Sportz Of All Sortz.com: Softball In The Outback

Softball has proven to be the game of choice for the indigenous women & girls in the remote communities of outback Australia. Most communities have their own softball team that compliments the football team for the men & boys. The Northern Territory state government has worked with Softball Northern Territory to implement a series of shire softball carnivals where teams from the remote communities within each shire compete in shire tournaments with the winners from each shire competition then coming together to find the champion community. The champion community team then was invited to Darwin to participate in the Northern Territory State Championships.

Sounds like a pretty normal tournament style competition but you appreciate it much more when you realise that some of the communities have to travel hundreds of kms just to participate in their shire carnival. That's hundreds of kms in a 4 wheel drive troopcarrier with the whole team and supporters from the community along unmade roads.
Many of the Shire Sport & Recreation divisions organise training courses for coaches, umpires & scorers to accompany the carnivals. These courses are all aimed at giving the communities the tools to help make the sporting groups within the communities self sufficient.

In 2009, I had the pleasure of being asked to attend the Central Desert Shire community carnival at Yulara.

The first Shire Softball Tournament was hosted over May and June 2009 and was played across two regions. The tournament was a huge success with a great turn out of players and was a welcome support of women in sport. The winning teams from each region travelled to Alice Springs to play in the finals. The grand final, between Nyirripi and Laramba, saw Nyirripi victorious and go on to represent their community and the shire at the NT Softball Championships.

The Nyirripi team was one of the first remote central Australian teams to compete at this level and the players were excited to attend, even forfeiting the long tradition of the Yuendumu Sports Carnival. The Nyirripi women were true ambassadors for their community, the shire and the sport, winning their division and pool and being great sportswomen throughout the tournament.

The Yulara tournament was preceded by coaching & scoring accreditation courses held at Erldunda Roadhouse. Most of the communities came together at the roadhouse to take the opportunity of completing the training courses. Community elders were joined by some of the younger girls and team members in completing the training. It gives the ladies the opportunity to take the information back to their communities and help develop the sport within their community region.

The tournament itself was a fantastic opportunity to see softball played at its absolute purest! The teams played their version of softball, not worrying about complex rules, simply playing the game for the sake of playing. The only equipment that was used were gloves, bats & bases. We were playing on a green oasis in the middle of the desert at the Yulara resort near Uluru. I even had the opportunity to umpire some of the games. Great fun!!! I have to thank the Central Desert Shire and Softball Northern Territory for the opportunity to participate in the shire carnival! A brilliant experience!