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Dutch National Team players Saskia Kosterink and Nathalie Timmermans are currently both in the United States.
On December 11, Saskia and Nathalie, who both particpated in the Olympic Games last year, belonged to the group of 28 players who were named to the preliminary roster of the Dutch National Softball Team for the 2009 season.
Saskia attending ISF-workshop in Florida
Saskia Kosterink left on Friday, January 9 to Florida, where she will attend the workshop of the International Softball Federation (ISF) for the twelve Athlete Ambassadors, who were named on November 21.
The 2-day workshop will be held at the ISF Head Quarters in Plant City in Florida and there the twelve will be informed about the plans for the Athlete Ambassadors.
They also will get a training during the workshop, which starts on Monday-morning and ends on Tuesday-afternoon.
On Saturday, Saskia visited the Everglades, while Sunday was used for some shopping and looking around in Tampa.
Saskia returns home again on Thursday.
The twelve Ambassadors will support the BackSoftball-campaign of the ISF, which works for the reinstatement of softball on the Olympic program for the 2016 Olympic Games.
Next October, at Copenhagen (Denmark), the International Olympic Committee will discuss the sports for the 2016 Olympic Games and also will vote for the city to host the event.
The four candidate cities for the 2016 Olympics are Chicago (USA), Tokyo (Japan), Madrid (Spain) and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).
Nathalie to play in Illinois
Nathalie Timmermans traveled to Carterville in Illinois (USA) on Saturday, January 10, to re-join the Lady Vols (short for Volunteers), the softball-team of John A. Logan College. In the Fall of 2007, Nathalie played for the team, before being added to the preliminary roster of the Dutch National Team for the 2008 season. In February of last year, she made her national team-debut and went on to participate in the Olympic Games in Beijing.
Head Coach Bruce Jilek and his assistant Angie Jilek traveled to Roscoe on June 13 (2008) to watch 'Dutch', as they nicknamed Nathalie, compete with the Netherlands National Team during their second American Tour, which was part of the preparations for the Olympic Games. On June 13, the Dutch Team played its third game against the professional Rockford Thunder and lost 3-2. In this game, Nathalie was the starting catcher and went 2-for-2 with an RBI.
Bruce Jilek is Head Coach of the Lady Vols since 2003, after he previously coached the team of Herrin High School for 24 years, winning 539 games and leading it to 18 conference championships. The Lady Vols will play their first games on February 27 during the Northeast Mississippi Community College Tiger Fest in Booneville (Mississippi), then opens the Conference-season on March 2 at home against Southwestern Illinois.
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