Source: Radio New Zealand
Rhonda Hira in action for the White Sox against Japan in 2000. PHOTOSPORT
Rhonda Hira (Waikato Tainui, Ngāti Tipa) has long secured her place in New Zealand softball history.
A five-time world championship representative, Olympian and New Zealand player of the decade from 1997-2006, Hira is widely regarded as one of the greatest White Sox to wear the fern.
Now, she says former players like herself have a responsibility to be more visible and help guide the game forward.
Raised in Hawke’s Bay, before settling in Christchurch nearly 40 years ago, Hira’s softball journey began with a newspaper article she read as a kōtiro.
“I was only like eight at the time and I was reading an article about a women’s team going to the World Series in South America,” she told RNZ.
“I thought, ‘Oh, I’d love to do that myself’.”
NZ White Sox representatives. Softball New Zealand
That early spark turned into a near 20-year international career. Hira debuted for New Zealand in 1983 and went on to represent the White Sox at five world championships – Auckland in 1986, Normal, Illinois in 1990, St John’s in 1994, Fukushima in 1998 and Saskatoon in 2002.
She also reached what she describes as the pinnacle of any sporting career – the Olympic Games – where the White Sox placed sixth. At Sydney 2000, she was New Zealand’s top batter.
“To be in that realm with your own people is something to aspire to,” she said, reflecting on the strong Māori and Pasifika representation within the New Zealand team at those Games.
Her most memorable campaign was the 1990 world championship final – which was never played – against the United States. A single round-robin result meant New Zealand needed a near-perfect performance to claim gold.
The gold medal game was rained out, which led to the United States claiming gold for the highest round-robin standing.
“One run cost us 10 runs to actually win the tournament,” she said. “That’s a memory in itself.”
According to the latest rankings from the World Baseball Softball Confederation, New Zealand’s women are currently ranked 23rd.
It marks a shift from the White Sox teams of Hira’s era, who were regular podium contenders. New Zealand won the world championship in 1982, and claimed bronze in 1986 and silver in 1990.
As recently as 2016, the side was ranked eighth globally.
Softball’s Olympic status has also shifted over time. The women’s game featured at the Olympic Games from 1996-2008, before returning at Tokyo 2020.
It will again appear at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, with six teams to qualify through a series of global and continental tournaments. Host nation United States automatically secures one place.
Rhonda Hira in action for the White Sox against Australia in 2000. PHOTOSPORT
Hira said, throughout her softball career, resources were limited. Programmes were handwritten on a single A4 sheet and training tools were improvised from household items.
“When I was making my way to being a White Sox, it was more of dedication to the sport and the commitment,” she said.
“We utilised a lot of resources we had in the home, like your can of spaghetti tied around a rope just to strengthen the wrists,” she laughed.
Today’s athletes had access to far more support, Hira said, but she believed the core principle had not changed.
“The real dedication is what you put into it is what you’ll get back.”
Softball in Aotearoa now has a membership base made up of about 60 percent Māori and Pasifika players. Hira said that connection wasn’t an accident.
“What draws our indigenous people to this game is that it’s community driven,” she said. “You don’t know until you actually play with somebody else that you think, ‘Oh, they’re from the same area. Why is that?’, so there’s that connection.”
She described softball as strategic, percentage-based and a whānau sport, where every player has a role to perform.
“It creates lifelong friendships. The camaraderie amongst those that have gone and those that are present is unbreakable.”
NZ White Sox Olympic team 2000. Supplied
While proud of what her generation achieved, Hira said visibility from former internationals was crucial to the sport’s future.
“Players like myself need to be a little bit more visible, so these players are able to say, ‘Well, that’s so-and-so and she went to so-and-so’, and maybe can approach these players that have been there and done that.”
She believed the softball brand was strong enough to demand more recognition nationally and internationally.
“It’s a brand that can be marketed. It has that support not only within the community, but at a higher stage as well.”
With Olympic qualifiers and junior world events on the horizon, Hira’s message to the next generation was to work hard.
“The resources that are available to you, use them well. The coaches that you have believe in the game that they’re trying to get you to play.
“If it’s not working, park it. It’ll be something you can use when it actually does come to fruition.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand