Hi!! In July I went to Canada, having been granted the opportunity to represent New Zealand in the U17 Emerging Sox team!

We travelled 13 hours by plane to reach our destination, and arrived to a very hot and sunny Vancouver! Ranging from 28 degrees to 34 degrees, it was the ultimate challenge for us to acclimatise to the warmer environment! Although it was difficult, we trained hard in the sun and had a range of warm-up games to get used to playing softball in the heat! I was over there for 15 days and we were playing softball on 10 of those days, leaving us little time for down-time and sightseeing! However, we did visit Capilano Suspension bridge, which is a beautiful tourist attraction that involves a range and series of bridges which hang from the trees in the gigantic forest, as well as a cliff walk! 

Canada Cup was hosted at the one and only Softball City, which is a very well known and complex stadium with outstanding diamonds! Our Emerging Sox team had a very strong and powerful start to the tournament, where we were unbeaten for the first three days. We were then defeated on the fourth and bounced back with another win! We still fought on to reach the top 10, and ended up placing 5th out of 20 teams, which we were very proud of! Our team members are scattered all throughout New Zealand, and I am the only player from Canterbury, so this was a great achievement for a team that had never played all together, but usually against one another! We also travelled during our off-season playing teams which are in summer, the season for softball, and we hadn't had time to play together and build connections! 

The Canada Cup was an international tournament, where we played teams from all over Canada and America, as well as The Phillipines, Japan and Chinese Taipei! As well as playing softball, we were introduced to many different cultures, as they too were to us! Americans definitely love kiwis and we were always complimented for our kind nature and they tend to enjoy our unique games such as “pukana”! 

The next step from this tournament is the 2019 Junior World Series, which is to be held in California USA.  I am eligible for this and hope to make the travelling team! Travelling to compete in the Canada Cup was a great experience, and not only provided me with a new level and skill of international softball, but gave me the chance to create new friendships with those who share the same passion and to visit a beautiful country such as Canada!