissa Davis, and Trin De La O. Kendall played for San Diego State University and in high school her team was ranked first in the nation. Hyde played for the College of Eastern Utah Baseball as a pitcher and a short stop. Davis was a Wyoming All-star Softball team member and a U18 State Championship team member. De La O played for the 82nd Airborne fastpitch softball All-American team and is the Green River Softball Association coach.

With this program being the first softball program at Green River High School, there is much excitement amongst coaches. Aimone said she is most excited to give back to the girls of the community and to teach them not only softball skills on the field but life long skills as well.

Aimone said she is looking forward to being able to build the program the way they want and need. She believes the biggest challenge is going to be getting kids and community members interested.

According to Beardsley, the idea to start a softball team came from community members more than two years ago. City recreational leagues were also pushing for another female sport on the high school level.

About a year and a half ago, Beardsley started working towards creating a team for GRHS. This was a very long process because of the amount of approval needed to start a new activity and to get a operational budget together proved challenging.

Beardsley had to gather information and research in order to even propose the idea. He needed to know how much the program was going to cost for equipment, staff and sustainability so that the program can continue to operate. Another big challenge was ensuring other school districts could afford to start the program as well, considering a curtain amount of teams are needed in order to compete.

Beardsley believes the further challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will be just as hard to tackle as it will be for other sports teams. Starting a new program hard enough but trying to do it in a way that follow CDC guidelines prevents a whole new list of obstacles to overcome. However, Beardsley is confident that the other sports teams as well as the new softball team will handle the complications just fine.

Beardsley believes that the softball program will benefit both the school and the community. The program creates a new opportunity for female student athletes and also provides something for the community to give their support and interest to.