The “Bell” of Baseball Local girls’ baseball team scores a home run in confidence and self-esteem
POWAY, Calif. — Vicky and Peter Zien founded the nonprofit Anvil of Hope in 2020 to provide mentoring, training and youth enrichment programs for at-risk students. After establishing a mentoring program at an elementary school in Southeast San Diego, Vicky Zien expanded the organization’s reach to a local middle school, launching a one-of-a-kind sports program that is changing lives.
Bell Blazers are born
Shortly after schools reopened in 2021 following the pandemic, Zien approached the administration at Bell Middle School in Paradise Hills. She asked the principal a simple question: “What would you like to do for your kids that you are not able to do because of a lack of funding or resources?”
The principal told Zien that many students had been asking about a baseball team. At the time, the middle school had no funding for girls’ sports programs and only one volunteer who headed a boys’ sports team.
A longtime die-hard baseball fan, Zien has collected baseball cards for over 30 years and took a special vacation to Cooperstown, New York, with her husband to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame. Upon hearing this need, Zien sprang into action. Within a few months, she launched the Bell Blazers, an all-girl middle school baseball team.
Zien coaches the team herself with volunteers and organizes two practices a week. The team initially scrimmaged against each other, but now Zien says they are part of the Twin Hills Little League organization and play games against different teams.
Fostering personal development and character through baseball
In addition to coaching the team and organizing practices and games, Zien provides experiences for her Bell Blazers beyond the ball field to help enrich their lives. She focuses on fostering personal development and cultivating self-esteem.
Recently, the girls heard from Alicia Gwynn, the wife of the late Hall of Fame baseball player Tony Gwynn, who spoke to the team about the character-building principles outlined in her book. Each girl on the team also received a personalized copy.
Zien introduced the team to Samantha Gutierrez, a player in the new women’s professional baseball organization. Gutierrez, who will play her first professional baseball game in August as a catcher for the San Francisco team, was looking to mentor girls who play baseball and found the perfect fit with the Bell Blazers. Zien said Gutierrez, a Bell Middle School alumna, came out to assist with practices and “the girls felt like there was a celebrity in town.”
During the season, Zien also treated her team to a production of “Wicked” at the Civic Theater. To make the outing even more memorable, she surprised the girls with a Hummer limo to take them to the show.
Resilient, hopeful and happy
Zien said she has girls tell her they are more confident because of the baseball program. “They’re resilient and hopeful,” she said. One girl told me that she wasn’t a happy kid until she joined the baseball program, and now, she is happy, Zien added.
“With the baseball program at Bell, we are mentoring these girls,” Zien said. It’s a baseball program first—but it is mentoring through baseball, she said. “I’m really trying to wrap my arms around each of these kids.”
For more information about Anvil of Hope, visit .
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