The American Divas made history in 2003 by competing as the first-ever women's wheelchair softball team and placed 14th in the country at the 27th National Wheelchair Softball Tournament contested in St. Paul, Minnesota.
A total of five from Colorado helped make the 2003 American Divas softball team a possibility by providing coaching staff, players and technical assistance to help bring 15 players from several different states together to compete on this unique team.
For years, several of the women athletes who played on mostly-male teams tournament after tournament would express their desire to create a women's team to offer female athletes greater opportunities for playing time as well as prove to the world that women can be just as good as male players if given the chance. In the 2003 season, this dream became reality with the creation of the American Divas.
The Divas started the 2003 season by competing at the Brooklyn Park tournament against teams such as the Courage Rolling Twins Blue, the Wisconsin Badgers and the Saint Paul Saints. This tournament was the first opportunity for most of the players to get together after training individually or practicing with their closest men's team.
At the National Tournament the Divas continued to shine taking two All-tournament selections and impressing their largest crowd of spectators during their final game against the Twins Blue team leading this all men's team until the final inning losing 7-6. Veteran players such as Deb Quick and rookies such as Jen Warkins proved through their athletic ability alone that they could win a starting position on almost any men's team. Regardless any given players ability, one thing was true for every female player on the Divas - that they saw more playing time this year then they would have playing on a men's team which made the 2003 Divas season a success!
