Wellington, NZ - - Mark Sorenson re-appointed Black Sox softball coach
Re-appointed Black Sox coach Mark Sorenson is determined to restore his team to the top of world softball after a disappointing fourth place finish in 2019.
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Mark Sorenson has been re-appointed as Black Sox coach with Softball New Zealand convinced he has the hunger to atone for the team's world championship failure.
Sorenson - confirmed as coach through to the 2021 world tournament in Auckland - stressed he was "really excited and determined" to rebuild the Black Sox's fortunes after a disappointing fourth place at the 2019 world championships in Prague last June.
While Sorenson - who won four world titles as a player and another as a coach -Â was the only formal applicant, Softball New Zealand chief executive Tony Giles said the head coach's re-appointment was only ratified after "a really robust" campaign review.Â
The Black Sox slumped to their worst world championships result in 39 years, failing to win a medal for the first time since 1980. They went to Prague as defending champion, having won a record seventh title in 2017.
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Sorenson - first appointed in 2013 - said he felt a responsibility to "put things right" in 2021.
"I'm really excited by the challenge that lies ahead. We've got a lot of rebuilding on our hands, but we've got some young talent who will now fancy their chances of being part of the next group."
Sorenson plans to meet all the players from the Prague squad in the next few weeks "to have a chat about where they see their future, and maybe where I see it".
He would be spreading the message "that we have to go to a different level to where we were in Prague".
"We've had a lot of success over the years - we had a number of guys who'd won multiple world titles - but what became evident is that we were slightly off in terms of our passion and desire, and our attitude.
"There needs to be changes in personnel, but also in the way that we approach things, as a management group."
Sorenson's staff - manager Casey Eden, assistant-coach Darryl Marino and pitching coach Jim Wana - are also going through the re-appointment process.
"As a management group, we've been extremely honest in the review process," Sorenson said. "We've laid it all out there in terms of our failings as a group, and as individuals, and on what we need to do change.
"We all feel a sense of responsibility; that there's unfinished business. None of us are the type of people to say 'we've done our time, we've won a gold medal' [in 2017]Â and then walk away [after a setback]."
Sorenson retains faith in his assistants and would like to work with them again, but also plans to involve "some of our warriors of the past from the Black Sox family" to mentor players and provide technical assistance.
"I don't profess to have all the answers; we've got a lot of knowledge and experience out there and it would be foolish not to use it. I've touched base with them, and they're all keen to help."
Sorenson attended a New Zealand under-23 training camp and was "quite heartened to see all the talent around the table. We're potentially looking at a pool of 35 to 36 players [vying for world series selection]."
If funding can be secured, Sorenson hopes to confirm a tour to Japan in April-May and "also potentially go somewhere next October in the leadup to naming our team before Christmas [2020].
Finding a new captain will be one of Sorenson's biggest tasks. Nathan Nukunuku - his skipper since 2014 - retired after Prague after 20 years in the Black Sox and four gold medals in a record seven world series campaigns.
Nukunuku had a lot of say, on and off the diamond. Sorenson said, in experienced teams "the programme is often driven by your senior group". But, with a younger squad, the coaching staff would be "a lot more hands-on" to drive the rebuilding process.
The Prague campaign was reviewed by a Softball New Zealand panel comprising Giles and personnel from High Performance Sport New Zealand, the Black Sox's major external funder.
Giles said SNZ were "100 per cent behind Mark, as a leader".Â
"In all my discussions with Mark since Prague, I don't think I've ever seen such an appetite for putting things right."
Giles said there was a lot of informal interest in the Black Sox role, but Sorenson was "the only one to apply, in writing".
As a result of the review, SNZ were now aware there needed to be "100 per cent alignment" between it and the Black Sox programme.
Giles said there was a need for better understanding within softball of the importance of strength and conditioning, proper nutrition and all aspects of "high performance".
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