Softball: Love for sport brought couple together

Softball brought Roman and Kalala Gabriel together. Picture / Paul Estcourt

They met in the Marist Softball Club car park 15 years ago.

He'd locked his keys in the car, she came to his rescue.

Back then Kalala Gabriel (nee Faalogo) was a talented young sportswoman with one goal. She wanted to go to the Olympics. This month she has the chance to qualify for the 2008 Games when the White Sox line up in the World Championships at Beijing.

Beside her will be husband Roman - a member of the world-champion Black Sox side, assistant coach of the White Sox and the guy who reaped the rewards of her "lock-picking" skills.

Auckland-born Gabriel started playing softball when she was nine.

"A teacher decided to put a softball team together for the summer and in the winter we turned into a netball team," she says.

She continued with both sports for some time, representing Samoa in the 1999 world netball championships in Christchurch alongside former Silver Fern Sheryl Scanlan.

But that Olympic dream pulled her focus entirely to softball.

One of six children, Gabriel worked her way up the Auckland age-groups teams and into the province's premier team.

She debuted for the White Sox on the 2000 pre-Olympic Canadian tour and almost achieved her Olympic goal at Sydney but just missed out, being the non-travelling reserve.

She was part of the New Zealand team who finished fifth equal in the 2002 world championships in Canada. Their loss to China cost them a top-four spot and a place in the 2004 Olympics.

Adding spice to this month's world championships is the knowledge that Beijing will be the last time women's softball features at the Games.

To qualify, New Zealand - ranked sixth in the world - have to finish in the top four. If they don't, they have one last chance to qualify in an Asia/Oceania competition. The difficulty there is that of the top six countries in the world, five are from the Asia/Oceania region.

The 16 teams in the world championships are divided in two pools. To make the playoffs, New Zealand have to finish in the top four in their pool. They are ranked fourth equal with Italy in the pool behind world champions US, China and Canada.

"We have a hard pool, but that is okay. That's why you go to a world series to play the best in the world," says the second-baser.

"The team is looking really good and our expectations are quite high. We definitely have the skill, it is the mental side. We are going away with a team that doesn't have as many experienced players as we have had in the past but what we do have is a lot of enthusiasm."

The White Sox head to Jakarta tomorrow where they will play warm-up games against men's club and provincial teams before the championships start on August 27.

Gabriel is aware of the challenge and is grateful that her husband, part of the 2004 world champion Black Sox side, will be alongside her.

"I have to actually listen to him now," she laughs. "He is an infielder too, so I bounce ideas off him and it will be really helpful to have him around."

WORLD WOMEN'S SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Beijing, China: August 27-September 5

Pool A: US, Canada, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Korea, Great Britain, China.

Pool B: Australia, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Greece, Venezuela, Netherlands, Botswana, Colombia.