What a season! Towards the middle of last season 2014 we happened upon George Newton and John English with whose help we setup Towcester Tigers softball at Towcestrians. When 2014 came to an end we had no contingency for winter training and therefore lost a number of our players. 2015 started with our stalwart players and a number of new players. South Northants schools had a curriculum change dropping Rounders and introducing softball. Our coach Jos Thompson backed up by GB player Alex Reynolds and long-time player Simon Gower provided training sessions for staff and students based at Sponne School, a number of students have now joined the Tigers and we have had the opportunity for these players to be included in tournaments at Farnham, and locally at Milton Keynes. The Tiggers our younger players have trained well and we have some very promising players, unfortunately we had insufficient numbers to establish a tournament at their level, something which we intend to change next season.
Alex Reynolds was selected by GB to play in the European Championships in the Czech Republic, and has been accepted in the Softball National Academy, and High Performance Academy for Baseball. He has also been selected by Baseball/Softball UK for the Youth Sports Trust National Talent Camp for coaching/umpire. After her first season 17 year old Laura Simpson has tried for Softball Academy and has been accepted into High Performance Academy, and Youth Sports Trust National Talent Camp as a softball player. She has also been asked to represent GB in the Netherlands in January at an Indoor softball tournament and selected as eligible for trials for the GB women’s team to play at the world championships in Canada in July. None of the above would have been possible were it not for the dedication of our coach Jos Thompson. The success of our winter training sessions at Gateway School Tiffield will create a good team for the start of 2016.
Now for the purpose of this message, we are always open to new players both male and female and of all ages, so why not give us a try. We will return to Towcestrians mid-March on a Wednesday evening so please get in touch if you would like to have a go, equipment provided. Some players may be able to join sooner, in our winter programme at Tiffield. Finally, but not least, we need sponsorship towards equipment, both field and player. (£6 buys a softball of which we lose quite a few, £1500 buys a backstop net, £5000 covers the cost of equipment for a team) any help would be greatly appreciated. Most of our teams are youths, at school or college and find funding difficult, these players could be representing GB in the Tokyo Olympics 2020. If you personally or on behalf of a company can help or if you have experience in raising funds, please help us, it would be greatly appreciated. Jos – 01327 350190 Colleen – 01327 358333 or towcesterbc@hotmail.com