Softball New Zealand is pleased to announce Stan Doney as the Head Coach of the Major Sox U23 Women’s team. In addition Doney will take over the Assistant Coach role for the White Sox to the Asia Pacific Cup in late January.

 

Doney who boasts an impressive CV brings a wealth of international experience to the programme having coached in Europe for the last 15 years.

 

Lengthy coaching stints with club and national teams in the United Kingdom, Denmark and Netherlands has provided a remarkable list of successes in both the men’s and women’s game. The most notable achievement is Doney’s contribution to the coaching staff of the Dutch National Women’s Team who finished fourth at the 2016, World Championship in Surrey Canada. Doney concedes he has mixed feelings about that event given the Dutch brought down the New Zealand White Sox knocking the Kiwis out of the tournament with a comprehensive 8-2 victory.   Doney says he remembers this day like it was yesterday. “The Dutch team talk the night before gameday I remember saying to the Dutch players with a smile that I am going to win either way tomorrow. My national team players from Olympia Haarlem smiled as they understand my humour but the rest of the national team were not impressed!  Luckily we had a few contacts in New Zealand to scout the players as information can be limited at these events. We had a plan in place and it worked. At the end of the day softball is a sport and sport is to be enjoyed. It was a lot of fun. I look forward to creating many memorable and enjoyable moments with the ladies lucky enough to be selected to this U23 team", Says Doney.

 

An Auckland native and Head Coach of the Howick Women’s Team Doney has returned to his homeland to support the game at regional and international level.

 

Doney will attend the U23 Nationals in Lower Hutt next month to look for talent and select a squad to prepare for the Canada Cup in July 2019.

 

“The first thing I will be looking to do is to contact White Sox Head Coach Kevin Gettins and work out what his philosophies are on the game of softball and what type of athletes he likes to have in his squad.  Once we find the middle ground and agree on a way to play then I will know what athletes I am looking for in the U23 team to give them the best chance of not only making the senior White Sox team but producing and "putting up numbers" that will help the senior team. This U23 group creates that opportunity for the players who have either graduated from the U19 NZ junior team but cannot quite make the senior team or players who developed their talents at a later age and may have missed out on U19 selection. This is a brilliant opportunity for players to put their hand up and show that they can perform on the international stage. First though they have to put their hand up and perform at Nationals”, he says.

 

 

Best,

Glen

 

 

Glen Roff - Softball Manager

Softball New Zealand

m: 021537082 | p: 04 5600389

 

 

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