Jul 28, 2009 by samir

Rising Sun Purple Penguins Go Way Off Broadway and Right Onto The Softball Field

Here at Sportsvite, we cherish the recreational athlete. These featured blog posts will show off different recreational athletes, teams, leagues, and sports from across the world to keep up the fun that you expect from us. Our Name is Sportsvite. We represent athletes. These are our stories.

This week’s featured team comes from a city well known for its baseball teams and theatre scene, New York. Sadly, the Rising Sun Purple Penguins (RSPP) makes me picture black-and-purple Japanese penguins choking on something fierce. However, this picture is far from the truth, as the RSPP are in fact the fierce ones. After talking to Matthew, the team captain and alpha-penguin, he explained to me that “a penguin is both adorable and seemingly harmless, but can, when provoked, have the ferocity of a tiger, especially when the community is threatened.” Stressing the idea of community, Matthew let me know that this softball team formed from the associated Off-Off Broadway theatre company, the Rising Sun Performance Company. So they’re not quite Broadway or Off-Broadway, nor are they Major League or Minor League baseball players, but this team is still a community of people with common interests who will play hard together to keep their community strong.

Matthew explained to me that although this is the first year the team has been put together, he sees “great chemistry” between his teammates, and feels that “with enough practice, [they] can make quite the impression going into the next season.” While some of the teammates have baseball roots that stem from little league up throughout college, others are playing softball for the first time. But one thing the team has in common is their ability to overcome adversity. Megan once tripped on her way to first, but pulled it off by executing a perfect slide, surrounded by an explosion of dust and dropped jaws, she turned a trip-and-fall to a trip-and-slide, and looked wonderful doing it. The fact that she was called out isn’t the issue here, people.But adversity comes in many different forms, and so far, the RSPP have always been able to adapt. Whether it be a player’s dog getting loose onto the field and chasing the ball, or Matthew’s failed attempt at catching a ball after bossing the rest of his team around, the RSPP community has been able to persevere through every hardship that has come their way so far.

Matthew loves using Sportsvite for organizational reasons. He likes that it has a “unified place that all players can go to for information and contact.” Additionally, if they ever needed players, Matthew knows that there are many postings on Sportsvite, so it wouldn’t be hard for them to fill any positions. In Matthew’s words, “What’s nice about it is that Sportsvite has a very user-friendly and warm feel to it, so it feels like there is always a home for our players to go to.”

On a final note, as an ex-college wrestler, I personally have no idea how to throw a ball, and have always been too scared to play softball. Taking a lesson from Matthew, “The best way to learn how to throw is just like learning how to do anything; practice.” Practice does make perfect, though according to Matthew, it’s the RSPP’s psychological harmony that makes them great. “Anyone has potential to be a good ballplayer, and I feel like with the Purple Penguins, we have that mentality. We’re not all great ballplayers, but we all realize that we have the potential to get out there and play good softball.” Thanks Matthew, we wish your team a long, prosperous life. Stay firm and keep the community strong.

Are you part of the Sportsvite rec sports community? If so, we’d love to hear about it! Shoot an email to our trusty blogger and wannabe Sportsvite “cutman” (bizarre we know) Samir at samir@sportsvite.com, and maybe you can be featured next!