GB Under-13 fastpitch player Betsy Holden recently gave a remarkable TEDx talk to a mixture of students and adults at Teddington School in London about how she discovered softball, and what the game now means to her.
TED talks
TED is a large international non-profit organisation dedicated to 'Ideas worth sharing'. It hosts live events with talks given by people from around the world and from all types of industry. The talks are then posted on the organisation's website (www.ted.com) so that anyone can access them for inspiration. Bill Gates and Gordon Brown are among those who have taken part.
There is also a spin-off called TEDx, where organisations can apply for a franchise to host their own TED-style events, with an identical format to the main organisation. Teddington School hosts TEDx talks every year, delivered by a mix of students and adults, and this year Betsy Holden was one of the speakers – the youngest from her school to ever take part. About 200 people were in the audience, including the Vice President of Google Europe.
Finding a sport
Betsy's talk is just over nine minutes long, and her mother, April Holden, has described it as “a huge love letter to softball and the coaches who have inspired her so much.” In it, Betsy, who has always played a variety of sports and engaged in a wide range of other activities, describes how at the age of 10, as a pupil at Stanley Primary School in Teddington, she finally came across the sport that was right for her after joining a short-lived softball club at the school.
There, she was spotted by GB Women's Team player and former GB Under-16 Head Coach Sarah Jones, who invited her to try out for the GB programme.
It took a while for Betsy to earn selection, and she was a non-travelling reserve when the team travelled to the Netherlands in 2011. But in 2012 and 2013, when the GB Under-13s travelled to the ESF's Massimo Romeo Youth Cup in Italy, Betsy was selected on both occasions. This past summer, she played both second and third base for the team and also pitched and caught – though her favourite position is catcher.
Many interests
Betsy still plays both school and club football and is active in drama both in and out of school – but her number one sport is now softball.
As for the TEDx talk, Betsy said: “I volunteered for a TEDx talk because it was something new and sounded interesting. At first I didn't know what to talk about, but the very first idea I had was softball and I never considered anything else. I was definitely very nervous on the day – but I was excited too.”
Enjoy!
You can watch Betsy's talk below, it is well worth viewing.
GB Under-13 Head Coach Caroline Champion and her assistant coaches and team managers should be proud to have inspired this response from one of their players.