Olympic pitcher shares skills with local players

from the West Carleton Review Jan 25/08

Olympic pitcher shares skills with local players
by Terry Boland

On Saturday, Canadian Olympic softball pitcher Robin Mackin helped to lead a clinic titled Giving Back to the Game at Arnprior District High School. Clinic co-ordinator Paul Sauve felt fortunate to have an Olympic athlete of Mackin’s calibre come to Arnprior to pass along her advice to the 22 players who registered for the one-day event.

Mackin, a pre-med student at Fresno State University, appreciated the opportunity to get back to her grassroots and offer something back to the sport.

“I am just trying to implement my knowledge and pass it along to younger players only because when I was younger coaching was always hard to find at all age levels, especially going to the national program,” said Mackin. “The stuff that I picked up and I never knew as a child, I just wish I had the opportunity to pass a little bit on. If I can make a difference in just a couple of girls’ lives, it is enough for me.”

Asked about coming to Arnprior rather than a much larger centre, the Newmarket native said, “That’s the most interesting thing about this, it has been a lot of smaller softball communities that have actually had me come out and I think it is just wonderful because a lot of these girls don’t even think about going to school in the States or being part of a national program. To be able to give them the motivation to even think about it is enough in itself. It is actually an opportunity for me to give back to the game of softball in Ontario.”

The Olympic pitcher is happy to see some growth among older youth playing the game but she is disappointed with the small number of younger children entering the sport. She has high praise for American officials because of the support, money and coaching and that is what Canadian softball players aspire to rather than adding the funding and providing the motivation to develop softball in our own universities.

Mackin will be taking time off after January to train with the Olympic team as she prepares for the Olympic Games in Beijing this summer. In the only exhibition games, Mackin’s national team will be participating in pre-Olympic contests against Japan and Australia in Kitchener from July 6-8.

“The clinic was a huge success with a waiting list of 10 others hoping to get involved,” said Sauve. “Robin is interested in doing another clinic in the area after the Olympic Games in August. Everyone learned a lot including the coaches.”

Sauve is hoping to hold another clinic in late fall or early winter of 2008- 2009.

The 20-year-old power pitcher is going through university for a career as a pediatrician. She was involved in Canadian softball championships for the past seven years and participated in the 2005 Pan Am Games qualifiers and the 2006 World Championships. Mackin said, “The excitement shown to me here has been a privilege.”