Our President, Coach & Friend
We are extremely honoured and overwhelmingly proud to introduce our President here at Guelph Minor Softball Association . . . Jessica Fleming!!
This week, Coach Jess was featured by PWSA (Provincial Women's Softball Association) as part of International Women's Day.
Click
Coach Jess to read the full article
**How has Sport and Softball influenced your life? ** Softball has brought me a lot of joy and many lifelong friendships. I have become more confident in myself and my athletic abilities. I am grateful for every moment I have had involving sports and softball. For me, one of my greatest accomplishments has been coaching rep softball, it is an honour to be working with such a fantastic group of young people and an awesome team of coaches.
**When did you start playing Softball? ** I began playing softball when I was in the fourth grade. I fell in love with the game during gym class at school when we had the opportunity to use the diamond in the school yard. From there, I asked my parents to sign me up for house league ball. When I was in eighth grade I got called up to play rep ball and I was in absolute glory. I played rep ball in ninth grade and then injured myself at the beginning of the season in tenth grade. I was heartbroken that I had to take time away to recover from my injury. I will always remember all of the amazing people I met playing ball as a youth. In my adulthood, I returned to ball by playing for several women's leagues as well as co-ed. Then I found my love for coaching and I have invested about 10 years into coaching so far. I am currently coaching with the Guelph Gators U14 Novice team and I am President of the Guelph Minor Softball Association.
**Name, and tell us about your favourite female leader, or woman that inspires or inspired you on your athletic/softball journey.** Angela Lichty has been a great inspiration to me. I have known her since high school and played many sports with her. She was the kindest and most humble athlete and I can remember looking up to her during our high school career. I loved playing volleyball with her, she was such a smart and quick thinker and mover on the court. I really enjoyed seeing where her softball career took her. Angela went to University for softball and played for Team Canada in the 2004 Olympics. I recently reconnected with Angela and invited her to attend a zoom session with our Guelph Gators Novice team. She attended our virtual meeting and our team learned so much from her and truly enjoyed the experience of getting to know her.
**Tell us about this female leader, or woman and how they inspire or inspired you. ** I chose Angela because she was an inspiring athlete but also because she was just a really great person to be around. **