Athletes get ready for international games

Belizean softballers are preparing for the Caribbean and Central American Games this week as coaches and players attend an advanced softball seminar at the Rogers Stadium. The workshop, which is sponsored by the Belize Softball Federation, is being facilitated by Diane Warriner of the International Softball Federation. According to the seminar’s coordinator, the main emphasis of the week long session will be on pitching.

Jude Lizama, Coordinator

“We have been spending the last three days and today wrapping up different aspects of pitching. Today we are concentrating on bunting and pitching and then tomorrow we have general session on strategy and different requests made by different coaches.”

“We always have turnover in coaches, there is always room for development. Pitching is something we have seen the need for over many years and we appreciate this level of work. Ms. Warriner has the ability to teach on this level. Most of the time has been taken out to teach the specific pitches. We have videotapes, we’ve looked at on hand experiences, and practice in doing it. She says she is not trying to make us pitchers, although she is giving us every type of skill to do that. She is trying to make us teach people how to pitch.”

Warriner has also been working with both the male and female national teams preparing for their qualifying tournament in Hermosillo, Mexico in August.