We had a Fantastic Fun weekend in Binghamton, NY! We had our 2nd to last camp of the year... it makes me a bit sad thinking about it. We had 400 awesome campers and their families. We packed the dome! It was such a wonderful environment, we had tons of fun! Its always great coming up to the Northeast, seeing the excitement for fastpitch. I am so grateful to all who came and participated! Thank you to Lou Bishop for having us up here. We look forward to coming back next year! Here are some shots from the the festivities!

This crew below is the unit! They make it happen! Family & friends... well they are all family! Well, minus the chef! ;) They are the ones who sacrifice so much, they have allowed me to make my dream of running my own camps a reality. Let me tell you, they are beyond selfless, so giving, so loving, so of so much. They are always there to do this, they are the foundation and the glue to the JF Softball Camps. We are so forever grateful and forever in debt to this crew! Thank You and We love you!
(I know its a lil' corny being in a Japanese Steak House but its the only shot I have of everyone!)



These are my girls! You know those girls who know you inside out! Those girls who you can always count on! Those girls who tell you what you need to hear not just what you want! They are way more than teammates they are best friends! These girls are above and beyond, I love them like sisters! My besties!!! They give me the warm fuzzies! XOXO



I love this shot! My dad and I talking shop at the pitching station! I'm so blessed to have him come work my camps! He is my backbone! I would not be where I am today without him. He is my confidence when mine is gone. He tells me what is right, not easy, but right. A man of integrity, a man of knowledge, he has impacted my life beyond words. He continues to amaze me everyday! I love you dad!



Bergie! What can I say, she is Bergie! One of the best people I have ever met! I love her, admire her, am in awe of her, am so grateful for her and her friendship! And she just so happens to be the most blinged out softball player of all time for Team USA, 4xOlympian!


Mac Attack-52 hitting bombs in the dome! That's what I call her! She is incredible! Inside and out! So caring, so funny, so lovable, so giving, so sharing, I LOVE her! She is one big heart (52) one big muscle!



Another shot of camp! Good times!



Thank you, Binghamton, NY!
Keep Dreaming & Believing! Til' next time!
#27

Well after a couple of months of little physical activity, its time! My belly is where I gain my weight first and well its a little more than it was or a little looser. Never a good thing. After a chocolate malt yesterday, I knew it was time! Time to start it up and start getting after it!

Enough excuses... My mind has been telling me I don't play again til June, I needed a break. But I have to fight the funk! Fight the excuses. I know I am a happier and healthier woman when I work out. Its a sense of accomplishment, pride, empowerment, strength, and so much more.

Its always the first couple of days that hurt the worst and are the hardest to get going. My body however is in desperate need of physical activity. I find myself slowly slipping, slipping into this lazy funk mode. Especially as the holidays approach. I have baked way too many batches of cookies and brownies in the last 2 months. The holidays do this to me every time. Oh, how I love this time of year! Family, Friends, & Food! I made the decision, and yesterday I started the journey. Its always the journey you remember, the victories are great but its all about the journey.

I ran about a mile in between some circuit work outs. 2 sets of 12 Step Ups, Walking Lunges, Quick Jumps, One Legged Squats, and some Straight Leg Deads. Not a bad start for day 1, I know its a little weak but I'll come around! You have to start somewhere, whether its half a mile or around the block! In between sets I would hit a bucket of balls right handed off the tee and then a bucket left handed. It felt good and I couldn't help but smile the whole time hitting balls!

I'm in pain today,  but I feel better both physically and mentally. Getting out and fighting the funk! I want to encourage those out there who are in need of a little kick or pat to get it going! We all know how great we feel after! Its just making time and doing it! Get after it! Fight the Funk!

Believing!
#27

I was sitting in the Doctors Office yesterday and was joined by 4 Golden Girls! They were chatting about their families, cancer, life, and getting old. I was tickled overhearing their sweet conversation about getting old!

Here are a few quotes from the Golden Girls.

"I don't know why they call these years the golden years, there is nothing golden about it." Another replied, "It's only golden for the Doctors, that's about it!"

One said, "My mother told me getting old is Not for Sissy's, and boy was she ever right."

Another, "If I would've known getting old was going to feel like this, I would've tried harder to stay young, that's for sure."

One said, "I'm shooting for 90," she was 73. Another replied, "Oh honey, good luck with that, you have a long ways to go! I am shooting for 2 more years and I will be the oldest to ever live in my family!"

It was such a cute conversation that I thoroughly enjoyed! If I make to my golden years I hope to have a golden sense of humor to go with it like these adorable beautiful Golden Ladies.

I had a golden week last week, spending it in the mid west with my Golden Grandmothers! They sparkle and shine of pure Gold. I feel so blessed to know them, have them, and spend time with them. I treasure every minute!

Here is a photo with them from Floyd Valley Hospital's 7th Annual Pink Ribbon Night! We had a great time raising money and awareness for the Fight against Breast Cancer. Thank you to everyone that joined us and support this great cause. I can not express my gratitude to all my family and friends in the mid west!

My mom's mother, Grandma Ada to my left and my dad's mother, Grandma Lois to my right.
They define beauty & grace!

Believing in the "Gold" of the Golden years!
#27

Hope you all had a Safe and Very Happy Halloween!!!









Love, Scooby Doo & The Gang

Last week was a tough one for me. It was the longest I've been away from Casey and Ace in a while, since our USA Softball Japan trip. Ouch, it felt like 3 weeks.

Although it was tough personally it was full of lots of good stuff! Last week I headed out to Baltimore for an appearance for Dermabond. It was at the Annual Nurses Convention, I was there to promote kids safety. It was a lot of fun meeting people from all over the US.

From there I headed to Flemington, New Jersey to Diamond Nation. What an incredible weekend! We had our first Finch's Ace's Tournament, with over 30 teams there to compete. Diamond Nation looks absolutely fabulous. "Big League" is the perfect explanation! Amazing. I never growing up and still rarely get to play on fields like these fields. First class! Even the concession stand, well... yea we have a Chef! Unreal. I was eating Buffalo Chicken burgers and sweet potato pie, yummy! Dangerous, yummy! And the JF Softball Academy is quite the place! The highlight for me was meeting our 14 under travel team, Finch's Ace's! These girls represented! They had such great attitudes and are a really fun bunch of girls! The Coaching Staff has done such a great job with them. I was so impressed! I'm not going to lie, a bit giddy! Pretty stinkin' cool to have our own travel team! I even coached a little first base, it got my juices flowing! We can't wait to expand over at DN! Such great stuff going on over there in Jersey, so proud to be a part! Thank you to the sponsors who have made it all happen! Big props to my girls, the Ace's for getting 3rd place in their first tournament! Way to go!



Check out these Ace's! Here they are! Finch's Aces!  You can check out their Weplay team page here:  Finch's Aces



The Ace's Staff, full of Ace's! My girls Kathy & Ami! They have done such a incredible job at the JF Softball Academy, Ace's, and so so so much more!







With Jack Cust Jr. and Jack Cust Sr. I am so grateful for their partnership. Jack Cust has had his Academy for 10 years now, they have done such a phenomenal job helping advance baseball in the East Coast. I am blessed to have partnered with them for Diamond Nation and the JF Softball Academy.

We are having a Coaches Clinic Dec 5th and Players Clinic on Dec 6th at Diamond Nation. Check it out at DiamondNationConvention.com Leah Amico, Andrea Duran, and my dad Doug Finch will be joining us at the Convention! Hope to see you there!

From Jersey, headed into NY City for a productive, busy couple of days, which ended with a bang at the Women's Sports Foundation Dinner. Taped some footage for We Play, met with MLB.com for MLB Pulse, visited Audemars Piguet... beyond fun!

The WSF Dinner, what a night! It is always so inspiring and an incredible honor to attend. My highlights were walking the red carpet with Annika Sorenstam, saying hello to Pat Summit, visiting with Billy Jean King, dining with the lovely ladies of ESPN, catching up with all the athletes, meeting my girl Emily, and so much more! You always leave fired up knowing there is always more we can be doing! Thank You Billy Jean King and the WSF for all you've done and continue to do!

From NYC, headed out to Kentucky to attend the Dudley Annual Sales Meeting. I was able to meet all the dealers and reps. I have enjoyed being part of the Dudley team and look forward to some great things in this partnership ahead. They have been awesome to work with, its been fun testing out all sorts of softballs, seams, covers, and etc.

Now well... Reunited and it feels so good! So good to hear mommy nonstop, loving it! Ace gets so happy to have his mom and dad in one place... can't blame him! I better get back to boys!

Little Rock, Arkansas here we come this weekend. Camp #4 for the Fall! Let the good times roll! Can't wait to see my girls/Coaches, the Battin' Babes, and all the campers this weekend! Spots still available, come and join us!

Stay tuned for the revealing of Ace's Halloween Costume!

Go BLUE! Go DODGERS!!!

Continue dreaming & believing!
#27

We have been enjoying our off season to the fullest! Loving our time as a family! This is the time that we regroup and recover from our wild crazy in season schedules! We are having a ball, and not on the ball field, or at the ball park. Just hanging out enjoying life. We are so incredibly blessed to have this time together. Here are some great pics that are better than words to let you know what we've been doing.


Ace & Daddy petting "Fix It, Blondie," at the race track!


Family pic at the Circus! Oh my gosh, Ace had a ball! Okay... me too!


Ace & Casey fishing... its scary to admit but Ace has it in his blood!


Our lil' stunt man, four wheeling away!


Casey & Ace's biggest catch so far of the off season!

We have been mixing in a few JF Camps too! We are half way done for the fall and winter. We've hit Sioux Falls, Virginia, and Sacramento. What a blast we've had at each stop! Thank you to all the many have made it such a great environment and experience! Here are some pics from the camps!


Andrea Duran, Laura Berg, Me, Mac Vandergeest, and Toni Mascarenas! My go to girls! They are the best! We've had such a blast! I am SO lucky and blessed to have them help out with camps! This is in Virginia at a BBQ place. Yes, that's a wild boar in the center!


Sam Bannister, Toni, me, Casey (yes, he actually went to camp, he made my weekend!), Jenae Leles, Alicia Hollowell, and Mac. This was the Coaches for Sacramento Camp plus Vicky Galindo. A great group and we had fun even with the heat of 104!


The girls again in Sac! Check out our new mesh shorts in the pic! Cute and comfy!

Our last 3 camps of the year are filling up quick, make sure to get registered asap!
October 24-25 Little Rock, AR
November 14-15 Binghamton, NY
December 12-13 Rochester, MN
register at www.jenniefinch.com

In between camps, I've been traveling a little bit. It hasn't seem to slow down too much, which is a good thing! Its not always easy leaving, well never easy, but I've had some incredible opportunities.

Visited with Mizuno, in Georgia. Had some wonderful meetings going over products, checking out whats coming up next. I feel so blessed to be able to be a part of the Mizuno brand & family. Its great to talk product, give feedback, see new designs, pick colors, and see what new technologies they have come up with. Lots of exciting stuff and I'm excited and grateful to continue my relationship with Mizuno.

Headed out to Bristol, Conn to the ESPN campus. It is huge, its always fun to visit and be on campus. You never know who you are going to run into Larry King was there the same day we were! Even had the chance to pitch to host Jay Crawford from First Take. We had a good time.

I was there to encourage people, players, Coaches, teams to join Weplay.com. Its a safe, great way for teams and players to have a home on the web. Check it out and join! I brought a camera with me during the ESPN shoot from a couple weeks ago and posted pics to @Weplay: http://tinyurl.com/yccdlsp.

I headed up north for another trip to NY, for a satellite media tour. Announcing my title of Commissioner of the Mexican Avocado League. Here is a shot from the set, I felt like Rachel Ray. Check it out along with many great recipes at www.theAmazingAvocado.com

Looking forward to more fun with the family! I will be heading back to NJ & NY in a few days!

Heading out to DiamondNation for a JF Tournament this weekend, can't wait! The Women's Sports Foundation Dinner & Gala is next Tuesday night, always one of my favorite events of the year! Hope to see you there!

Dreaming, Believing & Enjoying!
#27

Oh my goodness! What a blast we had in Virginia for camp! We had such an amazing turnout! More than 2,000 people were there to share in the festive camp experience! Moments like these prove to me our sport has a bright future! No matter what vote, Olympics or no Olympics!

We had over 2,000 people and over 400 campers eager and excited to learn about this game and about the game of life! Its about having dreams and believing in those dreams! Part of my continuing playing is for these young girls. I still want them to know that just because we are not in the Olympics there still is that dream of wearing USA!

Weekends like this are so overwhelming! Amazing! I love this game and I love the bright future of it! Thanks for another incredible camp!






Heading out to Atlanta to meet with Mizuno, then NY for WePlay!

Next camp will be in Sacramento, California Sept 26 & 27! Spots are still available, its our only stop on the west! Looking forward to it!

Dreaming & Believing!
#27

I can taste it and oh how sweet it is already! Even sweeter than my birthday cake Thursday night! Casey finished up Monday... its been a long one, but a blessed one!

We had our first camp to kick off the fall in South Dakota. We had such a blast! Thanks to all the many people who helped to put on a fun weekend! Register on my website for a camp near you!

I headed to Broxton, Mass this weekend. Went out to announce my partnership with On Deck Sports! Excited about my signature line of pitching mats and the partnership with such an innovative company, Ondecksports.com

Next weekend we are headed to Virginia for Camp #2, and its sold out! Looking forward to another exciting weekend of camp!

My roots are in the mid west, so Ace and I decided to stay and visit with my Grandma's and his Great Grandma's! Its amazing to even say Great-Grandmas! It brought tears of joy to my eyes numerous times. We are so blessed to have 2 incredible, beautiful grandmothers to share so many treasured memories with! Its always so hard to say goodbye! Here are some pictures from the wonderful few days!









I celebrated the big 2-9 on September 3rd.! Time is just flying by! It was lovely to be able to celebrate with my grandmothers and then the Daigles that evening in Texas! Here is a shot of Ace and I after a long day of travel! And thanks to my sis in law, all 29 candles!



Thanks for all the many sweet, generous, and thoughtful birthday wishes! We are so very blessed! We thank the Lord for each and every day as it is a gift, the present!

Can't wait to see Casey even if its for a few minutes before taking off again! :)

Dreaming & Believing! Off season here we come!
#27

Saturday was a great night for the Bandits! We clinched 1st place in the league beating Thunder 1-0! Stacy May hit a blast in the 1st inning for our lone run, which was enough for the win! Thorson was lights out on the mound for us!  She was solid all the way through, what a night she had! I made it in for the last 2 outs for the save. I want to wish my teammates a big CONGRATS! They have worked so hard all season! Go Bandits!

We had 1 more game against Thunder on Sunday to finish the 2009 NPF League Play.  We won 10-4! Now we head over to Akron for the playoffs that begin on Thursday! Check out how you can join in the great softball and fun at www.profastpitch.com

We look forward to competing hard against the best in our sport!

Ace and I snuck out to the city the other morning with some dear friends for a picnic in Lincoln Park! We had so much fun, it was such a beautiful day! We were in awe watching the Air Show and even took a quick stroll through the Lincoln Park Zoo! We are loving the Chicago Summer!

Ace is having a blast with our Bandit Family! So much fun, there is lots of kids around and he is enjoying every second of it! Everyone is so sweet to him! He can not wait for the bus ride with his girls! Oh, how he loves the team bus, it gets him fired up! We are so grateful for the many great relationships we have through this great game!

This summer has flown by! We are rooting Casey on from afar! He is having a great year and we are so proud of him! We look forward to being with him full time when the season ends. You can follow him at www.roundrockexpress.com It will be great to have some family time together the rest of his season and the off season!

Our Softball Camps are filling up fast! Very exciting and fun! I look forward to meeting all the eager campers! Our first is in 2 weeks in Sioux Falls, South Dakota! You can register on my camp page on my website www.JennieFinch.com We look forward to seeing you all there and can't wait to share our game with you!

Looking forward to next week and all that it has in store for us Bandits!

PS We need some Bandit fans over there in Akron!!! Hint Hint! :)

Believing!
#27

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- Softball will not be included in the programme for the 2016 Olympic Games as the 15 members of the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Executive Board decided Thursday at a meeting in Berlin. One of the seven sports in contention for the 2016 Games, softball was passed over in favor of golf and rugby as the list of possible additions was narrowed down to a final two candidates.

As you can see from above, it was a sad day for softball globally.

I was so saddened and disheartened by the announcement today by the IOC. So many have worked so hard playing, coaching, supporting, this great game of softball to get it where it is today. I, in my short time of 25 years playing this game have seen and experienced it transcend, transcend beyond imagination. Thanks to the many before us, past,present, and future. The opportunities, growing, expanding, becoming... finally. It is played in over 130 countries. We have never had a positive drug test in our sport. We send our best players. I could go on and on. In 2008, having Venezuela qualify for its first Olympic games in our sport is proof that we are growing. Japan getting its first Olympic Gold in our sport. It's Botswana qualifying for World Championships, these opportunities. What an amazing accomplishment for them all! Regarding Olympics, now we will not ever know Who would be there in 2012? Take Gold? 2016?

Luckily here in the US we are blessed! We are blessed with the incredible NCAA as a goal, a hope to achieve along with getting your education. We are so very very lucky! We have the NPF and PFX pro leagues to look forward to, to hope for. There will still be USA softball.

My heart is deeply saddened for the many countries who will not have this funding and the many opportunities that we have. Honestly, it will be tough to continue the growth globally that we have had with our sport without the funding and it not being an Olympic Sport. This makes my heart ache.

People asked me today if I would've played in 2016? I can't even begin to think about me in this situation. I've had the chance! Its the girls who didn't get the chance, the future! The millions of girls who play this sport world wide. Its the girls in Venezuela and Botswana that is who my heart aches for. As a female athlete and ambassador, your goal/hope is to create more for the future. It's to leave the game and know that you have seen it grow and now it is better because of your era. This makes me feel as though we let the future of our sport down. Opportunities now are not what they were, we today took a step backwards as a sport. For this, I am deeply hurt and sad!

Yet there is the future, there is those millions of girls out there... We will continue to fight the fight! I, being married to a MLB player especially realize how far we have to go, a long long ways. Ace at 3 years old has noticed it, "Mommy wheres your clubhouse?" Yes, I have seen how far we have come but today again I am reminded how far we still have to go!

There still will be a USA softball, so girls can still have the dream of wearing red, white, and blue! No, it won't be in the Olympics but it still will be the chance to compete for your great country. This is what we have to build upon. Our sport is too great not to prevail. We have to move on, continue to create opportunity for women in our sport all over the world! We look forward to hosting World Championships next year on our soil in Oklahoma City, next July! This is the event of the world, now "our" Olympics. As softball fans and players all we can do is play it and support it. Continue to prove to our world what a great sport we all know it is.

Young girls out there we pledge to do our best, give it everything we have! Our goal is for more, more opportunity for you than what we had/have! This being said next week there will be some incredible softball being played in Akron, Ohio. The NPF finals! For those of you who do not know, YES we have a pro league! The National Pro Fastpitch! Come out, support, be uplifted by watching some of the worlds best compete! We open up Thursday and finals are til Sunday finishing with a 1 Champion! I look forward to seeing you there!

Dreaming & Always Always Believing!!!!

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