Representing Canada
Tignish native Dawson Sellick headed to world junior championship in Saskatchewan
Tignish ball player Dawson Sellick has been selected for Softball Canada’s Junior Team Canada and will be taking part in the 2018 WBSC Junior Men’s Softball World championship in Saskatchewan in July.
It’s been a year of transition for Tignish ball player Dawson Sellick. This time last year he was a baseball player. But Softball Canada was bringing the national under-18 men’s championship to O’Leary, and P.E.I. needed a team. So, Sellick and a group of other P.E.I. baseball players accepted a challenge to become Team P.E.I. “There was one softball player and the rest of us were baseball players,” recalls Sellick. The team played hard but finished out of the playoff round at 1-5. “We were a really good group and we helped each other out and did the best we could,” he said. “I did good in the hitting part. I transitioned really good into that.” With a smaller playing field, he discovered the pace of softball is faster than baseball. When the tournament ended, Sellick remained in O’Leary for Softball Canada’s final selection camp. “Luckily, I got the call and they told me I made the team, so I was pretty pumped,” he said. “This time last year I really didn’t have any belief that I’d be going (to worlds) but, with a lot of hard work and a good attitude and a good mindset, you can do what you want to do.” After receiving his Team Canada invitation last September, Sellick hit the gym hard to get ready for the 2018 World Baseball Softball Confederation Junior Men’s Softball World championship, which will be held in Prince Albert, Sask., from July 7-15. He left Monday for Saskatoon where he will join the rest of Team Canada for 10 days of practice and exhibition games against senior men’s teams, as a world championship warm-up. The head coach for the national team is fellow Islander Jeff Ellsworth, a Dock resident, while Cardigan’s Mark Quinn is an assistant coach. Sellick said Ellsworth has been a big influence on his preparations for nationals. “Anything I needed help on, I’d just call him and he’d stop whatever he was doing and he’d help me.” Since the selection camp, Sellick has been to Toronto, in February, for a weekend of practice with the national junior team and they got together again in Innerkip, Ont., in May for a men’s tournament and practices. Beyond that the players have been keeping in touch with one another and training on their own. Sellick, an outfielder, is thrilled with the makeup of his team. “It’s awesome; it really is. We’ve only been together a little bit, but we really bonded. Whenever we’re together, it’s like we’ve known each other forever. We’re a great group of guys and I’m really looking forward to seeing how the tournament goes,” he said. “We really support each other. If anybody’s down or not having a good day, we’re always there for each other, trying to pick each other up.” Sellick, who does maintenance work at St. Felix Golf Course, said he has a good boss who understands what it means to play for Team Canada. “He told me I can have all the time off I needed to go and play this.” This is Sellick’s only opportunity to play for the national junior team as he will have aged out by the time the next world championship is held in two years. He still has some softball in his future, though, as he will play for the O’Leary Eagles in the North American Fastpitch Association (NAFA) tournament in Fargo, N.D., in August. Further into the future, Sellick said he’d like to try out for Canada’s senior men’s team.