ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) — Keeping children active, structured, and off the streets is an ongoing commitment for some Albany community members. A new all-girls T-ball team aims to do just that, one girl at a time.

Without structured activities at a young age, children in Albany’s communities are more vulnerable to falling into the wrong crowd, an Albany teacher said. For girls, the options have been even more limited.

“You can’t wait ‘till middle or high school to try to get them on track of discipline,” Keiara Watson, parent facilitator and girls’ basketball coach at Alice Coachman Elementary School, said. “You build that structure early.”

Watson said young girls who wanted to play sports had two choices: play on a boys’ team or wait until they are older.

“The access was already limited,” Watson said, who is the mother of a 4-year-old girl. “If you’re not good enough to be in front of the boys, then you’re just going to be on the sideline sitting on the bench.”

Mashana Hawkins saw that gap firsthand. Her daughter played T-ball and basketball at Gillespie Park but was often one of only two or three girls on the team, and eventually stopped playing altogether.

Rather than accept the absence of an option, Hawkins created the Angels, Gillespie Park’s first-ever all-girls T-ball team.

“You don’t know you can do something if you’ve never seen it,” Hawkins said. “Sometimes they were cheering on the sidelines for cousins, brothers and friends, but it’s important for them to be cheered for as well.”

Watson, whose own daughter joined the Angels, says the team delivers something bigger than baseball.

“It’s way deeper than just playing the sport,” she said. “It’s a confidence builder. It’s a safe space.”

Gillespie Park Director Kennedy Miller said the new team is part of a broader push to revive the park and create more safe, productive activities for Albany’s children.

Hawkins said Saturday, March 7, is registration day at Gillespie Park, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Parents can register to sign their child up here: Team Angels

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