Tara Murray
The hard work being put in behind the scenes at the Hawks Fastpitch Softball will be on show at the national championships next month.
Eight players from the club have been selected in state teams, while another three have been selected in official team roles.
Ethan and Markus Ainslie, Saxon Bailey, Matt Bedwell, Nathan Duvall and Jye Robinson are part of the under-19 men’s team.
Jason Kriehn has been selected as the coach of that side, while Todd Kriehn has been named the assistant coach.
Olivia Mairos has been selected in the under-18 women’s team, while James Grego has been picked in the open men’s team.
Janine Culph is the official scorer for the under-16 boys and girls.
The under-19 men’s and under-18s women’s events are being held in Western Australia starting January 7, while the open men’s event is in the ACT later in January.
Jason Kriehn, who is president of the Hawks, said it was pretty exciting for the club.
“It means we’re doing something right and putting in the hard work, it’s a good reward for effort,” he said.
“We usually have maybe two or three players selected for the championships, this year we’ve got a few more selected.
“It’s good recognition of the club and how we are going. They would not be where they are without the coaches behind the scenes.”
Kriehn said all the players that were selected were talented. He said they were the ones that would put in the hard work outside of training.
“Every week outside of their normal training they are doing stuff at home and putting in everything that is required of them.”
Kriehn said these championships would be the first normal ones after a couple impacted by COVID-19.
He said they will get to experience the whole thing including staying together as teams and being able to do that extra team bonding.
Kriehn said all the teams were keen to get out there and hopefully have some team success.
Having set up their own junior competition this season, Kriehn said they hoped that the achievements of the players would inspire the next generation of players.
“It shows them something they can work towards,” he said. “They can look up to these guys and they can follow a similar path.
“It’s something they can achieve if they stay in the game.”
