KITCHENER
21st birthday,Robin Mackin will make her
first appearance at the Olympic Games this
summer. The national team pitcher hopes it
won’t be her last.
At the Beijing Games, Mackin will endeavour
to keep her eye on the ball, despite
her sport’s uncertain Olympic future.
“I still have so much time to play softball
and I really hope that I can help inspire
young children so that maybe they can get
the same chance, too,” Mackin said at a news
conference which outlined details of Team
Canada’s visit to Kitchener this summer for
the Tri-Nations Cup, an Olympic tune-up.
It was handshakes and backslaps all
around at yesterday’s noon-hour news conference.
But few dared mention the elephant
in the room.
A couple years ago the International
Olympic Committee voted to dump softball
from the 2012 Games ostensibly because the
sport lacked global appeal. Continued
Olympic exclusion could sound softball’s
death knell.
In an interview, Canada’s assistant coach
Wendy Dobbin said she likes her game’s
chances of reinstatement, perhaps by 2016.
“The International Softball Federation
has been doing a lot of work in a concerted
effort to get the sport included again. And we
are encouraged.We are in over 130 countries.
It draws great crowds, enthusiastic
crowds.”
In the meantime, the Canadian women
will take to Kitchener’s Peter Hallman Ballyard
on July 6-8 where they will meet two of
the world’s top-rated teams,No. 2 Japan and
No. 3 Australia.
Rated fifth in the world, Canada has quietly
gained momentum leading to Beijing.
The national squad posted four podium
finishes at international events in 2007 and
two more medals on the world stage already
this year.
Canada’s 15-player roster includes
Guelph’s Kaleigh Rafter and Alison Bradley
of Pinkerton, Ont., along with head coach
Lori Sippel who grew up on a farm near Sebringville.
Venezuela will join Canada and Australia
for an Ontario exhibition tour with stops in
Brampton, Oakville, Milverton and Guelph
prior to the Tri-Nations Cup.
Canada’s opener at the eight-team
Olympic tournament is Aug. 11 versus Chinese
Taipei. The Canucks face the top-seeded
Americans on Aug. 14.
Mackin said she’s thrilled her team will
get a proper Ontario send-off to Beijing.
“You see the interest in the sport even in
smaller communities where softball has not
always been big,” said Mackin, of Newmarket.
“As long as we can keep that interest,
I really feel like softball will always be
around and have a second chance.”
