Andrews faces Olympic shortfall
‘‘She is a real gift to the Hutt Valley.’’
If you have any doubts about how tough elite sport can be, just ask Lara Andrews.
The former White Sox captain recently returned from the United States where she completed a PhD and played softball professionally.
Returning to New Zealand after a lengthy spell in America has been a time of turmoil as she decides what career path to pursue.
Selected in the White Sox to play in Japan next week, Andrews is also struggling to raise $1500 for the trip.
The team are looking to qualify for the 2020 Olympics, at the world championship in Japan next year.
Her goal since she was a little girl has been to be an Olympian and Andrews is determined to be part of the White Sox programme.
Raising $1500 is proving a challenge for Andrews, who has set up a givealittle page. So far it has only raised $50.
Having been in the team for 13 years, she was reluctant to talk publicly about her situation.
She does not use the word embarrassed but it is clear she would prefer to be in a different position.
The softball community in the Hutt Valley is small and she said it was hard going back to the same people, all the time, asking for money.
That she is looking for work and is not sure what career path to follow, further complicated her situation.
Softball New Zealand Chief executive Tony Giles is keen to help.
He said Andrews was the best athlete of her generation and believed she was crucial to the success of the White Sox.
The team has a serious chance of making the 2020 Olympics, which Andrews told him she had dreamed of since she was small and had a poster of the Olympic rings in her room.
Giles has been working with her to help her find a career and with her PhD (which is in part about parental involvement in sport) he believed her obvious career path was in highperformance sport.
The White Sox recently received funding for the first time since they played at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
The cost of the programme to qualify for the Olympics is $500,000 and High Performance New Zealand and Softball New Zealand have provided $350,000.
For long-term players such as Andrews and another Hutt Valley player Danica Ferriso, the cumulative impact of having to raise up to $6000 for each tour had been high.
‘‘They could have purchased a house in Auckland with the outlay they have made over the years.’’
Andrews has made a big impression on Paul Marfell from Ignite Sport Trust.
She had helped Ignite work with youngsters and Marfell described her an ‘‘inspiring indi- vidual’’ who deserved support.
‘‘She is back at home in Lower Hutt now, coaching softball, teaching parents how to use sport to help their children to grow into fine citizens, building strong relationships between teams and the whole extended whanau.
‘‘She is a real gift to the Hutt Valley.’’