By Kathy Chouteau
With help from San Francisco Giants legend Mike “Tiny” Felder and Chevron Richmond employees, Richmond Junior Giants softball players recently learned how science and math play essential roles in their sport at Willie Mays Field at Nicholl Park.
Chevron Richmond and the Giants Community Fund host the on-the-diamond STEM lesson annually. Activities such as “The Giant Launch” are used to teach local youth concepts like trajectory, matter, mass and angles.
This STEM program is helping players better understand batting concepts, said Jerry Anderson, coach for the Junior Giants softball team. Anderson said he often tells his players, “’You got to put some geometry on that swing,’ meaning you’ve got to take some angles on what you’re doing, instead of just taking a hard, brute swing.”
At this year’s event, Chevron Richmond worker AnnaLaura Arrendondo took the lead on the STEM education, while Felder, winner of the Giants’ Willie Mac Award, named for team legend Willie McCovey, offered pro tips, autographs and photos with the excited young athletes ages 7-13 years old. Felder grew up in Richmond’s South Side off 17th Street between Maine and Virginia avenues and played on the same Nicholl Park baseball fields as the Junior Giants.
“Once you play and your career is over, you want to pass it on to the next generation,” he said. “For me, being here is showing people from here that, you too, can make it as well.
Arrendondo, a Richmond resident, said she also volunteers to pass on knowledge to younger generations. The STEM event provides an opportunity to give young athletes “the right tools, to support them and to tell them that they can do it,” whether that means competing on the softball field or someday becoming a chemical engineer like her.
During the STEM event, each child received a San Francisco Giants branded soft baseball to take home—just like the ones they used in “The Giant Launch” activity—as well as a “Trent the Techron” collectable toy car from the Chevron Car series. Felder signed car cases for numerous players.
Also on hand at Nicholl Park were Juliet Don of Chevron and the Giants Community Fund Board of Directors; Brian Murphy, also of the board; Stephanie Vasquez, Fund staffer and team coach; Edith Deleon, team ambassador and Veronica Robles of Chevron.
The Giants Community Fund helps administer the Junior Giants program and recently hosted the Richmond Junior Giants at the San Francisco Giants’ ballpark during batting practice. Richmond bears the distinction of being one of the Junior Giants very first teams. Chevron has been supporting the Giants Community Fund for more than three decades, and together, they look to support the Junior Giants on not only softball, but also character development, education and confidence.
