EL SEGUNDO HERALD December 31, 2020 Page 3
Tiffanie Tolsma Uses Baseball
to Bring Her Community Together
By Kiersten Vannest
Drive through El Segundo, and you’ll
immediately notice its plethora of schools,
beautiful parks, and sports facilities. Children
rule the land, making up about a quarter of
the city’s population, according to the latest
census data. This year, though playgrounds
are roped off, gyms are shuttered, and schools
continue to be remote, it is rare that one
doesn’t hear the distinct sound of a baseball
bat hitting a ball over home plate somewhere
within the 5.5-mile area of the city. This is
thanks to Beach City Baseball Academy and
facility director Tiffanie Tolsma, as well as
her team of employees.
Born and raised in Boise, Idaho, Tolsma’s
life has taken her all over the country. Being
a huge fan of motorsports, working for a
sports marketing company, and having been
married to a professional race car driver, she’s
lived in Boise, Indianapolis, and Charlotte,
North Carolina, where her son was born.
After some years of involvement with Nascar,
her family eventually found themselves in
Los Angeles. Up to this point, baseball was
not in the immediate cards for her. Though
a self-described fan, her focus was not on
the sport, and she didn’t know that her daily
life would become the game.
As she worked events in LA, a friend of
hers introduced her to the Dodgers. With
every event, they attended a Dodgers game,
which debuted and grew her interest in the
sport. As her son grew older, so grew his
interest in baseball. Living in an apartment
at the time with no backyard, she took her
son to Beach City Baseball Academy so he
could get in some swings when he was seven.
“He was never the best player on the team,”
she says, fondly recalling her son’s start. He
loved to be in the space, and he loved to play
the game. Over time, with hard work and
practice, her son went on to attain a baseball
scholarship at San Francisco University, where
he just finished his first semester.
“That’s something that we offer here,” says
Tolsma, “it’s an opportunity for the kids who
maybe aren’t a star athlete, who just want
to play the game and improve.” This is a
story she has seen multiplied at the Academy
over and over, with varsity, college, and pro
baseball alumni who did not start as strongly
as they ended.
During her son’s time at the Academy,
she was often a team mom and a volunteer
at their events and games. Eventually, when
Beach City remodeled their gym and fitness
facilities, Tolsma went to work as a personal
trainer in their gym to help draw clients and
get their facilities up and running. Over the
years, this turned into her current facilities
director title.
Her job keeps her on her toes, juggling
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many (base)balls at once. She runs anything
administratively related at Beach City, including
community relations, human resources,
hiring, bookkeeping, and overseeing the
general running of the facility, which has
ramped up during Covid to ensure safety.
Though the pandemic has closed their
facility to the public, it remains open for
training and one on one lessons.
“Baseball is a game of making adjustments,”
she advises, “When you’re a batter,
you have to make an adjustment based on
every pitch that comes your way. If you’re
playing on defense, you’re reading the batter
and watching the ball and reacting to
the situation. [The pandemic] is just letting
us practice what we preach every day and
every minute. We just need to be ready to
make an adjustment.” She models this for
her team, operating the business in pods,
BCBA Management Team: L-R Alberto Concepcion, Kenny Woods, Tiffanie Tolsma, Scott Gracey, Ryan Lopez.
Beach City Baseball Academy on Grand Ave and Sheldon St.
sanitizing everything, and keeping open and
honest communication with their clients about
symptoms and exposure. So far, they’ve not
had a single case.
Aside from the camaraderie, the success
stories, and the family they’ve created at
their facility, Tolsma says her favorite part of
working in her field is the kids. When they
were able to open their space for outdoor
lessons again, she describes the joy on the
kids’ faces.
“This was their first opportunity to be
around other people, and even some of the
parents had tears in their eyes as they walked
in because they had been feeling so isolated,”
she says. She describes her business as a
safe haven for kids. With clients from all
over South Bay, children get a chance to
have interaction outside their normal school
experience and meet kids who might live life
a little differently than themselves.
“Through baseball, we give them the opportunity
to learn how to communicate with
one another, to work together as a team, and
take that back into wherever they’re coming
from,” says Tolsma.
When she’s not dedicating her time to
baseball training and the community she’s
helped build in El Segundo, Tiffanie is on
staff at Bridge South Bay as director of
women’s ministry. She and her team love
to go grab a coffee downtown, eat at Slice
and Pint, or stop just next door at Stix and
Straws or Vinny’s. Most of all, she keeps
her students in her thoughts.
“I hope they take away a sense of belonging,
a sense of being a part of a team,
and that maybe are inspired to step up and
lead as they grow.” When not impacted by
a virus, Beach City also offers a free special
needs training program, as well as an international
tournament hosting a little league
team from Japan. •
Students wear masks during instruction.
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WE WISH EVERYONE A SAFE AND HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON.
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