Softball Co-Captain Evalyn Lee ’23 has been playing softball for seven years, but since coming to Andover, she has had to navigate playing for the Andover Softball team while playing on a travel team back home in Chicago. Although Lee has had to miss out on practices with her home team, she has enjoyed playing in two separate softball communities.
Lee shared the development of her leadership throughout her time on the Andover Softball team. She described what it was like to find her voice on the team and to shift into a more vocal position on the team.
“When I was a younger player on the team, I could never see myself becoming Captain… I was more quiet and just looked up to the older players, even though the Class of 2023, my grade, made up the majority of the team for basically all three or four years playing here. I still felt like I had to take a step back and listen to the older players and then gradually, I felt that my grade began to take more leadership and ownership,” said Lee.
Leila Boesch-Powers ’24 described Lee as “the definition of a leader,” as she uses her knowledge of the field and her lightheartedness to support her teammates.
“She always has an answer to everything or every question, every play, every…situation on the field… All three Captains are very knowledgeable of the game, but she [has] a very in-depth knowledge of the game that’s very inspiring. She also loves to crack jokes and it’s very much comedic relief. So I always enjoy talking to her and so does everybody else,” said Boesch-Powers.
Angie Ceballos Cardona ’25 highlighted Lee’s passion for the game and how it has positively impacted the people around her. When cheering for her teammates, Lee shows enthusiasm towards everyone on the team.
Ceballos Cardona said, “I think her spirit is something that really connects the team. She’s very passionate about the sport and about supporting everyone on the team. She’s always one of the people that are the loudest in the dugout and encourage people to cheer for everybody, not just like certain people that are friends, but everybody on the team.”
When describing her leadership style, Lee noted how “one-on-one interactions” are important to how she leads as a Captain. Lee also shared how she sees everyone on the team as a teammate and a friend, regardless of grade or leadership title.
“I’m not one to yell at a group and or tell people what to do. I like to talk to people one-on-one in more casual ways. I really view everyone on the team as an equal. That’s why I feel like leader is a weird word to me because I won’t talk down to freshmen on the team. I talk to all of them as if they’re the same age because I feel like a four-year age difference, like 18 to 15 [years old], that’s really not that big of a difference. I view everyone, all my teammates as just like my teammates, my friends,” said Lee.
Ceballos Cardona shared how much she has seen Lee improve throughout her time on the team. She attributes much of Lee’s growth to her ability to reflect and her willingness to learn from others.
“She’s very humble in the way that she’s really willing to learn from other people, no matter their experience or if they play the same position as her… She’s a very reflective, good player, and I think that’s why she grows so much every season. I think she’s definitely not the same player as she was last year, and I’ve seen so much growth within her… She generally works on her game and is not afraid to take criticism because she knows it comes from a good place,” said Ceballos Cardona.
