About Illinois Esprit

The Illinois Esprit softball club was founded in 2004 to provide players with the opportunity to learn the joy of playing the game the right way. The Illinois Esprit club has expanded to include teams from 8U to 18U on both sides of the Mississippi. Due to the size of the organization, the Illinois Esprit separated from the St. Louis club in 2014, but still subscribe to the same goals.

The goals of the Illinois Esprit softball club are:

• an appreciation of sportsmanship
• the pride of being a good teammate
• learning how to be a good teammate
• the satisfaction of giving maximum effort

The name Esprit was chosen in part from the military concept of, Esprit de Corps, that implies that individuals working as one, with pride in being part of a group, will develop a spirit that will make the group stronger than the sum of its individual parts.  It
is our hope to engender that kind of spirit or Esprit in our players. We want our players to have the feeling that we will
always attempt to do the “right thing” and not surrender to expediency or selfishness.  This starts at the top and runs the
width and breadth of this organization.  Our symbol, the fleur de lis, has been used throughout history as a symbol of
strength, life and perfection.  By wearing our uniform, (the black and gold and the fleur de lis) our players connect to so
many great players who wore the same uniform.  We hope that like them, our players will compete and play the game
hard, but with respect for both teammates and opponents.