AFTER a gruelling selection process, 15-year-old Orange softball prodigy Thomas Zeylemaker was named in the NSW side to contest the 2015 Under 17 Boys’ Softball National Championships, in January.
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After competing at the state championships, Zeylemaker was invited to trial for the NSW squad, for which he was selected. From there, the squad went through a thorough trial process including intense training sessions and trial games before the final team was named.
Zeylemaker, as a result of strong performances throughout the process, was named in the side as an outfielder.
“I was shocked, really happy about it though,” he said.
“I thought I played well throughout the whole trial process, it was still a bit of a learning curve, and you can never be too sure with these kinds of teams.”
Zeylemaker and his NSW side will come up against the nation’s best and brightest softballers from South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland, Victoria and the ACT at the national championships, .
“It’s going to be a seriously high level, really tough,” Zeylemaker said.
“I’m expecting we’ll go well. There’s always pressure, especially since NSW won it last year. There’s a lot of pride on the line, we have a reputation to uphold because NSW has won this championships a lot.
“We want to be the best in the country.”
Individually, Zeylemaker said he is purely focused on doing his job as outfielder, and doing it well. He went on to say familiarity with his teammates is a huge advantage.
“The first at bat and first game there’s always nerves but after that it’s okay,” he said.
“Personally, making those hard, long throws ensuring we get the outs is important. I’m also the only left-hander in the side, which gives me a bit of variation.
“But we all know each other pretty well, which will help a lot I think.”
An Australian merit squad will be named out of the carnival, but Zeylemaker said with another year left in the under 17 division he has one eye on wearing green and gold in the coming years.
“Definitely in the future,” he said.
“They choose an Australian side at under 19s level, so hopefully I can keep working hard to look toward maybe making that side if I’m lucky enough.”