Tampa Tarpons manager Rachel Balkovec watches from the highest rungs of dugout, while making her debut as the Tampa Tarpons minor league manager Friday in Lakeland, Fla.
Phelan M. Ebenhack / AP
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Phelan M. Ebenhack / AP
Tampa Tarpons manager Rachel Balkovec watches from the highest rungs of dugout, while making her debut as the Tampa Tarpons minor league manager Friday in Lakeland, Fla.
Phelan M. Ebenhack / AP
Rachel Balkovec, the first woman to manage an MLB affiliate grouptook home the victory for the Tampa Tarpons on Friday.
Balkovec, 34 years old, was broken glass ceiling behind glass ceiling. She was the first woman to become a full-time minor league strength and conditioning coach, and subsequently, the first woman to serve as a full-time tournament hitting coach. small.
On Friday, when the New York Yankees’ Tarpons played against the Lakeland Flying Tigers – affiliated with the Detroit Tigers – the crowd cheered her name. Balkovec’s Tarpons beat the Flying Tigers 9-6.
“I’ve never heard my name called out like that,” Balkovec said, according to The Associated Press. “It was fun. Again, I see, like I see me sitting in the stands, regardless of whether it was 15, 20 years ago, and so it’s really cool.”
Before he started playing baseball professionally, Balkovec played softball in college. In January, she told NPR that she is not a baseball fan, which may “dazzle some”. Instead, it was the minor league system that attracted her.
As a fitness and conditioning coach at Louisiana State University, she remembers hearing players talk about teenage kids.
Balkovec begins: “Their story of the experience of small tournaments and eating hot dogs before the game as well as training in the YMCA in random towns in the country,” Balkovec began. “And I just thought, ‘Wow.’ Like, I don’t know, even as a college softball player, the vast, incredibly long, and zigzag journey these athletes have to go through.”
Fireworks and an autograph session mark the end of Friday night’s game in Lakeland, Fla.
“It’s strange, like I’ve always had a very strong vision, not specifically this is possible, but I’ve always had a strong vision for my life and understand that I can make an impact. really big no matter what field I’m in,” Balkovec said.
