But the glass cleats fit as Chow provided one of the best Cinderella stories of this week鈥檚 Softball sa国际传媒 women鈥檚 tryout camp in Mississauga, Ont., by being named to the national team.
鈥淚 thought this would be more of a development year for me,鈥� said Chow, the Victoria Devils product, who graduated from the NCAA Utah State Aggies in 2016.
鈥淏ut to make the 15-player national team is super exciting.鈥�
Emma Entzminger, also of Victoria, was named to the national 鈥楤鈥� team.
It isn鈥檛 lost on anybody in the national-team program that women鈥檚 softball is returning to the Summer Olympics in 2020 at Tokyo. The players on the 鈥楢鈥� and 鈥楤鈥� national teams comprise the long list from which the Olympic team will be selected.
鈥淵ou look up ahead now knowing that goal is achievable,鈥� said the six-foot, 160-pound Chow.
The national team program doesn鈥檛 shy away from envisioning the ultimate prize. In fact, it encourages it, as part of the brasher post-Vancouver 2010 way of thinking about international sporting success among Canadian athletes.
鈥淭hey talked about it every day in the tryout camp: The national team program鈥檚 goal is gold at Tokyo,鈥� said the 23-year-old Chow, who attended Spectrum until Grade 11 before switching to Lambrick Park Secondary for Grade 12.
鈥淭hey said to envision standing on the top of the Olympic podium in Tokyo.鈥�
Chow had to completely reinvent herself on the diamond in order to be in this position to dream so big. She used to be a right-handed Devils pitcher who batted from the right side. But her natural foot speed was so evident, the Utah State coaches wanted to take advantage to that. So they switched her to left field and into a left-side slap-batter. The latter is so Chow can be closer to first base once she hits the ball into play. It is those millimetres of difference that matter on the diamond.
鈥淚 think I showed the coaches my base-running speed, and overall versatility, during the national tryout camp,鈥� said Chow.
The Canadian national team coach is Nova Scotia-native and former Victoria Senior A pitching star Mark Smith.
The Canadian team is leaving for Chicago today to play an exhibition series against the Chicago Bandits of the National Pro Fastpitch League on Friday and Saturday followed by the U.S. World Cup of Softball from July 5-9 in Oklahoma City. The sa国际传媒 Cup goes from July 11-17 at Softball City in Surrey. The Pan American women鈥檚 championships are Aug. 4-13 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and the Japan Cup is from August 25-28.
The Canadian 鈥楤鈥� team will take part in the sa国际传媒 Cup, as will the Canadian junior team.
Although disappointed not to make the national 鈥楢鈥� side, Devils-grad Entzminger knows she is only 21, with time on her side, as she looks to her senior year in the NCAA with the defending Mountain West Conference-champion San Jose State Spartans.
鈥淚鈥檓 upset that I didn鈥檛 perform as well as I would have liked to at the national tryout camp, but we are all in the same bracket [long list for Tokyo 2020],鈥� said the third-baseman out of Lambrick Park Secondary.
鈥淚鈥檝e got years to play. I just have to keep working hard and training hard and getting better.鈥�
The dream of Tokyo is still right there. It just needs to be seized.
