OKLAHOMA CITY – The Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America and USA Softball announced today the full coaching staff for the USA Softball Women’s National Team for competitions in 2014. With Ken Eriksen (Tampa, Fla./Head Coach at USF) at the head of the Women’s program, the assistants for the year include three different coaches each with previous coaching appearances with the USA Softball Women’s National Team program.
“We’re very excited to have these three coaches on the staff for the 2014 National Team,” said Eriksen. “They each bring a wealth of knowledge about this game and in their previous years working with the team, they have proven they have the ability to connect with our athletes and get the most out of them.”
Joining Head Coach Eriksen on the Women’s National Team staff are Laura Berg (Corvallis, Ore./head coach at Oregon State), Howard Dobson (Orange, Texas/assistant coach at LSU) and Lisa Dodd (San Diego, Calif./head coach at UNLV). Berg and Dobson are each making their third appearances as assistant coaches in the USA Softball program while Dodd will be in her second stint as a coach with Team USA, previously having coached with the 2013 USA Softball Junior Women’s National Team at their ISF World Championships in Brampton, Ontario, Canada.
Twenty-Six athletes have accepted invitations to the 2014 USA Softball Women’s National Team Selection Camp scheduled for June 8-19. These athletes will compete in a series of practices and exhibition games in hopes of making the final 17-player roster that will compete for Team USA throughout the summer. The final roster will be announced on www.USASoftball.com on June 22.
In preparation for the ISF Women’s World Championships, August 15-24, 2014 in Haarlem, Netherlands, the 2014 Women’s National Team will compete in a series of exhibition games as well as three tournaments that include the World Cup of Softball IX in Irvine, Calif July 7-13, the Canadian Open Fast Pitch International in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada July 15-21 and Italian Softball Week in Azzano, Italy August 6-10. Their complete schedule, including exhibition game dates and locations can be found here.
For all of the latest information on all of the USA Softball National Teams visit www.USASoftball.com.
About ASA
The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation’s largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 76 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 165,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than 2.5 million. For more information on the ASA, visit http://www.asasoftball.com/.
About USA Softball
USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men’s, Women’s, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ National Team programs together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting these four National Teams to compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women’s National Team is one of the only two women’s sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won nine World Championship titles including the last seven consecutive as well as claimed six World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about USA Softball, please visit http://www.usasoftball.com.
