The U13 Central Energy have had a terrific season and coach Jenn Smith is looking to bring the things that have made the group successful into the provincials starting today.
Before looking ahead to the big tournament, Smith reflected on the season to this point. "I would say it's been a good season so far," she says with positivity. "Maybe our record isn't the strongest or what people would hope it'd be going into provincials, but I think our focus as a coaching staff and as a team as a whole, it's been about developing players. Giving people their time to learn the game, switch things up so come provincials, we're in a strong spot. I think we've done that, and we're looking forward to this weekend."
Over the course of the year, teams will go through highs and lows, both of which Smith details. "I think in general, we have a great pitching staff and defense. Some of the lows, at times, we've struggled to score runs, but overall, we have a great lineup from 1-12. Any part of our lineup can generate runs, it's just a matter of doing it early in games. Overall, it's been a very enjoyable season."
Coaching the U13 level has been a lot of fun for Smith, who says she's really liked building up the players skillsets. "It's an interesting age to coach, and it's been an interesting group as a whole. About half have played AAA ball before and the other half have never, so that's our first year experiencing that. I think as a team, they've done a really good job sharing their knowledge together and learning together with those girls that have watched their older sisters play or have played at this level. I think as a coaching staff, it's just seeing where the opportunities are where some girls may not have the experience or time yet to develop. As an example, we switched one of our players that played AAA last year to be a lefty this year, and that sometimes can be seen as a risk, but it really paid off. I think the same thing with pitchers or catchers, just giving them time to develop, seeing who can really be there for us at provincials and be that go-to."
Building a team of girls from all over the Pembina Valley, one of the biggest takeaways for Smith has been the bonds the team has formed. "It's been so great," she says with a big smile. "I think that's the highlight of any season, when you can come together and really bond, celebrating each others wins. That's one of this teams strengths, is that we really will win as a team and lose as a team, and that's a powerful thing to have. It's not relying on one player. Lots of these girls play hockey together or know each other from before, but seeing them all get along and bonding, wanting to spend time together outside of games or practices, it's been really great."
As Smith prepares to lead the team into the provincial tournament, she feels like her teams game is in a good place. "I think our strength is the fact that this tournament is a marathon. We play six games of round robin, and the top four make it to the playoff round on Sunday. Our strength is we have a deep pitching staff, a deep catching staff, and we have so many girls that can play different positions that where other teams may be relying on those one or two pitchers, we don't have that issue. The depth of our lineup is going to really help us, same as our hitting, we don't need the top of our lineup to generate all of our runs, we can have the bottom of the lineup do that too. It eases everyone's concerns a little bit, takes pressure off individuals when your team can rely on all the players."
Smith knows what happens on the diamond can be special, but it's the trips, the memories away from ball that can really last a lifetime for the group. "I think I'm really looking forward to that. We just did that, we travelled down to Sioux Falls, North Dakota this past weekend, and that was a great opportunity to do that and spend time together. This team is always looking for things to do, activities to bond outside of the diamond, and I bet the next four days they'll do that as well."
Looking at the future of not just this team but the entire program, Smith knows this U13 age group is very important and keeping the players mentally healthy is vital. "I think so often we can forget about the mental side of sport and with softball/baseball being such a mentally tough sport, our coaching staff prioritized that. We have signs up in the dugout, speaking to what the girls goals are, they chose them themselves. They talked about it as a team, what their team word we wanted, and they chose energy and aggression. That is what we're focused on and what we want to show at provincials. We worked hard all season and when it comes to provincials, we want to have fun and if you work hard, no matter what happens, you can trust you did enough and trust whatever happens, you put in the work and can be confident in that work. That's a big focus for us and we're hoping at provincials, the group can be confident and have fun with each other."
U13 AAA provincials start today and go until the playoffs start on Sunday.