Fourteen-year-old Ryley Juneau will represent Cochrane, selected to the Big Country Under-16 Zone 2 softball team that will participate in the Alberta Summer Games on July 20 to 22 in Grande Prairie. Juneau said she was surprised that she made the team, which transformed into excitement as she realized she would be able to show off her skills against the best softball players from around the province. "I was really excited considering the fact that I didn't expect to make it ... I sometimes have low expectations for myself, but I was really excited when I heard the news," Juneau said with a laugh. "I'm just happy. It definitely boosted my self-confidence and it's going to be really awesome, which will then lead to me learning some new skills." I heard about the team and thought to myself that it was something I wanted to do ... it seemed like it would be fun and a really awesome experience. With that said, there were a lot of girls who tried out and I wasn't sure of my chances of making the team. When I got the phone call I was kind of surprised but also overwhelmed with excitement." Softball isn't as popular of a sport in Canada as hockey or even the traditional sport of baseball, but Juneau said she fell in love with the game at a very young age. "Softball isn't a huge sport in Canada. I find a lot of people play it, but it's not as well known as some of the other sports the country has to offer, but in my opinion it's a great sport to play," Juneau said. "I started playing tee ball when I was five ... my parents put me in the sport and I obviously didn't really have a choice since I was five. Lots of parents put their children in sports just for the general team building and social skills that come with it but I really loved the game, had fun with it and chose to stick with it all this time." The Zone 2 team is made up of players that span a large area of the province, with athletes from Banff, Cochrane, Airdrie, Drumheller and mostly everywhere in between. Juneau is the only representative from Cochrane and is only familiar with one other teammate - Paige Songhurst from Airdrie. "I think it's pretty cool to represent the Town of Cochrane. I know some other people who are going for other sports, but I don't have any of my softball teammates going with me," Juneau said. "There's one girl from Airdrie (Paige Songhurst) that I'm decently good friends with but she's obviously not from Cochrane. It's a huge honour to be able to represent the town." Juneau also added that she feels like she has been gelling fairly well with her new teammates, through some team bonding exercises and exhibition games against other teams that will be participating in the tournament. "I think we just need to keep doing what we're doing. We've had a barbecue and we're doing a lot of exhibition games to help get our team in a rhythm ahead of the Games," Juneau said. "Using these practice games against other teams can help us prepare for what we might be seeing. We're playing the Zone 3 team a couple times before the Games begin so we'll get a chance to see what those teams might come up with." The Games kick off on July 20 with a round-robin portion of the tournament where Zone 2 will take on the other even-number zones for the top two positions in the pool. Those top two teams will then play the top two teams from the other pool in the semi-finals. "Making the finals is definitely the ultimate goal but I just want to take in the whole experience and learn from it ... there's a lot to learn from a tournament like this," Juneau said. "I just really want to develop my skills and have a good time."
