This week I had the opportunity to be a coach for the Tirimonas girls softball team on Thursday. When I was in elementary school and middle school I played softball for 8-9 years and I loved the game, but after I tore my ACL the first time I never found my way back to the sport. When one of the teachers found out I used to play he immediately told me that I was needed and that I was going to go to the western Auckland primary school tournament to help coach the girls team for year 5&6. For two weeks we practiced during morning tea and sometimes during lunch as well. A lot of the girls had never played softball before so it was fun to be on the other side of thing and teach girls about the sport and watch them as they got excited when they were able to finally do something successfully after trying many times on a skill.
On thursday we packed up our bags and drove to the softball fields. To welcome all the teams to the tournament, one of the schools did a hakka chant which is a maori tradition.
There were 5 teams in total for the girls, we played out first game vs Flanshaw primary school and lost 2-7. By the second inning the girls had already started getting the hang of the game and the second game we won 8-3 vs peninsula primary school. The girls then had a bye so we relaxed under the trees, it was already 85 degrees by 11 am! We played Edmonton Primary school and lost 0-2, the game was close and there were girls on the team that have played softball before which made the game very exciting to watch! The next game was the same way, we lost 3-4 but the game was exciting and the girls were having so much fun. Watching them from the beginning of the day to their four game of the day was dramatically different! The girls qualified to play in the 3rd and 4th place game, but there was a 20 minute break so we decided to cheer on the TIrimoana boys team!
The consolation game was a proud moment as a coach, we played Flanshaw primary school again and before the game we overheard them talking, saying they had this game in the bag since they already beat us before. This fueled the girls up and we ended up beating them 8-0! Almost every girl had hit the ball into play and one girl even got a homerun! The girls were laughing and having so much fun, as competitive as I am, this made coaching the girls worth it! The girls got 3rd place and the boys lost the first place spot by one point! I would say it was a successful day for Tirimoana!
