Late last year, Jack Besgrove was given one of the best birthday presents you could possibly ask for - a phone call from a national selector telling him he'd been picked to represent his country on the world stage.
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The former Cardinals Softball Club junior and Orange District Softball Association graduate will head to New Zealand as part of the under 18 Australian side to defend their title at the Under 18 Men's Softball World Cup.
"I didn't really know what to say," Besgrove said of the phone call.
"I thought it might be happening but it was still an exciting thing."
Besgrove was part of a 30-strong squad selected after nationals in early 2019, and then lined up as part of a 16-strong side playing in the under-23 nationals, so his selection wasn't out of the blue but said he was still stoked to be picked.
The Australian are defending their 2018 crown, but from a personal level Besgrove is very much in the dark as to what the games and competition will be like, although 2018 team member Riley James has helped build the expectation.
"You kind of don't know what to expect and you just play your best," he said.
"It feels like we've got a really good team and a good bunch of fellas and it should be good."
Besgrove now plays in Sydney after ageing out of the junior competition in Orange and searching for an all-men's competition, requiring up to 18 hours of driving across the mountains a week, but in large part he'll have fellow juniors in Orange to thank for helping him.
He still often trains in Orange, and while he will train on his own, the 16-year-old also enlists the help of juniors in the city.
"I'll get other boys from around town to come down and help out, pretty much every day I'm down there," he said.
"Michael Berndt, Finley Gutherson, some of the younger guys who are also Cardinals come down ... it's nice for them to do it as I've been here since I was four and only leaving due to age groups.
"They love the sport as much as I do and they want to learn and me being given those opportunities to at a higher level team, for me to bring it back to them to help them improve their games."
He's hoping the sport will continue to take him overseas in the future, too, with an eye on competing or playing overseas in the United States or Europe.
"I love the sport and I want to keep playing it, so if it takes me overseas it takes me overseas. I'd hope to go over there," he said.
The World Cup will be held at Palmerston North, New Zealand, from February 21 to March 1.
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Max Stainkamph
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
