• Develop a programme for juniors from T-ball to secondary schools.
• Work with parents, coaches and teachers to promote the sport.
• Support coaches and representative players.
Timoti has spent the past eight years with the Counties Manukau under-15, u17 and u19 girls’ teams, as well as the Takanini premier women and Red Hill Rockets premier men.
He came into softball from a rugby league background.
“One day my 11-year-old son Giovanni walked in and said he wanted to play softball, so I decided to get involved,” Timoti said.
“I was reading the Tairawhiti website and liked what I saw, so I contacted Ray about becoming involved when my wife Joanne Hiku (whose nephew is Kiwi rugby league player and Whatatutu-born Peta) decided to move here for work.
“I love softball, it’s one of the few sports where the whole whanau can get together at the one venue and spend the day having fun.
“In other sports, parents sometimes travel to one area to support one child playing, then try to get across town to watch other children.
“As you can imagine, in Auckland that can be tricky. Here, all the games are at Waikirikiri Park and it’s great.”
Timoti, who takes over from Leesa Kingi, said, “Leesa has left a solid foundation for me to build on. She implemented some really good initiatives.”
Noble echoed those sentiments.
“The committee are indebted to Leesa for her hard work,” he said.
Timoti has visited Mangapapa, Wainui, Tolaga Bay, Mangatuna, Lytton High and Gisborne Boys’ High schools.
“I’m looking for more schools to get involved,” he said.
“Up till Christmas, I’ll be working with existing teams and coaches. Then when junior softball finishes, I will be working in classroom settings to attract new players and develop teachers so they have the capacity and confidence to deliver softball sessions within the school.”
Timoti said he had some initial reservations about Gisborne.
“The traffic here is terrible,” he said.
“Getting to work takes four minutes — in Auckland it took us an hour and a half — and you can’t get enough sunscreen.
“We went back to Auckland recently to visit our grandkids and after half an hour we couldn’t wait to get back to Gisborne.”
Mangapapa Blue Sox coach Quentin Harvey said Timoti’s presence gave him, a new coach, a confidence boost.
“I am looking forward to the next opportunity to work with him,” Harvey said.
“This is my first time coaching softball — Mangapapa are in the Weenie Sox T-Ball division (years 1 and 2) — and as a novice I really appreciate Roy’s advice.
“I’ve had a few sessions with him, one on one, and with Roy joining our practice sessions.
“He gave me easy-to-understand tips to use and also taught the players ways to remember key elements.”
Wainui Beach School assistant principal Sue McVey said Timoti was “fantastic”.
“He has obviously worked with kids before and had our Year 1 and 2 team’s attention right from the start.
“Within half an hour everyone knew the number of bases, the names of the different fielding positions and how to catch a rolling ball.
“He mixed up the session with relays, skill-teaching and fun games. All of us, including me, learned heaps and had lots of fun.
“Roy modelled different things and got the children really involved. When learning to catch they were all yelling out ‘crouch, clap, chest’ to help them to remember the basic moves.
“He also got me to lead parts of the session, to be sure that I was feeling confident to repeat the drills on my own.”
