Rep softball on the rise

The players aren’t the only ones flying the representative flag for Toowoomba Softball.

The region is also producing top coaches at a state level.

Kirsty Prouten is in Perth coaching the under 15 girls Qld team at Regionals and Toowoomba coaching coordinator Jayke Reynolds heads to Canberra at the end of this week to coach the U15 boys Queensland team.

In the seniors Toowoomba’s Chris Edards has been appointed the U23 men’s Queensland coach.

Reynolds said it put Toowoomba on the softball map.

“It really helps, especially on the coaching scene,” he said.

“It’s development for me as well, going away to coach Queensland. I get to learn off other state coaches.”

Reynolds is looking forward to bringing the skills and knowledge he gains from coaching the boys state team back to Toowoomba Softball.

“We can look at doing development drills to help the younger kids get better at the game and learn the rules more as well,” he said.

He hopes this develops more state players in the future like Linc Walk and Nick Murphy who are in Sydney with the U17s Queensland team, Monique Smith who was selected in the Qld U19s women’s team and Jasmine Lucas, Alex Cleary and Nick Moore who have made selection in their respective U23 state squads.

“We generally only get a couple selected in Queensland teams but this year we had a fair few,” Reynolds said.

“It really shows the skill level in Toowoomba is relatively strong.”