Hi, I am Veneta, I practice softball since 2012, but have done a lot of other sports before, unprofessionally.
I started by chance. Coming back from tennis friends of mine invited me to join their practice.
Honestly, I didn’t have much desire to do so as I didn’t understand the game at all. But the moment I touched the glove, the ball and finally the bat…. things changed. That day back in August, a sport called Softball settled on the 1st place in my life. Everything else now is complied with it. And all my friends and family support me, for which I’m so grateful.
I started as center field and then decided to move on to the infield and short stop position. I’m also training for pitcher, but synchronizing your body with the moves and specifics…simply takes time. And here comes the expressions “Work hard, train hard”.
My team is called Athletic Sofia – with many cups, medals and colorful story in terms of changes and development. Right now, most of the people in the team are in since 4-5 years, but there are also new people and with enough trainings and will everything will work great, I’m sure.
In Bulgaria Softball is more of an amateur sport, of the unpopular ones. It’s mostly associated with “baseball for women” and cricket J.
All 5 teams are “fighting” for more visibility and popularity of the sport, but it’s really hard.
We also have a National team with the ambition to achieve better results with each year.
Tournaments:
· National Championships -Fastpitch and Slowpitch
· Bulgaria Cup – Fastpitch
· Sofia Cup – Fastpitch
· And several kids’ tournaments
This year Athletic Sofia has also the opportunity to participate in the European Women Cup and gain more experience.
I’m also doing kids practice for the last 2 years, but I learn more and more as they learn. We grow together.
In Bulgaria, during the last few years we have succeeded in attracting more kids in the baseball and softball. Currently there are 5 children’s teams and we already see some of the kids performing great in the men’s baseball and women’s softball teams. This speaks of their great desire, hard practice and huge progress. Kids are a major priority for the Bulgarian Baseball&Softball federation.
I was also included in the Bulgarian national team where so far we participated in the Balkans Tournament in Sofia and the Slowpitch Tournament in Serbia. I train hard to earn my place in this team.
This year I hope Athletic Sofia will play well at the European Cup and in every other tournament we can join.
As for this sport – there is always something new you can learn. You take a lot and give a lot. Hard work, great will, glove, ball and bat – it’s a way of life!
And my dreams – to train, to teach others of what I’ve learnt, to travel and feel life, to go ahead always with a smile J.