No money to get to World Softball Championships

samoa – Samoa is fighting an uphill battle to raise enough funds to compete at this year’s World Softball Championships in Canada.

The Tanifa – as the team is known – finished seventh at the 2013 World Championships in Auckland but failed to qualify for the 2015 event in Saskatoon.

They recently spent five days competing in the inaugural Challenge Cup in Auckland against five of the top eight ranked nations in the world.

But player-coach Duane Jerard said they may be forced to sit out the upcoming World Championships in July.

“We’re looking at a price-tag of about $70,000 which is a lot of money and talking with the boys it’s all about saving our pennies and paying for everything ourselves.

“So we’re out here and hoping that people can see us play and see the enthusiasm that we bring to the game so that we can get some sponsors in place.

“Some of the guys are just 16 or 17, plus the older fellas have got families and stuff like that, so it’s going to be a massive ask to find all that money ourselves. Plus the time away from work as well, it’s going to be a tough one.

“It’s not a definite by any means. A 16/17 year old trying to find $7,000 to go to a tournament is a massive ask, massive.

“At this stage we’d probably have to say we’re not going to make it and we’re going to have to target the next one.

“ It’s pretty much like that and that’s the way it had to be because you have to go over with a lot of organisation and stuff like that and if money is an issue to start with, well we’re not going to go much further.

Jerard said the team had agruelling 11 games in five days at the Challenge Cup, a rare opportunity for them to play a major tournaments against top teams.

“Like regardless of no pitching, lack of players, anything, it’s the only opportunity Samoa gets to put something together.

“A couple of guys drove up from Wellington on Tuesday night, we met Tuesday night and had a dinner and a briefing and we were playing the next day.

“ They’ve got a lot of heart, a lot of pride. We lost one game 18-0 - I had to come in and pitch just to finish the game off, just to give my pitchers a breather, it doesn’t phase them in any way.

“ It is what it is, they have to take it with a grain of salt, so if it means losing a game like that and then coming out the next day and losing to Aussie 4-2 then that’s how we have to roll because without top quality pitching and games under our belt we were always going to struggle.”

- RNZI