Mo’ne Davis: Three Years Later

Philly girls rock!

So often, people flash onto the world stage and disappear before we get to know them. One-and-dones. One-hit wonders.

Not Mo’ne Davis. She won’t let us forget her name.

As a 13-year-old member of the Philadelphia Taney Dragons, Mo’ne Davis became the second girl, and the first African-American girl, to appear in the Little League World Series. She is the first girl to pitch and win a game and pitch a shutout in Little League World Series history.

HarperCollins Publishers

HarperCollins Publishers

Mo’ne also amassed an impressive list of honors and achievements in the wake of her World Series performances:

Time magazine chose her as one of 2014’s 25 most influential teens.

— She won the 2014 ESPY award as Best Breakthrough Athlete.

Sports Illustrated named her the 2014 Sports Kid of the Year.

— She recounts the story in her memoir, Mo’ne Davis: Remember My Name, coauthored with Hilary Beard.

— A Spike Lee documentary, I Throw Like a Girl, tells her story with professional polish.

What Have You Done for Us Lately?

Now 15 years old, Mo’ne still plays sports. Four sports to be exact.

A student at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia, Mo’ne plays for the school’s varsity basketball, soccer, and softball teams as well as basketball for Philly Triple Threat on the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) basketball circuit and baseball for the Anderson Monarchs Baseball Club.

Most recently, Mo’ne added another championship to her resume. Playing on the Philadelphia Phillies and representing the Mid-Atlantic region in the 2017 Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) World Series, Mo’ne and her teammates won the Junior Baseball Division Championship.

Although Mo’ne continues to excel in baseball, her first love is basketball, and her ultimate goal is to play in the WNBA. Several prominent colleges—include perennial champions UConn—have been watching her progress. Although she once expressed desire to play at UConn, in a recent interview with Anthony Castrovince of mlb.com, Mo’ne says, “I have a different playing style, an old-school playing style. I like to slow things down if the team’s on the run, get the ball moving a little bit.”

So, She’s a Talented Athlete. Big Deal.

Fine. Mo’ne is an athletic phenom. There’s more to life than athletics.

Absolutely. Mo’ne agrees with you.

“Hopefully, that’s not going to be the peak of my life,” Davis says of her Little League World Series experience in a recent interview with Owen McCue of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I have to keep going up and keep working hard and staying focused and just being myself.”

Photo by Lorie Shaull

Photo by Lorie Shaull

Despite all the accolades, she knows that her successes have come as part of a team, and she’s quick to give credit to her teammates and coaches. The 15-year-old honor-roll student also takes her responsibilities as a role model seriously. She points to hard work and dedication as keys to her success in life, not just in school and sports.

She also looks to the wider community. Mo’ne lent her name and support to M4D3 (Make A Difference Everyday), creating a collection of sneakers for children and women. Proceeds from the sale of Mo’ne-branded sneakers benefit Plan International USA’s Because I Am a Girl initiative, which seeks to aid girls living in poverty in developing countries.

At the 2014 Little League World Series, Mo’ne Davis captured our attention with her poise, charisma, and talent. Three years later, she is determined to prove that she is not a one-hit wonder.

Philly girls rock!

Throw Like a Girl

That used to be a pejorative jab.

If someone said you threw like a girl, ran like a girl, or did anything like a girl, that person had just hit you with a major insult. Now, thirteen-year-old Mo’ne Davis has taken that insult and wrapped it around herself in triumph.

Mo’ne indeed throws like a girl. A girl who fires a 70-mile-an-hour fastball, strikes out batters, abaseball-25761_1280nd pitches the first-ever shutout by a girl in Little League World Series history. I watched in amazement along with many others as Mo’ne Davis and the Taney Dragons of Philadelphia marched through the summer of 2014 straight into the Little League World Series. Like a true leader, she deflected much of the praise directed her way back toward her teammates. Yet she knows that girls and boys of all ages look up to her, and she embraces that role.

The first Little Leaguer ever featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, Mo’ne also threw the ceremonial first pitch (a strike, natch) before Game 4 of the MLB World Series, marched in New York City’s Thanksgiving Day parade, and was named SportsKid of the Year by Sports Illustrated Kids. Director Spike Lee created a commercial and documentary film about her. Albert Chen, who wrote the Sports Illustrated cover story said, “She’s a lot of things to a lot of different people, all of them good things: a totem for inner-city baseball, a role model for your 10-year-old niece, a role model for your 10-year-old nephew.”

Adults and teens alike can all learn invaluable lessons from Mo’ne.

Be Fearless.

Mo’ne started playing baseball, soccer, and basketball when she was seven years old. Steve Bandura, the local youth league coach, saw her tossing a football with some older boys and invited her to practice with the boys’ basketball team. After watching the seven-year-old master drills she had never before attempted, he knew she had the potential to be a special athlete. Later he invited her to join the Anderson Monarchs baseball team. Although she had never practiced basketball drills or worn a baseball glove, Mo’ne accepted Bandura’s challenges.

Work Hard.

Mo’ne won a scholarship to Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, where today she is on the honor roll. She commutes more than an hour each way to get to school, takes classes, and participates in three sports. Then, after arriving at home as late as 7 p.m., you know she must put in major study time to keep up her grades. Obviously, Mo’ne is gifted. But she doesn’t take those gifts for granted. She works hard to get better and better each day.

Set Your Sights High.

As talented as she is in baseball and soccer, Mo’ne says her best sport is basketball. As she proclaimed to the world dbasketball-158875_1280uring one of the many interviews she granted during the LLWS, Mo’ne would like to play basketball at the University of Connecticut—a women’s basketball powerhouse. Eventually, she would like to play in the WNBA, the women’s professional basketball league. For now, this remarkable eighth grader is playing varsity for the Springside girls’ high school basketball team.

And, oh yeah, she’s sinking three pointers like a girl.

Do you have a dream that you’ve been afraid to pursue?

It’s not too late. Go for it!