Jamaica’s softball team takes aim at ECASC tourney
Published:Friday | February 24, 2023 | 1:02 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
PREPARATIONS are in high gear for the national women’s softball team as they are set to embark on the English Caribbean Amateur Softball Confederations (ECASC) tournament in the US Virgin Islands (USVI), which is set to begin on March 1 and end on March 5. The six-team tournament, which will be contested by the hosts, Curacao, Aruba, British Virgin Islands (BVI), St Maarten and Aruba, will be used as a qualifying tournament for the upcoming Pan American Games.
Head coach of the women’s team, Troy McCaw, said preparations have gone well and he is expecting a strong showing when the action starts. Jamaica will play their first fixture on opening day against the BVI.
“We will be okay. We have had some hiccups but the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) came on board and helped us. So we are getting to where we want. Based on how the girls are performing now, we should be very successful, barring any injuries or mishaps. We are playing together like a unit despite missing some of our key players,” said McCaw.
President of the JOA, Christopher Samuda, strongly believes that his organisation is throwing support behind a programme that could become a flagship sport for Jamaica in the near future.
“Certainly, we have the potential and we have the talents to do so. We just have to invest in the sport and, of course, build infrastructure, and this applies to all sports. If you don’t have the infrastructure, it will mean we wouldn’t recognise our full potential. So I do believe that softball could be a flagship sport for Jamaica, and we have underwritten the cost of air travel for them to the USVI,” said Samuda.
He also added that watching the team train at their base at Up Park Camp in Kingston showed talents beyond comprehension, despite the financial struggles.
“I watched them in training exemplifying commitment and going beyond the challenges of not having the luxury of resources in the sport but creating a wealth of talent,” Samuda said.