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Our own private Olympics

I've just returned home from my third day at the 2012 Women's World Fastpitch Championship. I'm writing to express my amazement that the bleachers aren't filled to capacity for every game.

I’ve just returned home from my third day at the 2012 Women’s World Fastpitch Championship. I’m writing to express my amazement that the bleachers aren’t filled to capacity for every game. Teams from 16 countries are here, representing the best women’s softball players in the world.

With the International Olympic Committee’s decision to remove women’s softball from the Olympic Games that are about to commence in London, the Yukon is getting its own private Olympics: The athletes who are competing in the tournament that is taking place at the Takhini softball complex are the very same players who would be competing in London next month had their sport not been dropped.

Among the players are almost 40 former Olympians—including the fastest female fastpitch pitcher on earth, Japan’s Yukiko Ueno. Canada’s 17-year-old pitching dynamo, Jocelyn Cater, is a joy to watch and a splendid example of grace under pressure. And we get to see them all, up close and personal, for $20 a day—surely the best sports bargain the Yukon has ever seen. There are seven days of competition left. Don’t miss out on it, Yukon!

My sincere thanks go to George Arcand and others for bringing this calibre of sport to our town, along with the corporate and government sponsors who made the event possible.

Karen Walker

Whitehorse, Yukon