Getting the Outfielders to the Outgames

Australia may not be renowned for producing the world’s finest softballers, but that’s not a reputation that’s going to stop the men and women of the Sydney Outfielders from giving it their all at the Copenhagen Outgames in 2009 -” that is of course if they can get a bit of financial help from the community beforehand.

The Outfielders are aiming to get one male and one female team over to Copenhagen to compete in the 2009 games, but money is needed to make that dream a reality.

All 24 players will need to pay $350 for registration, not to mention the costs of equipment, airfares and accommodation -” which in large part will come from the players themselves.

The Outfielders have already managed to raise $5,000 thanks to a successful trivia night, but are still in need of at least another $12,000 which they are hoping to raise through a series of events over the coming months, including a high-end raffle which will feature two holiday packages from Rainbow Tourism.

Rainbow Tourism came on as sponsors about a fortnight ago and we feel really lucky to have them on board, committee member Robyn Dever said.

We sent a team of girls over to Chicago and the boys went to Montreal, but this time we would love to be able to send both a male and a female team. The experience and the sense of camaraderie that players get is just incredible and it would mean so much to everyone.

I think there’s also a very personal reason for us to push for it this time with a lot of players wanting to compete in memory of our teammate Libby, whose life-long dream had been to compete at the Outgames before she passed away from breast cancer in 2004. So there is a very personal reason for us wanting to head over, other than the obvious desire to compete and have a great time.
Now in their off season, the Outfield-ers are playing in various competitions to keep their skills up right until the Games next year.

We played in the NSW and the Queensland corporate and we’re looking forward to playing in the Tainn Hunter Classic in Canberra later this year, all to keep our skills up in the lead-up to the Games, Dever said.

We’re playing really well at the moment and we have strong teams to send over, even if Australia isn’t necessarily renowned for our softball abilities.

The team has started fundraising planning to pay for the excursion and is set to announce a range of events over the coming months, including barbeques, more trivia nights and a raffle which will feature two packages from Rainbow Tourism -” one worth $3,000 and another $1,000 package.
Tickets for this are likely to go on sale at the upcoming Sports Out Day and will continue selling until the final draw at next year’s Fair Day.