Fresno State Athletics
The Real World
1/24/2003 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Jan. 24, 2003
FRESNO, Calif. - Softball players Christina Clark and Laura Ferreira enter their freshman season at Fresno State this spring. Excited to begin their Bulldog careers this duo got a head start on another career, the real world via USA Softball.
Chosen to represent the United States at the first Pan American Games in Hermosillo, Mexico last December, Clark and Ferreira knew it was an honor to be selected. With an 8-0 tournament mark they would go on to capture a gold medal and help the USA Junior Women's National program earn an automatic berth for the 2003 International Softball Federation Junior World Women's Championships in Nanjing, China, next September.
"It was an honor to be one of the top 17 people to represent the country," said Clark, who played first, third and shortstop while smacking her first international home run for the USA. "It meant a lot to me. I wasn't hesitant about going to play but what we saw was something else."
"I was really excited to be selected to try out and when I was chosen for the team I knew it was a tremendous honor," said Ferreira, who went 2-0 with a one-hitter for the USA. "I wasn't hesitant about playing either but I didn't know what to expect."
They talked about team camaraderie and what it meant to wear a USA uniform, how special it was to enjoy new people and what others brought to the table.
However, with opportunity comes real life lessons and reality beckons one to understand that world is a much bigger place than one's own backyard.
"It was a little odd to get on a plane and hear in-flight safety instructions in Spanish, only," Ferreira said. "It was a one and a half hour flight out of Los Angeles and we arrived in Mexico at night. There were people staring at us but that didn't catch us off guard as much as seeing all these dogs running around."
The first day of practice was an eventful day.
"The first day of practice we waited in front of the hotel for the bus for three hours," Clark said giggling. "Once the bus got there, which was a school bus with windows that didn't go down and holes in the roof, it ran out of gas. We had to wait another 15 or 20 minutes before we actually left to go anywhere."
"Once we got there all the players practiced for a half hour without water, except the pitchers," Ferreira said gleefully. "We were very shocked to see cow skulls and cow brain taco stands in the outfield. The field was rocky and the outfield fence was bales of hay."
"Horses were running around the field, too," Clark added. "But once we got used to our surroundings we were just happy to get going."
Making adjustments for opponents is necessary but the physical adjustment to be made during a game was a challenge in its own right as well.
"It wasn't necessarily the teams we always adjusted too but making adjustments of our own, especially pitching a ball was tricky," Ferreira said. "The ball, even though it was the same size ball we use in college, was so different. It was white and squishy. It started out heavy and the seams were barely there so you couldn't get a grip and have the correct rotation. As the game went on the ball became mushy and the seams were coming apart."
"It was a trip though," Clark added. "At our game against Mexico someone stole the battery out of the bus during our game. As the tournament went on we had more and more fans on our side and they yelled Estados Unidos. People would even try to get our autographs during the games. At the medal ceremony the presentation was all in Spanish. We couldn't get the medals over our head. The best part of the tournament was hearing our national anthem; it was the most English we heard during the two week stay."
Though these Bulldogs can look back and enjoy the nuances of international travel they understood what it meant and how it felt to be good international neighbors.
"The Argentine team had to spend their Christmas in Mexico because their country couldn't get them home right away," Ferreira said. "We felt terrible about that because we know how important it is to us to be at home during the holidays. As a team we got together and surprised them with a Christmas tree. We decorated the Christmas ornaments and then trimmed the tree. The Argentines were very touched. I was so inspired, seeing tears in their eyes and knowing that they were truly moved.
"They (the Argentines) paid for everything they had by themselves - their hotel stay, uniform, equipment and other things. At the end of the tournament we gave away our screens, balls, gloves and bats to several different countries. The whole experience was more than just playing ball." Clark echoed the same sentiment.
It was an opportunity to embrace a higher level of sport but it evolved into an eye opening experience that left two Bulldogs with a better understanding of the world.
