Sanford worked his way up through the ranks, eventually playing junior ball in Halifax and senior in Brookfield, but it was in 2008 that he was recognized by national team staff as a top catcher and was placed in the player pool for the national team.
Since that time he has been travelling for the sport, winning the ISC championship twice, as well travelling to four other events with the national team prior to the Pan-Am Championship. Although the travelling has made it easier for him to be successful in he sport, having a full-time job a Michelin means it takes a lot of dedication in his free time.
“It’s a challenge for sure, but they’ve been pretty good, but working shift work every second weekend means I dedicate my vacation and whatever I have to, to make the tournaments,” he said. “It could be switching shifts or things like that, but I’ve just been lucky to be able to do all the things that I’ve done so far.”
Although he has been to events throughout Canada, in the Virgin Islands and in Florida, he said the experience in Columbia on the field was outstanding and off the field was different from any other event.
“It was a lot different from what we’re used to right from the time we got off the plane, with police escorts everywhere we went,” said Sanford. “Definitely the language takes getting used to, just day-to-day, but even in our games all four umpires would only speak Spanish so if our coach wanted to argue a call we had to get our translator out. It’s definitely just something you have to make that adjustment to.”
Aside from language and having a police escort, he said adjusting to the food and culture wasn’t too major because they ate the majority of their meals at the hotel, but was still an adjustment.
“The food was good, but it was very repetitive and not what we were used to,” said Sanford. “We had rice every meal when we were there. It wasn’t picking off the menu what you wanted, it was us showing up as a team to eat what we were given and the portions we were given. It worked out, but it wouldn’t have been our ideal meals.”
For the next few months Sanford will be able to enjoy the gold medal victory before attending the 2013 ISF World Championship in New Zealand.
This will be his first time at this event after he tried to crack the roster in 2009, but just missed the cut. This time around he was named as one of the first 10 players guaranteed to be on the team.
“I was really close to making it last time around, so I’m really looking forward to being involved this year and will really enjoy the opportunity.”
