Why on earth would you want to play Softball? You are possibly thinking "I can't throw, I can't catch, I can't run, I couldn't hit a ball with a bat" - all common excuses used when trying to interest women in playing the game and similar to the reasons I would have given 10 years ago when a colleague suggested that I join the work's team. But then I thought, "What have I got to lose?" except perhaps a bit of pride if I found I really couldn't play the game!

I joined the work's team we soon developed our skills (most of us were entirely new to the game) and joined the Bristol Softball Association so we could join in a local league. Over the past 10 years this league has grown from 8 teams (when I joined it) to 24 teams now plus a few development teams who will join in 2002 season.

How wrong I was at the time thinking I couldn't do it! There was nothing to worry about. Actually, some of the men had to learn all the same skills, having found they were not quite so good as they thought they would be. As I said, I've been playing for 10 years and my skills on the field are so much better - yeah it's taken a long time and loads of practice (taking advantage of any coaching sessions I can) but now, I can throw the ball in from the deep field to the bases and I can hit home runs, as can many other women. It's not just the men that get the glory and boy, doesn't it feel good to score a home run.

Softball in the UK is predominantly co-ed - teams have to have 5 men and 5 women to play a game. What other sports are there where women can play alongside men and be equally important? In fact, recruiting men is relatively easy but finding women to play isn't, so we can be even more valuable than men! At the end/beginning of seasons, there is a lot of transfer talk going on between teams and players, when teams are trying to poach experienced players, particularly women!

However, did you know that softball is actually an Olympic sport for women? We have several players from Bristol who play for the GB Ladies team.

We have three divisions in the Bristol Softball Association and games take place either on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday night at Clifton College Sports Ground in Abbots Leigh, on the A369, starting at 18:30 and usually finishing about 2000-2030 and many teams practice at the ground on Monday evenings.

Not only do we have fun and exercise whilst playing, there is an excellent social side to the League as well. After the games, most players stay at the ground for drinks and a barbecue. In addition we have several parties and an annual tournament in Bristol where 32 teams from around the UK get together for a weekend to play at least 8 games of softball each. Many teams from Bristol also travel away for weekends to play at tournaments in Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, London to name a few of the venues we visit, some even go abroad.