Double gold for Thunder coach

Times Reporter         

 

U12A and U16B Strathmore Thunder Fast pitch coach Vince Olson was not anticipating on having a successful run, winning not one but two gold medals. 

Especially considering the U16 were having a difficult time adjusting to the ultra-competitive women’s league in Calgary, where the Thunder were up against faster and more skilled ball players.  

The U16 team struggled in league play early on in the season, and despite the early season defeats turned into positive results. Coach Olson viewed the losses as more motivation to do better and look at them as practices for provincials where the teams ultimate goal was to win.

“Even though (the U16’s) had 13 girls from the start, they decided on a slogan to go ‘13 strong’ and I think at the end of the year, come provincials that was our biggest asset, was every girl contributing,” said Olson. “Every girl (had the opportunity) to contribute either defensively or offensively all the way from the rookies to the second year girls.”

When the team shows the utmost confidence in their coach and teammates then the whole team plays baseball and put their best effort forward on the diamond.

“For both teams the end game is provincials, it’s the big show and (the team) builds for it and provincials are intense because you do not know what to expect as teams are coming from all over the province,” said Olson. “For the U12A’s, we played against Calgary and knew what to expect from a few of the teams (and there) were teams from Lloydminster, Edmonton that we had not played.”

The U16B had a different path to provincial crown as there were high expectations to beat many skilled teams in Leduc and it was going to be a testament to strong performances on the diamond.

“Provost has been pretty much the nemesis for the last three years for some of these girls. Provost has won the championship for the last three years,” said Olson.

The result at this year’s provincial prove to be on the Thunder’s side as the pivotal matchup was in the semifinal with the same Provost team.

The Thunder made a statement as they thumped the defending champions 12-3.

Coach Olson did not want to take all the credit for both team’s golden victories, saying it was the players who were the real winners.

In the championship game, the U16B Thunder played the Red Deer Rage and what was a tightly contested battle through the first part of the game, the Thunder pulled away and won decisively 9-1.

“What is the most rewarding for me is seeing the smiles on the girls faces … for the provincials it is not about the coaches,” he said. “We do our job to get them prepared for (the games) and say it is your show.”

With both teams taking different paths to gold, it was really rewarding to see them overcome their obstacles to become champions.

“The (U12A’s) went down to Great Falls and played a lot of tough teams and were not sure where we stood with the rest of the province and through pitching and developing became the best team in the province,” said Olson. “With the U16B’s, we play in a women’s league and (Trina) and I both said at the beginning of the year, we are going to lose our fair share of games … it will be tough on the pride and the ego.” 

For Vince Olson, pride is what he wants to see, and taking the time and effort to develop and results will show. Well, no one could argue with a golden touch.

The U16 Strathmore Thunder would like to thank their coaches Vince Olson, Trina Regehr and Zane Shultz, and a  special thank you goes out to their sponsor Riobow.