Bandanning together

PRINCETON — For members of the Princeton Cardinals major league (11-12 year old) softball team, being a teammate extends beyond simply playing the game on the field; it means supporting each other.

Last week, the Cardinals showed support for one of their own players, Dani Berkler. Dani often wears bandannas to cover up the hair loss that is one of they symptoms of Alopecia Arealis, a condition Dani was diagnosed with at age 3.

So, in a show of solidarity, the Cardinals all donned bandannas for last Wednesday’s contest against the Mendota Gromans.

Cards coach Kevin Hieronymus broke the news of the team bandanna night to Berkler in the dugout just before the game started. After asking his squad what teamwork was, he got the response he was looking for from one of the girls: Playing as a team.

“I had no idea. I was completely shocked,” said Berkler about learning of her team’s show of solidarity. “I felt loved, and I got all teary eyed, and everyone came, and we had a big group hug. They all said that they were happy to have a special person on their team, and they weren’t going to let one person go down and be unique — that we were all going to be the same.”

Cardinals player Jade Purvis summed up her team’s feelings on the bandanna night. “It’s fun,” Purvis said. “Plus, it shows respect to Dani.”

The bandanna idea stemmed from a similar event Hieronymus had attended.

“Dani is a very courageous young lady,” Hieronymus said. “I got to sit in on Dani’s talk to the fourth-grade class at Reagan two years ago when she went around class-to-class to describe her disease. Instead of being afraid of it, she embraces it. She told everyone she was happy to have the disease because it makes her unique.

“That is very true because Dani is a most unique young person,” he said.

“I was lucky enough to have a nice teacher in first grade, and she said that she wanted to have a bandanna day, and ever since then people have been recognizing me,” Berkler said.