USF Athletics

The Road to Tokyo: Team USA Preps for 'Stand Beside Her' Tour

December 20, 2019

Road to Tokyo Series
USF Senior Writer Tom Zebold will chronicle the USA Softball Women's National Team's journey to the 2020 Tokyo Games with insight from Team USA head coach Ken Eriksen, the longtime leader of USF softball.

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By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer

TAMPA, DEC. 20, 2019 – We're just 215 days away from the first pitch at the Summer Olympics since 2008 and Team USA has much to accomplish before heading to Tokyo.

After completing team member selection in October, announcing the coaching staff and heading to Nevada in November, head coach Ken Eriksen's squad benefited from a seven-day stay at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center in California.

Prior to embarking on the latest Team USA journey that ended Thursday, Eriksen was excited about the process of getting the Red, White and Blue ready for a whirlwind experience in the months ahead.

"We're actually in a place that's a training center for the Olympics," Eriksen said. "It's basically a college campus. We'll be doing film, we'll be doing studies, and we'll be isolated, which is really, really nice to be able to do that. It will also be the first time that all the coaches will be together, so that will be neat."

Team USA members will be seeing a lot more of each other during the upcoming "Stand Beside Her" tour that features several competitions and training opportunities around the country for Eriksen's roster from February to late June.

The "Stand Beside Her" tour evokes a powerful message of unity aimed to inspire communities to stand beside HER – the members of the U.S. Women's National Team, America and the future generation of female athletes. 

"I think it's great, not just the empowering part of female athletics, but we're trying to get behind this women's national team," Eriksen said. "It's not just stand beside her for everything that's going on nowadays, but actually the aspect of it is, 'Help us out, help these women out.'" It's really cool. I thought they came up with a great theme of what we're trying to do over the upcoming months."

Fittingly, the "Stand Beside Her" tour will begin in the Bay area for USF softball's longtime head coach and his Olympic roster. Team USA is set to compete in the NFCA Division I Leadoff Classic Feb. 7-9 in Clearwater. Stay tuned for more information on the national team's activities in the Sunshine State.

"Florida is the longest place we'll be at for one extended period of time, one kind of hotel for the whole time," Eriksen said. "After that, it's gonna be a different hotel every three nights, travel every four days and then it gets even smaller than that as you continue on down."

Once Florida has been checked off the list, preparation for the Tokyo Games continues in Arizona, California, Oregon, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, Missouri, Michigan and Massachusetts leading up to the final tour stop in Virginia on June 25.

Don't miss out on an opportunity to catch Team USA at a stadium near you. View the "Stand Beside Her" schedule HERE and stay updated on important news at TeamUSA.org.

Team USA Bonds After Big Announcement
Eriksen sported a big smile as he reflected on an unforgettable experience at 2020 USA Softball WNT Olympic Selection Trials that took place Oct. 2-6 in Oklahoma City.

Years of keeps tabs on talent led up to an intense handful of days filled with simulated games, positions drills and much more before the selection committee decided on 15 players and three alternates. View the Olympic team roster HERE.

"It was exhilarating and it was really cool to see a lot of the players that had been in the USA program over the last three, four, five, six, seven, eight-plus years peak during that week," Eriksen said. "The committee was able to see the players come to the forefront with their experience and their training. Those were the gals that were selected. There really weren't a lot of arguments and those type of things in getting that core group of people together."

Once the big roster announcement was in the books, Team USA started a new tradition by staying together for three days in Oklahoma after the mentally and physically taxing trials.

Eriksen surprised the players at the end of a long, first team meeting by telling them to get up and bring their gloves.

Perhaps just as shocked as they were when team selection news was delivered, players asked Eriksen, 'Why bring our gloves?'"

"I said, 'Well, let's just go play catch,'" Eriksen responded.

Shoes weren't required for a fun-filled moment at the field, where 18 players became one united group.

"They were in their bare feet, sneakers, this and that, and they were just like a bunch of little girls that were playing for the first time," Eriksen said. "It was the neatest part of the weekend, in all honesty, once the pressure was off, to watch those 18 giggling, smiling, enjoying each other and just keeping it real in respect that it's a game. That was a good reminder of what it's about."
 
About USA Softball
USA Softball (USAS) is a 501(c)(3) not-for profit organization headquartered in Oklahoma City, Okla., and is designated as the National Governing Body (NGB) of Softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. One of the nation's largest sports organizations, USAS sanctions competition through a network of Local Associations, which includes all 50 states and select metro associations.  USAS is dedicated to providing people of all ages the opportunity to play the game they love at a variety of levels by offering recreational, league, tournament and competitive play for fast pitch, slow pitch and modified pitch.  USAS annually conducts thousands of tournaments throughout the country including over 100 National Championships.  The USAS umpire program is among the nation's largest and are widely known as the best trained umpires in the game. 

As the NGB for the sport of softball, USAS is responsible for training, equipping and promoting the six USA Softball National Teams that compete in events such as the Olympics, Pan American Games, World Championships and other international and domestic events. For more information on USAS, including its founding and history as the Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA), please visit, www.USASoftball.com.

About USF Softball
Be sure to follow USF softball on social media (Twitter / Facebook / Instagram) and visit GoUSFBulls.com for the most up-to-date information. The USF softball program has been one of the most successful on campus, making 15 NCAA tournament appearances, including a trip to the Women's College World Series in 2012.