Raptors Softball Club

💙🤍🧡 PARTNERSHIP RENEWED 🧡🤍💙

We are incredibly proud to announce that Rebel Ford are continuing as the Platinum Sponsor of the Raptors Softball Club!

For another season, Rebel Ford have chosen to back our club and its people. Their continued support is a huge investment in our culture, our programs and the future of our club.

It means so much to us to have a local business that believes in what we are building and chooses to continue the journey alongside us. Partnerships like this don’t just grow our program. It also helps our sport stay visible in the community. We couldn’t be more grateful.

To the entire Rebel Ford team, thank you for backing Raptors once again. You are doing more for softball than you know 💪🏼

🧡💙🤍

What a way to kick off pre-season! 🥎💙🧡🤍

It was fantastic to see so many Raptors out at our first pre-season session today. Familiar faces, new faces, and by the end of it… some very tired faces. 😂

There might be a few sore legs, stiff backs and people questioning their life choices tomorrow, but we hope you had plenty of fun along the way!

A HUGE thank you to our incredible coaches who put so much time and thought into planning these sessions and then give up their time to help our members get better. Your effort, enthusiasm and dedication to our people never goes unnoticed. We genuinely couldn’t do it without you. 💙🧡🤍

Now it’s time to rest, recover, hydrate… and perhaps avoid stairs for the next 24–48 hours. 😂

We can’t wait to do it all again next week!

Pre-season: 1
Glutes: 0 🤭

One more sleep! Pre-season training is here.
💙🧡🤍

Pre-season starts this Sunday! 🥎

It’s time to dust off the gloves, get moving and start building towards a big 2026/27 season!

🔹 Juniors | 10:00am
🔸 Seniors | 11:30am–1:00pm
🔹 Div 1 & 2 | Brief squad training to follow
📍 Softball Precinct, Ridley Reserve, Elizabeth

New and returning Raptors welcome. We can’t wait to see everyone back on the diamond! 🧡💙

Things you can buy for $2:

🍫 Half a chocolate bar
⛽ Approximately three drops of petrol
🎟️ A chance to win a new car OR a $31,980 holiday

The People First Community Lottery is back and is one of our biggest fundraisers. Every ticket purchased through our Raptors page raising money for our club.
🧡💙

Tickets are just $2 each, so grab a couple or six or seven 🤭

https://www.communitylottery.com.au/products/raptors-softball-club?_pos=1&_sid=46734e257&_ss=r

Ticket sales close 8 October
Drawn 15 October

🧡💙

Pre-season starts this Sunday! 🥎

It’s time to dust off the gloves, get moving and start building towards a big 2026/27 season!

🔹 Juniors | 10:00am
🔸 Seniors | 11:30am–1:00pm
🔹 Div 1 & 2 | Brief squad training to follow
📍 Softball Precinct, Ridley Reserve, Elizabeth

New and returning Raptors welcome. We can’t wait to see everyone back on the diamond! 🧡💙

What a busy day!

A big thank you to all our volunteers who helped for come and try and registration day today. We are so proud of the way our community comes together for events like this. We also want to thank Parafield Gardens Soccer and Sports Club for the use of their club rooms and grounds 🖤💛

We loved seeing all the new faces and welcoming back our Raptors crew.

Here are a few snaps of our set up just before the chaos began. 🤪🤭🥎💙🧡🤍🙌🏻

There is still plenty of time to register before the season or attend a pre-season session to see if softball is for you.

Pre season starts next week at Ridley reserve.
Sunday 23rd August
10:00am juniors
11:30am seniors

Softball is back!!!

📣 REGISTRATION DAY IS HERE! 🥎🦖

The wait is over and we are excited to welcome you back for another season! 💙🧡

Sunday 16th August, at the Parafield Gardens Soccer & Sports Club for our Come & Try + Registration Day.

10:30am — COME & TRY
New to softball? Come down, have a go and meet some of our Raptors crew! All experience levels are welcome.

11:30am–2:30pm — REGISTRATION DAY
Come along to:
• Register for the 2026/27 season
• Order uniforms
• Check out & purchase our new merch
• Meet coaches and club members
• Ask questions and get organised for the season ahead

FREE SAUSAGE SIZZLE for members while you’re there!

WIN A RAPTORS SUPPORTERS PACK!

We’ll also have our Rego Day raffle running — $5 a ticket, with some seriously awesome Raptors gear including a $50 Emmsee voucher and P1 Entertainment Complex vouchers up for grabs. Winners will be drawn at the end of Rego Day!

Whether you’re a returning for another season, joining us for the first time, or just curious about giving softball a go, come down and say hello.

We’ve got another huge season ahead and we can’t wait to get the fam back together!!

💙🧡 ONE CLUB. ONE CULTURE.

🧡💙 INTRODUCING OUR COACHING SUPPORT & JUNIOR MENTORS 💙🧡

As our club continues to grow, so does the way we support our players, coaches and future coaches.
This season we’re introducing additional Coaching Support roles within our coaching program. We want to create more hands around our teams while giving people the opportunity to learn, develop and immerse themselves in our coaching environment. 🦖🥎

Coaching Support roles will work alongside our appointed coaches, providing support at training and on game day. This will be particularly valuable within teams that have playing coaches, where having someone outside the playing group available to support the coach and players can make a huge difference.

These roles are also about development. Our Coaching Support team will have the opportunity to participate in our coach education programs, learn from experienced coaches and begin building their own coaching knowledge and confidence.

🌟 Our Junior Mentors or “Buddies” have a slightly different job, and one we’re really excited about.

One of the biggest transitions for a young athlete is moving from junior softball into senior competition.
Our Mentors will help bridge that gap.
They’ll be familiar and supportive faces for our younger athletes as they begin transitioning into senior teams. This starts with helping to build confidence in our younger athletes and helping them understand expectations, find their place within a new group and, most importantly, feel like they belong there.

Developing a pathway isn’t simply about giving a junior an opportunity to play senior softball it’s about making them excited about the prospect of senior softball and supporting them when they get there.

For 2026/27, we’re excited to welcome:
🧡 Emily Mott — Coaching Support | Men’s Team 2
💙 Dee Breen — Junior Mentor
💙 Chelsea Pinnington — Junior Mentor

These roles are another step towards creating stronger connections between our juniors, seniors and coaches and building a genuine pathway through our club.

Welcome to the coaching crew, Emily, Dee & Chelsea! 🦖🧡💙

If you are interested in being a junior mentor or a coaching support role, please get in touch. 🧡

🧡💙 COACHING ANNOUNCEMENT | TEE BALL 💙🧡

Meet the person helping our littlest Raptors take their very first steps onto the diamond! 🦖🥎

We’re excited to announce Tess (Terri-Lee) Becker as Head Coach of our Tee Ball program for 2026/27!

Tess first came to the Raptors as a parent and has since embraced everything about our club and the culture we are building. This season, she’s putting her hand up to take an even bigger role in creating a positive first experience of softball for our youngest players.

For Tess, Tee Ball is about much more than teaching kids to throw, catch and hit.
It’s about confidence, teamwork, resilience, listening, making friends, encouraging others and discovering what it feels like to be part of a team. They might learn those lessons on a softball diamond, but we hope they’ll take them with them wherever they go. 💙
And, of course, there will be plenty of FUN!

Tess will lead our program with the support of a fantastic group of parents and club volunteers at training and on game days, because helping a bunch of Mini Raptors discover softball definitely takes a village! 😂🦖

At this age, we’re not worried about creating the perfect softball player.

We want kids who are excited to come to training. Who celebrate their first catch like they’ve won a grand final. Who make new friends, cheer loudly for their teammates and finish the season loving our game.

That’s where the next generation of Raptors begins. 🧡💙

Congratulations Tess! We can’t wait to see you and our Mini Raptors in action!

We have one more exciting announcement to round out our coaching and mentoring team!

🧡💙 COACHING ANNOUNCEMENT | MEN’S TEAM 2

We’re excited to welcome Chris Taylor back as Head Coach of our Men’s Team 2, joined this season by Shannon Roe as Assistant Coach! 🦖🥎

🧡 Chris returns to the role after co-coaching our men’s orange team last season and continues to be someone who is always willing to put his hand up and contribute wherever he can.

This year, Chris has made a commitment to continue developing his own knowledge around both game strategy and training, recognising that great coaching means continuing to learn alongside your players. He is keen to keep building his skills so he can give back to the group that turns up for him week in and week out.

Chris has also taken his coaching beyond the Raptors, volunteering with NAMSA and stepping up to regularly lead a representative team at the Country Championships. His willingness to take on new challenges and keep learning is something we value enormously in our coaching program.

💙 Joining Chris this season is Shannon Roe, who is new to our Raptors coaching team and ready to begin developing his own coaching journey.

Shannon has also gained experience assisting at the Country Championships and is eager to learn more about coaching, develop his knowledge of the game and understand what coaching looks like within the Raptors environment. Working alongside Chris gives him a great opportunity to learn while bringing another voice and perspective to the group.

One of our goals as a club is not only to develop our players, but to create opportunities for our coaches to grow too. We’re excited to see Chris and Shannon continue that journey together this season.
Congratulations Chris & Shannon! Bring on 2026/27! 🦖💙🧡