The FAMU softball team has three new captains this year, and each brings something different that should help the Lady Rattlers be victorious in the 2011 season.
Having nine Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championships in their history, most recently in 2009, the Lady Rattlers are anxious to add more hardware to their trophy case.
This season they are led by tri-captains Jasmin Donaldson, Courtney Harold and Tenisha Dixon. Each was appointed for a different reason, the captains said.
Donaldson, a junior outfielder from Rockledge had to prove to her coaches she could get the job done. “I had to have a play every game like your last attitude,” Donaldson said.
This type of attitude quickly caught head coach Veronica Wiggins’ attention.
Donaldson has started since she was a freshman. Donaldson said she wants to not just win the MEAC Tournament but “Go further than we ever have before.”
Now that she is an upper classman. Donaldson said, “I will try to motivate the team and myself to do whatever it takes.”
Harold, a junior catcher from Detroit, had to work hard just to get an opportunity to play. “It was never easy for me,” Harold said.
Harold didn’t get on the field a lot her first two years. “I grew with time. I had to prove I understood what being a softball player meant on and off the field,” she said.
When she got her opportunity in last season’s MEAC tournament, she delivered – and gained the trust of her coach and her peers. Since Harold showed up with some big hits in the MEAC tournament last season, she hasn’t looked back.
Dixon, a transfer junior from University of Central Florida, started off on the wrong foot, she explained.
“At first, I was hard-headed, then I learned I had to be coachable,” Dixon said. “I learned I have to listen to coach Wiggins. She is trying to make me a great player.”
All three captains said they learned a lot from last year’s team leaders.
“They instilled us to bleed orange and green,” Donaldson said.
“Their demeanor on the field made them completely different people and we knew they were ready to play,” Dixon said.
The captains said they want people to be able to look in their eyes and know they are going to win.
Dixon, Donaldson and Harold said that’s the example they want to set for this year’s softball team.