The Last Post

Well...in true Team Toba blog style, this post is waaaaaaaay overdue.  You could say that I've been trying to think of just the right thing to say as our season came to a close and we put the blog to bed for a while...or you could say that life caught up with me and I've been a touch on the busy side.  Take your pick...

Team Toba 2015 had a great ride over the past year, from our initial tryouts way back in June 2014.  So many fun things along the way...the epic group chat conversations, getting on the "Gains Train" and who could forget our adventures in Fleming?!

One thing is for certain- we sure couldn't have made it to WCSG without a huge group of people supporting us along the way.

Thank you so much to Adam, Brent and the rest of the trainers at S4L, you got us in shape and opened our eyes to what off-field training could do for our game.  And to all of the different service providers who helped us out with things like nutrition and running form, thank you for what you taught us!

A huge thank you to Don and Carol at Sport Manitoba for always having our back and providing us with everything we need to make things run smoothly.  The best part is always when athletes ask, "So...who is Don?  And who's Carol?", that pretty much sums up their love of working behind the scenes.  Unfortunately I was unable to capture a photo of the two of them this year because certain threats were made on my umpiring career...

Thank you to Team Toba 2013 alumni Crash and Britt, the "office minions" for all of the random tasks you did to help us get organized!

There are some people who I missed with my thank-you's back in 2013 because my eyes had not been opened up to the role they played at the Games.  Of course we have to send a huge should out to Ted, Shawnee, Barry and Marcie for all of the work they do with getting Team Toba organized leading up to and at the Games.  We're not sure how you do it, but everything runs like a well oiled machine when we're at any Games.  But then there was the rest of the Mission Staff crew, which I was a part of.  Even if these individuals had no connection or role with softball, they still contributed to the whole process because most of them helped me do my job in some way.  Whether it was coming down to cheer for us (or was it just an excuse to eat some seeds?), picking up "supplies" or driving me around, the whole Team Toba Mission Staff needs to be thanked for the amazing job they do at Games in a support role.

And then there's all of the parents, grandparents and families who supported us throughout the whole process.  We had a huge group with us in Fort Mac who never stopped cheering and it was so amazing to know that you were behind us the whole way!  Sorry we never got to put Cheryl in that special mascot suit...

And how could I forget our faithful blog readers, you've put us over 72 000 hits!  Can you imagine the party that's going to happen when we get to 100K???  And now we've got 170 Instagram followers, too!  It's really a full time job to keep up with it all.

So with that we'll shut down the 2015 edition of Team Toba Softball.  To all of the athletes in our program, while we didn't get the results we were after, you gave it your all and you'll all be better softball players after this experience.  We had loads of fun coaching you and look forward to watching you on the diamond next summer!  And when you're looking back on this whole experience in 10 years, reminiscing about good times in Fleming and those fluorescent yellow uniforms...just remember how awesome that cafeteria at the Lodge was, how epic your cheers were at the Games...and that Manager Val did know what she was talking about when it came to pin trading because she got them ALL.