Aussie Spirit Head Coach, Fabian Barlow, today named his 17-person team for the WBSC XV Women’s World Softball Championship that will be played in Vancouver, Canada in July. Queensland led the way with eight state players named in the team, followed by NSW with five, South Australia two, while ACT and Western Australia have one each.
Aussie Spirit Team
| Staff | |
| Head Coach | Fabian Barlow |
| Assistant Coach | Kerrie Porter |
| Kym Tollenaere | |
| Battery Coach | Kelly Hardie |
| Manager | Lisa Anderson |
| Statistician | Chris Trengove |
Reserves
| Janice Blackman (Qld) | Amelia Cudicio (NSW) |
| Ally Casey (NSW) | Sandra Holden (Qld) |
| Jordyn Christensen (NSW) | Ellen Roberts (NSW) |
| Michelle Cox (NSW) | Kath Tye (ACT) |
The line-up has plenty of experience with both Stacey Porter and Justine Smethurst Olympic medallists from the 2008 Games in Beijing.
Coach Barlow started with a 30-member squad after the Gilley’s Shield competition in early January. The Spirit participated in Series against the Japan and New Zealand National teams, followed by the Japan Toyota Red Terriers to reduce the number to 17. Players in the squad will participate in future mini camps to maintain their playing condition in case they are required to join the national team due to injury.
Upcoming events for Aussie Spirit
- Mini camps – dates and locations TBC
- Softball World Cup, 5-10 July at Oklahoma City, USA
- WBSC XV Women’s World Softball Championship, 15-24 July at Vancouver, Canada
- Japan Cup, 2-4 September at Takasaki City, Japan
Olympics and softball
The International Olympic Committee are holding their 129th session in Rio de Janeiro in August prior to the start of the Rio Summer Olympic Games. The future of softball and its inclusion into the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, along with baseball and four other sports, will be confirmed.
At the 130th session of the IOC, meeting in Lima, Peru in 2017, will be the announcement of the host city for the 2024 Summer Olympic games. There are five cities vying for that honour: Los Angeles, USA; Budapest, Hungary; Hamburg, Germany; Paris, France; and Rome, Italy. This will be an important meeting for diamond sports Softball and Baseball. With baseball being a national past-time, and softball sporting over 40 million participants in the USA, Los Angeles winning the bid will be vital for the diamond sports returning the Olympics in 2024 and keeping the Olympic dream alive for the sport’s younger participants.
