Army softballers picked for historic Junior White Sox tour

Representing the Army and NZ Defence Force on the sports field is always an honour. But, representing New Zealand is an even bigger honour and one that was experienced recently by Burnham-based Army softball representatives SSgt Nicky Hansen and Mrs Sue Harrison.

Sue was appointed the Videographer and Nicky the Medic (strapper) for the 2010 Junior White Sox tour to Waverley, Victoria in April, where the team attended the Easter Carnival.

Both Sue and Nicky had previously been involved with the team at the Friendship Games that were held in Sydney in 2009.

"What a difference 12 months can make to the players' maturity and ability" said Sue Harrison.

The Friendship Games in 2009 was the first in a number of tournaments designed to gradually build the team in time for the 2011 Junior World Series in Cape Town, South Africa. The average age of the girls for the Friendship Games was 16 years old. Success is not the theme of the Friendship Games, development and exposure to top level softball is, hence the motto "Count down to Cape Town".

Fast forward twelve months to 2010 and the Junior White Sox were Waverley-bound. The majority of this year's Junior White Sox Team had played in Sydney last year as well as playing in tournaments around NZ beforehand. The team's coaching staff had seen noticeable improvements in the players' performances. The team had had a pleasing build up and turned up to the Waverley tournament quietly confident.

The tournament consisted of girls' teams in grades ranging from 12 to 23 years of age. The Junior White Sox played in the under 19 grade, competing against teams from around Melbourne and other state teams.

Sue recalls, "We went through round robin one unbeaten - a better series of performances than last year. It was much the same for round two, once again we were unbeaten. The girls managed to get over their fear of the Australian pitchers from the year before and were smacking the ball around the ball park. The final day of the tournament saw the girls at the ball park at 7 am. The support that turned out for the team was impressive. It felt like there was more support for the Junior White Sox than the any of the other teams and we did not let our supporters down. Our young ladies achieved a Softball NZ first, winning the Waverley Easter Carnival.".

Later that evening, the crowd gathered around the main diamond in anticipation of the first game in the Australian and New Zealand Junior Women's 3 game test series.

The ballparks floodlights shone bright as the announcers called the names of the Junior White Sox players as they ran out onto the diamond, heads held high and bursting with pride. One by one, the Junior Australian team joined the Junior White Sox on the diamond. The scene was set.

Both teams faced their national flags as the sun was setting before the national anthems were played. "What a proud moment to be a Kiwi" said Sue. Unfortunately, the girls fell flat after such a big build up to the first test match. They were not able to pick themselves up and dropped their first game in 13 played in the last four days. The junior Australian team beat the Junior White Sox that evening 5 - 0.

The next morning and the last day of the test series, the girls had a great night's sleep with their billet families. The second test was about to begin and lined up and down the Junior White Sox side of the diamond was a sea of black, as Kiwi flags were flying high! The families, friends and ex-pat community turned up in force to continue supporting the girls. This fantastic support really lifted the young team as they went on to dominate the Australians in the second test 7 - 1. The Junior White Sox, had notched up their first win against Australia - an accomplishment that had not been achieved for approximately 10 years.

There was no time to sit back and reflect on the result, as the third and deciding game started straight away. The Australians were fired up for the deciding game, which was being televised live on the internet.

The game did not disappoint, as the spectators were riveted to the Trans-Tasman tussle. The Australians may have been fired up, but they underestimated the strength and ability of the Junior White Sox, who shot to an early lead. This forced the Australians into a pitching change to try and stem the flow of runs, but it was not to be as the Junior White Sox took the game 7 - 3 and won the series two games to one. Sue said "The count down to Cape Town is definitely on track".

This was an emotional moment for all the coaching staff, Nicky and I included" said Sue. She also went onto say "We were thankful to the makers of sunglasses, so the girls could not see the tears flowing down our faces."

Both ladies acknowledge that they could not have done what they have without the support from their unit 3 Logistics Battalion and the financial support from the Singapore Fund and the Southern Sports Committee.

If the high of winning a series on Australian soil was not enough, a week later, Sue was awarded the NZDF Official of the Year at the Defence Force annual sports awards dinner in Trentham.

In June 2010, Nicky heads to Venezuela with the national women's team (the White Sox) for the ISF Women's World Softball Championships.

The Army softball family congratulate both Sue and Nicky for their impressive achievements this year and we wish Nicky all the best at the World Championships in Venezuela.

The Junior White Sox team including Sue Harrison and Nicky Hansen on far right (AW-10-0820-2).

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