Congratulations to Jamie-Lee Mathews (Year 8) who was recently selected to represent the Victorian Under 17 Women’s Softball Team at the upcoming National Softball Championships which are set to take place in Sydney throughout January 2018.
It all began around 4 years ago at the age of 10 for Jamie-Lee, who attended a local ‘Come and Try’ day at the suggestion of her Mother, Gail. “Mum was a Softball player herself and really enjoyed the game when she was younger, so was very excited when she saw the ad for the ‘Come and Try’ day” remembers Jamie-Lee.
Jamie-Lee, who is the youngest player in the recently announced Victorian Under 17’s squad, is also a member of the Marymede High Performance Academy and plays outfield and third base for her local team the Monarchs in the Northern District Softball Association.
Away from School, her Softball schedule consists of four training sessions per week along with additional fitness programming and Marymede High Performance Academy commitments.
She cites the biggest challenge of the game to be reading the ball. “Whether you’re batting or fielding, you never know the true direction of the ball and constantly need to be paying attention whilst being aware of the game situation”.
Jamie-Lee hopes that her own sporting endeavours will one day lead her to the College World Series in the United States of America followed by a long and successful professional career in the game.
For now, however, her sights are solely focused on the upcoming National Championships in early 2018 and she is happy to offer the following advice to other young aspiring athletes: “Just have fun. Give it everything you’ve got. Have no regrets when you play and leave it all out on the diamond, field or court!”.
Marymede Catholic College congratulates Jamie-Lee and wishes her all the very best in the upcoming National Championships in Sydney.