Wadena, Saskatchewan had some visitors from far, far away in their community earlier this week.
The town hosted the New Zealand Under-19 International Softball Academy for a double header against the Junior and Senior Rosebud Royals.
The national team arrived as part of their annual Western Canadian tour.
Darin Fohbert is one of the players on the senior squad and coaches the juniors, too. He mentioned how the New Zealand team loves playing in Canada, particularly in Wadena.
“There’s a returning player from last year who was telling the boys that this was going to be a cool stop along the way because everybody embraces it in the community,” said Fohbert. “For a day in their life, they are celebrities here.”
The event has been a popular one for the last couple years in the town of 1,100 plus people.
He spoke about why a team from across the world has made the long journey all the way to Canada to play softball.
“In order to get a high level of competition, New Zealand has always brought teams over to Canada,” he explained. “Saskatchewan in particular, but Canada in general, is a very strong area for male softball in the world, as well as New Zealand.”
The Kiwis aren’t done playing in Saskatchewan quite yet. After this weekend’s tournament in Camrose, Alberta, the team will travel to Grenfell, Saskatchewan and then play on the Kahkiwistahaw First Nation this upcoming week.
