Sandra Gouverneur (photo by Ron Wicklert)

IN MY OWN WORDS
2008-08-11

In the lead-up to the 2008 Olympic Softball competition that starts tomorrow we've been posting interviews with or articles written by athletes competing at the August 12-21 tournament in Beijing. Today’s installment is an article written by Sandra Gouverneur for internationalsoftball.com. The record holder for the most games played for the Dutch National Softball Team, the utility player has been a member of the team since 1995.

Team Preparation

Since October we have been practicing every day but Sunday. For a lot of us who have a job, sometimes a heavy task to combine those two. Three times a week we would practice together as a team in Amsterdam. The other three days we had to condition and lift weights in our hometown. Each month we had a test day where our strength and speed was tested.

We had two training camps for a month in the USA. We practiced and played games and tournaments against good opponents and in much better weather than in Holland. It was really nice and a good practice to play the pro teams.

Before we went to Beijing we went to Sendai in Japan to acclimatize to the time and weather. We got in the Olympic village August 6 and really enjoy staying here.

Personally

I teach physical education in a high school. I worked less than normally so I could practice everyday. I did not give up my job, because softball is still an amateur sport. I live in a small town in the northwestern part of Holland, which means a lot of travel time and gas money. Of course my family is very proud of me going to the Olympics and without them I wouldn't be here. All year I have been just working, practicing, and traveling. My family took care of other things; cleaning the house, cooking, grocery shopping, etc.

It's a shame softball is no longer an Olympic sport. I think softball should be put back on the program in 2016. On the Olympic Games everybody in the world can see the best softball players from the best eight nations compete at the highest level.

I am enjoying every minute just being here. In one day our tournament will start. I am really looking forward to this, playing in the Olympic Games. We will do the best we can. I hope we can make a surprise.