RNZAF Softball Internal Tour 2008
By SQNLDR Mark Waters, OIC RNZAF Softball
1830 hrs Thursday 21 February and the Auckland contingent of the RNZAF men’s and women’s Softball teams are on their way south to Christchurch for the 2008 RNZAF Softball Internal Tour.
Tour Moeraki -Some of the Tour Squad take in the sights of the Moeraki Boulders on the way to Dunedin. (WN-08-0037-38-tn).
The Tour would see the men’s and women’s RNZAF Softball Teams circumnavigating the lower half of the South Island playing provincial teams and visiting local schools in support of Strategic Goal 2 and recruiting by presenting the RNZAF as a great place to work, play sport and ultimately as a career of choice. In all the tour consisted of 35 personnel, AC through to SQNLDR (plus 2 civilians) with an age span of 19 -52 years and representing 12 different trades.
Right from the outset the tour was destined to be one to remember, particularly for some of the women’s team whose keen eyes spotted Shortland Street ‘mega TV star’ Dr Kip Denton in the ANZ departure lounge. After much finger pointing and whispering, only AC Kahla ‘Kahlua’ Tuffey, in her first season with the team, had the courage to ‘mob’ said actor and get a photo for her tour album. She was still buzzing four hours later when we finally arrived at Burnham Army Camp.
The next day saw the arrival of the rest of the tour squad members from Ohakea, Wellington and Woodbourne. Quick briefings by management late afternoon and then it was off to town to play Christchurch Premier Teams from the Albion Club. Both games were tightly fought with the difference ultimately being the sharp fielding of the Albion teams as a result of playing together weekly. The final scores: men 6-0, women 9-0 to the Albion teams. Both Air Force teams batted well (with the exception of Thommo the Men’s coach who subbed himself in to show us a thing or two about batting only to get struck-out). The games were exactly the shakedowns needed before heading on tour in earnest. The next stop was New Zealand’s penguin capital, Oamaru.
Arrival at Oamaru’s ATC hall gave both teams a good insight into the communal accommodation arranged for the tour. No need for stretchers though, as luck would have it the hall was also used by the Oamaru Gymnastics Club, plenty of fat-mats for all to sleep on. Quick showers (cold for the girls), and we were off to the Fire Station for a few beers and a BBQ with the North Otago Softball Association and the local volunteer Fire Service, our fantastic hosts for the Oamaru leg of the tour. A great night was had by all including a highly commendable effort in the local Southern Man Talent Competition which saw an RNZAF team coming 2nd overall in events such as speed shearing with a pulley powered stand, Guinness sculling and snail eating.
Next morning and the game faces were on. In front of a gathering crowd the women’s team took on Waitaki Girls while the guys played Waitaki Boys. Despite the fact that the Waitaki Boys in-field was bigger than ours, the RNZAF men had a good opening stanza and dispatched the team 11-1. Likewise the women played well, winning the game 10-2. The form of the RNZAF Women continued into the second game against North Otago earning them a 9-9 draw against a very talented provincial team. In particular the women’s aggressive batting and base running stood out giving the coaches confidence in the team and their responsiveness to their sage advice leading into the rest of the tour. The men, having lost AC Jason ‘Roudy’ Thomas with a suspected broken ankle in the previous game, dug deep and in a game full of hits, won a 2¼ hr marathon game 16-11.
F/S Twiggy Marshall at bat against Albion Women's. (WN-08-0037-41-tn).
The next morning saw the first of many school visits. First up was CPL Aaron ‘Nemo’ Collier (and supporting crew) for an assembly speech at his old school Waitaki Boys. This was followed soon after by coaching sessions with the boys and girls teams at St Kevin’s and finally a pitching training session with a handful of Waitaki Boys students. Following these sessions and the compulsory distribution of BBQ cards and recruiting material, it was back on the road for HMNZS Toroa in Dunedin.
Early morning Tuesday and we were off for three school visits in Dunedin. Kings High School, Otago Girls and Otago Boys, all of which saw keen young softballer’s eager to pick up a few pointers and skills from the RNZAF coaches and senior team members. One of the visits even got coverage on the local Channel 9 news as a great build up for the games against the men’s and women’s Otago provincial teams. These provincial games were expected to be the toughest faced on tour to date and they did not disappoint. In the women’s game it was a hard fought battle with the Otago women eventually coming out on top 5-1. Special mention in dispatches goes to women’s manager SGT Glenda Peri who came on in the early stages of the game due to injury and played extremely well, batting and fielding like a woman possessed.
The men’s game was highlighted by an Otago team consisting of nearly all left-handers including one of the top batters at the recent New Zealand Softball Provincial Champs and a NZ U19 representative playing at short-stop. Final score was 6-0 to Otago with notably only 2 earned runs gained (the other 4 where due to over-the-fence home runs by their big hitters). Much credit for this goes to the excellent calling by catcher SQNLDR Duane ‘Bum-Bum’ Butts and pitching of W/O Graham Chard. The RNZAF team also fielded particularly well in this game with only one error in the field. Following the after-match most of the team hit the town and caught up with the English Cricket team and a few of the Otago men’s team at a uni pub where we successfully challenged them to a few alternative games.
All in all Dunedin was a great stop on tour with potentially a couple of recruits in the years to come, great support from the Dunedin recruiting team and big thanks to HMNZS Toroa for the use of their excellent facilities.
Next morning and we were on the road again heading for Gore where two ‘old boys’ CPL Chris ‘Cubie’ Cubitt and AC Bryce Hesselin, assisted by a couple of other young and fit tour members, put a class of Year 10 students through their paces in a good old fashioned PT class. Then it was back into the bus heading for the Army Garrison Club in Invercargill. The next day saw most of us participating in another three school visits (Southland Boys, Southland Girls and James Hargest College) consisting of coaching sessions, PT classes with ‘Cubie’s Crew’ and trade talks with interested students.
The last game of the tour was Thursday night against the Southland teams. The women faced some very tough competition with current and ex-Whitesox players in the Southland women’s team. Ultimately they lost 11-0 but not without some excellent batting from CPL Gemma Riley and F/S Shar Carson against an ex-Whitesox pitcher. The Men’s game was tight in the first 3 innings but too many stranded RNZAF runners and some big hitting by Southland in the latter stages, saw Southland taking control of the game and winning 11-3. Not all was lost however and the after-match function again saw the competitive spirits come out in both teams for the Boat-Races. Final score RNZAF Women 1 – 2 Southland Women, RNZAF Men 2 – 0 Southland Men.
Friday morning was an early start for all with the final school visit to Northern Southland College (my old school) in Lumsden. Some would say this was the best school visit and saw Cubie’s Crew at work again with the senior students and about 30 younger pupils keen to give softball a crack under the guidance of the RNZAF coaches and senior players. With the last of the BBQ cards and recruiting material handed out we then headed for a well earned rest and the return leg of the tour through Queenstown and Tekapo. Queenstown was definitely a highlight with ‘real’ beds for the first time on tour (for those that made it to bed), bungy-jumps for those that were keen and a good look around the establishments of New Zealand’s leading tourist destination.
All up it was a busy but hugely successful and enjoyable tour with us covering 1250 kilometres in 9 days aboard an eye-catching RNZAF bus for 10 school visits and 10 softball games against strong provincial teams. All personnel on tour did the RNZAF proud, happily and professionally promoting the RNZAF as a great place to work (and play sport) in every town and school visited. Only time will tell how well we did in the recruiting stakes but it is without hesitation that I feel that all tour participants (and those back on the Bases who supported the tour) can feel proud of their input and involvement and can feel confident that there is a new generation of kids in the lower South Island seriously considering a career (playing softball) in the RNZAF.