As softball starts to gather a growing number of fans in Abu Dhabi, Sara Taher speaks to Florencia Caro, the driving force behind the success of the sport, about its universal appeal, where to play and how to get involved.
Our wonderful city is not short on activities for those looking to get fit and enjoy some wholesome team sports. Helping to add some flavour to the options out there is Florencia Caro, the organiser of Abu Dhabi Softball. Thanks to her tireless efforts, interested parties can join the group’s Facebook page and take part in games on Tuesday nights at Zayed Sports City from 7pm-11pm. We caught up with the lovely Flo to learn more about the group.
How did you go about setting up a softball group out here?
I started by creating a Facebook page in January of this year and invited a couple of friends I knew played and lived in the capital. They all helped promote and spread the word around. I secured the softball field at Zayed Sports City every Tuesday for two hours and we held weekly pick-up, co-ed (both men and women) recreational games. Initially we would have 20-25 people show up at every session. As the word spread, the numbers increased to 40-50. That’s when I knew that we had enough people interested to play.
I set up a registration for a league and we had an overwhelming amount of people sign up. This is the first league being organised in the city in around ten years.
How did you find participants to play?
People that already knew how to play ‘liked’ the Abu Dhabi Softball Facebook page and they started to recommend the page to friends and colleagues. Word of mouth, as well as features in some city publications, also helped to promote our non-profit initiative.
So how many people tend to show up for a game these days?
We currently have six teams playing with roughly 80 people. Sixty percent are men, the rest women. Forty percent of the total are from the US, the rest range from Canada, Australia, Venezuela, Argentina, Lebanon, Syria, England, France, Philippines, Germany, Scotland and Ireland. Ages range from 25-60 years.
When did you first develop your interest in the game?
I first got introduced to the sport of fast pitch softball when
I lived in the USA as a child. I started playing at the age of 12 and continued back in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where I’m originally from. Since coming to the UAE in 2009, I’ve been driving to Dubai twice a week to play in the Dubai Softball League – known to be the first organised sports league in the UAE, dating back to the 1970s.
Would you recommend softball for people who have never played?
Absolutely. The format that we play in the UAE is slow pitch softball, which means that the ball is pitched underhand in a slow curve, so hitting the ball tends to be a very easy thing to do. This allows for a particular advantage in that people of all ages, skill and fitness levels can play the sport. We have brand new players as well as experienced ones all playing in unison. We’ve adjusted some rules so that we make it particularly inclusive to the novices, such as a no-collision rule (no sliding into base).
Do some players ever get too competitive when playing? How do you deal with that?
It rarely occurs that one of the experienced players gets overly competitive. We are constantly reminding everyone that the key ingredient to the success of the initiative is to be inclusive and aware of everyone’s skill levels. Interestingly enough, we have most of the seasoned players helping out with the beginners all the time.
What are your aspirations for the group in five years?
I would like the league to continue growing in many ways. First off, we’d like to organise many more adult leagues of different skill levels and genders (men’s competitive, women’s competitive, co-ed competitive, co-ed recreational) and have an increased Emirati presence. I’d also like to see a strong grass-roots initiative developed, little league softball and baseball practices, more schools teaching, playing and so on. You can start playing this sport from the age of four. To do all this, however, we need a proper softball field. The current one in Zayed Sports City seems to be going away to make room for another football pitch, so we’re looking for some governmental support or local sponsor that may help in getting two new fields set up somewhere in Abu Dhabi in order to properly give this sport a chance.
To learn more about the group, visit their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/abudhabisoftball.
