On the bench during home games for the Merrimack College women’s basketball team, you will find coaches, student-athletes, team managers and trainers, as well as a special group of supporters.
The Little Ballers is a club started by Head Coach Kelly Morrone as a way to give young girls unique access to the team, while also fostering greater community engagement for her program.
“I started Little Ballers because young girls need to see women being super strong, intense, competitive and loud,” said Morrone. “I think there are a lot of learning opportunities and a lot of good can come from it. It is a great way to get little ballers to hopefully someday become big ballers and maybe even choose to play at Merrimack.”
The idea for Little Ballers came after women’s basketball alumna Amanda Deveney-McNamar ’01 reached out to Morrone about running some clinics for the AAU team Deveney-McNamar coaches.
“The idea of running a clinic really got the ideas rolling and Coach Morrone had the idea to start Little Ballers and have some girls come out with us on game days,” said Paige McCormick ’22, assistant women’s basketball coach.
Since its launch for the 2024-25 season, the number of girls who have signed up to be Little Ballers has grown to more than 80, coming from communities including Lawrence, Georgetown, Wilmington and Dedham, Mass., and Salem, N.H.
Little Ballers is comprised of girls from fourth to eighth grade, who serve as part of the team on gamedays. Their responsibilities include getting water and towels for the referees, rebounding and gathering basketballs during warmups, handing out water to players during timeouts and spreading lots of energy while sitting right by the team’s bench.
Lauren Perry, whose daughter Riley is a Little Baller, learned about the club through a basketball clinic. Perry said it is a great opportunity for her daughter, who loves basketball, to see the game being played at a higher level.
“My favorite player is Molly Manion because she was the first player I met, but I like them all,” said Riley Perry.
Matt Girodano, director of technical services and training for Merrimack College’s Information Technology Services, said his daughter, Kennedy, has been on cloud nine since joining the club and has worn her Little Ballers shirt to school.
“The Little Ballers program gave Kennedy a group to look up to, and she now feels like a part of the team,” said Giordano. “It really boosted her motivation to play basketball and planted a goal in her to keep playing.”
“I like that during halftime I can show off my basketball skills,” added Kennedy.
