| DeKalb family uses baseball as a bond
by Brian Egeston
be@brianwrites.com
The Boden family, foreground from the left, Stephanie, Scott, Lauren. Background from left, Allison, Michael, Mary and Susanne. Photo by Brian Egeston.. |
Mary Boden grew up in California where she was not allowed to play organized baseball because there were no programs available for girls. She’s gotten her revenge four times over.
The United States law known as Title IX was enacted in 1972 stating that “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
Title IX laid the foundation for organizations to implement programs for girls. Those programs never anticipated the impact sports would have on the Boden family. All four Boden girls are starting infielders for the softball team at Lakeside High School.
“They started playing baseball at age 4 ½ because I couldn’t,” said their mother Mary Boden. “There was no program where I grew up for girls. They loved it.” Twelve years later the sisters are still loving it.
Team Boden consists of a set of triplets (in chronological order) Lauren, Stephanie and Allison. Two years later, Susanne joined the brood. The Boden family mascot and spark plug is 11-year-old Michael.
When team Boden takes the field, it’s easy to decipher their places on the family tree. Their jersey numbers coincide with their birth rank, except Michael, who stands out as the only boy. Lauren, the oldest, wears jersey number one and so on.
The revelation that Mary was pregnant with triplets bought mixed responses. “I handled it a lot better than [my husband Scott],” said Mary. “I thought that my financial plan was out the window,” Scott Boden said with a laugh. The triplets arrival was not without complications.
The girls wear their birth challenges like badges of honor. “I wasn’t breathing,” said Stephanie, who arrived second. “My lungs weren’t fully developed,” Allison, the third arrival, explained in the girls’ never-ending game of one-up. “I was perfect,” said Lauren. At birth, the infants weighed four pounds, two and a half pounds and one pound respectively.
The girls kept playing baseball until they were 14 and caught the eye of a high school varsity softball coach who tried to recruit them for his softball team. Mary was torn between leaving the girls in baseball, letting them play travel baseball, or moving them into softball. At the time, Scott and Mary were working full time and their schedules could not accommodate the hectic pace that travel baseball demands. As long as the girls remained competitive, they would keep playing baseball—with the boys. Lauren plays junior varsity baseball at Lakeside. She pitches. “The last thing you wanna be is a boy’s father who just got struck out by a girl,” said Scott. Collectively, the family plays more than 200 games a year. Lauren holds the Guinness Book World Record for the fastest baseball pitch ever recorded by a female, according to Scott.
Lauren said teams facing Lakeside junior varsity baseball team for the first time underestimate the squad’s ability when they see girls on the field. “They say ‘Oh you guys must suck ‘cause you’ve got girls on your team.’ And then we beat them,” said Lauren.
In middle school, all four made the junior varsity softball team for Lakeside and made the varsity team as a freshmen. “One of the things about these girls, is that the actually do the work to get better so they don’t lose their spots,” said Scott.
The Bodens’ love for America’s favorite pastime is rooted in the desire to have family time. When the girls where smaller, Scott, a professor of orthopedic surgery at Emory, said he often arrived home late from work and it was convenient to play baseball in the driveway, teach his daughters how to throw and catch.
“Eventually they started hitting a little bit too far, and we started driving to the school, then it got tough to play at night.” The clan eventually constructed a practice facility so they could play and practice at night. “It was something we could all do as a family,” said Scott. The crew loaded up on Sunday afternoons and despite the age difference, they all played together. Older siblings took batting practice while the Boden fledglings practiced fielding the hits.
The baseball bonanza nearly had an illeffect on the youngest Boden. “I thought baseball was a sport for girls because I only saw my sisters play it,” explained Michael. The youngest of the brood had some resentment for the sport at first, but quickly warmed to it and now plays travel baseball with Druid Hills. When the lone son is not playing baseball, he’s operating a very small business and volunteering. Michael runs the Vikings softball Web site, he works part time as a PA announcer, runs the scoreboard occasionally, serves as the team photographer and sells sports photography produced with a professional grade camera. He’s also brazen enough to strike partnerships with high-profile people.
“I was actually trying to merge with Robert Kiyosaki, who’s the writer of Rich Dad Poor Dad,” said Michael. “The deal entailed basically a Web site for kids about money. I got in touch with his people, and they’re still getting back to me,” Michael said with Trump-like ambition.“When I was in the delivery room, he just babbled,” said Mary. “He hasn’t stopped yet.”
One might assume that a family like the Bodens is a paradigm of overachieving geeks. But the crew is a well-adjusted troop who enjoys a range of interests including dogs, saxophones, basketball, volunteering and cooking. Michael admits he’s routinely thrown out of his sisters’ rooms. Each day is a new event in sibling rivalry.
Allison won the girl’s DeKalb County golf championship in 2007 by four strokes ahead of her older sister Stephanie, who finished second. Susanne plays basketball for Lakeside. When asked who’s the smartest, all five throw their hands in the air proclaiming the title. But mom is the deciding factor. “They’re all pretty comparable. None of them have ever brought home a B [or worse].” Michael, the family’s public relations representative, has a simple explanation for the success. “It’s the water,” he said.
“Sports helped tremendously,” said Mary. “It’s given them a lot of confidence and helps them schedule their time. And the fact that they’re competing against each other helps.” Scott said that having parents as role models who work hard at what they do, gives the children a standard to shoot for.
The achievement of family cohesiveness has not been without challenge. Scott and Mary have all but given up their spare time and abundant sleep is something Mary learned to do without years ago. With five kids, even on what would normally be a comfortable income, Scott said he had to take on consulting work to make ends meet. When he worked as a surgeon and a traveling lecturer, there was very little time for family. The sacrifice for family, Scott explained, left little time to develop relationships with friends.
With four girls under one roof it goes without question that a father might have some concerns about future events such as proms and weddings. “I don’t worry about that stuff,” said Scott. “They’re only 16 now and they’re not getting married until they’re 30. That’s so far off that I don’t even have to think about it.”
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