Welcome to our website

DOLLS exist to serve the girls in the Downers Grove community by providing opportunities for playing softball and developing softball skills. The travel softball branch of DOLLS exist to serve the girls within the program who want opportunities to develop and play on a higher level than may be available to them in the in-house program. Whereas some programs in the area have developed around the idea of building a strong travel softball presence and recruit broadly for this purpose, our program is rooted in the tradition of providing positive and instructive softball for our community and is respectful of that tradition.

The DOLLS Rebels program is focused upon helping girls develop the skills that will enhance their enjoyment of the game and position them to play softball on a competitive level. Our goal is to help them get “softball in their bodies” so that their muscle memories will ensure solid mechanics and their minds are trained to play intelligent softball. These things will serve them as they continue with competitive softball whether they are playing within the travel program, their high schools or colleges. Our program is progressive in the sense that each year builds strategically on the preceding years. A very high percentage of girls who continue through our program go on to compete successfully in their high schools and colleges.

In the younger levels (10u and 12u) we have three primary objectives. One, each girl will develop a positive self-image in terms of softball (she will feel good about herself as a softball player). Two, each girl will acquire the correct throwing, fielding and hitting mechanics. Three, each girl will be exposed to balanced play in the infield and outfield. Our rationale for this is simply that it is too early to tell which girls will end up being better outfielders or infielders. Thus, we want to help them develop such that both options will be realistically open to them. This differs from some programs in that we strive for balanced playing time among all players in terms of how much they play and where they play. At this level each girl has one primary in-field position and one primary outfield position (pitchers and catchers will all play another infield position as well). Accordingly, each infield position has three girls that play it (assuming a 12 girl roster). Our approach is to improve the quality of play through improving the skill of the players versus improving the quality of play by playing some girls and not others. The short term cost to this approach is that we may not win as many games, especially in the first part of the season, as teams that do require the same balance. However, the long term benefits to the individual girls and to the program justify this cost to us. The individual girls acquire a broader range of skills and the program develops a broader range of girls with diverse skills.

Beginning with the 14 teams, girls increasingly specialize such that they have either a primary outfield position or a primary infield position. Similarly, some girls will have more playing time than others during tournament play, though we still seek to bring balance by allowing girls who did not play as much in a tournament to play more during practice games.

By 16u, our playing philosophy begins to look more like traditional travel teams in that playing time is based upon the player’s skill and the teams need. A timeline for which skills are taught and at what age level they are taught is provided in a separate handout.

Rebels seek first to meet the needs of the girls in our community and/or those who have participated in our in-house program. Having said this, Rebels also recognizes the benefit integrating girls from outside our community in measured degrees. As a rule of thumb, Rebels seeks to constitute teams with at least 70% of the girls from Downers Grove and/or those who have participated in our in-house program.

Rebels is primarily funded through player fees. However, these fees are supplemented by sponsorships, team fund raisers (e.g., sponsoring tournaments), a cooperative arrangements with the in-house program (e.g., clinics provided to the in-house program).

Learn more about our organization by visiting our history. Please direct any inquiries about our teams to dpulchinski@yahoo.com.