It is 1.30pm on a Sunday, and the weather is scorching hot. A group of 20-something women are out on a field in Jurong East – members of Team Singapore Women’s Softball.

Each one wears a red jersey with the word “Singapore” emblazoned across the chest, black shorts, knee-high socks and trainers, with sunglasses, caps or visors for sun protection.

The training session begins with runs around Jurong Softball Field. They do a slow jog then speed up for a short distance before resuming jogging.

Under a sheltered area, they do agility and mobility drills, and then for the next few hours, they’ll be pitching, batting, fielding, base running, sliding and stealing bases. Training ends at 6pm.

That’s just one of three training sessions that the Singapore Women’s Softball team currently undergoes every week. On Tuesday and Thursday nights, there are three-hour gym sessions at the Singapore Sports Hub.

As tournament season approaches, they will increase the frequency and intensity of training to be fully prepared to compete.

The team has two major goals this year – competing in the Women Softball Asia Cup in Xian, China, in July, as well as qualifying for the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Thailand in December.

Softball is not included in every SEA Games (the last was in 2019), so qualifying for SEA Games 2025 is a key goal for the team. The best the national women’s softball team has achieved at a SEA Games was a silver medal in 2007 in Thailand.

While the team hasn’t won any major competitions yet, they have been achieving promising results. At the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, they placed sixth, beating long-time rival Hong Kong and closing in on South Korea in the Asian rankings. They also finished fifth at the Asian University Women’s Softball Cup in 2024.

PLAYING SINCE PRIMARY SCHOOL

The Singapore Women’s Softball Team comprises 32 athletes actively training, supported by three coaches. Seven players are working adults, while the rest are university students.

Several team members told CNA Women that they have been playing softball since their primary or secondary school days.

Guo Rundongni, 26, picked up softball as a co-curricular activity (CCA) in secondary school. The senior video editor said: “I chose softball because it is so different from the other sports, and the then 13-year-old me wanted to try something new.”

Shanice Lim, 24, has been playing softball since she was 10. “My sister was also playing softball in primary school then, and my parents wanted me to join the same CCA, so that we could be picked up after school together,” said the dietitian.

Final-year university student Charmaine Chua, 23, was attracted by the catcher’s gear and wanted to try out the sport in primary school. “The chest protector and leg guards make the catcher look like a Transformer,” she quipped. She is now the team’s catcher.

The women said that it is the uniqueness of the sport that has inspired them to be skilled enough to qualify for the national team.

They said they wanted to be learning from and playing with the best. “I felt a sense of achievement when I made it to the national team and to be able to pursue the sport at the highest level,” said Chua.

Team captain Cacia Tan, 26, said: “There are so many aspects to the sport, from batting to fielding and base running, which are different from just running or swimming.” The doctor has been playing softball since she was 10.

Bowie Tan, 23, also a final-year university student, added: “Each softball game is unpredictable. There is a lot of strategy at play, and also subtle hand signals that only our team knows when we want to steal bases. You always need to be mentally alert as anything can happen.”

To get better at the sport, the team often watches online video clips of competitions and of their opponents to play against their weaknesses. After every game, regardless of a win or loss, they get together and reflect on the game to see how they can improve.

INJURIES, TIME MANAGEMENT AND NO FAMILY HOLIDAYS

With multiple training sessions, sometimes up to six times a week, on top of a full-time job or school, the athletes said missing out on family holidays or gatherings is the norm.

“I haven’t taken a holiday with my family since I was 19,” said team captain Tan. While the training sessions allow her to take her mind off work, it sometimes leaves her feeling physically drained, especially when her workday starts early and training ends late.

The women said they have had some form of injury while playing softball. Guo had three injuries within a year, and said, “When it happens, it really kills your momentum and that’s when you really need to find the strength to come back and continue to work hard.”

Cacia Tan has had shoulder and knee surgeries due to injuries. “You can only blame yourself for the injuries,” she said. “Rather than feel sorry for ourselves, we focus on moving forward and are diligent with the rehab.”

Juggling work, training and overseas trips is a challenge. Undergraduate Bowie Tan has accepted that she will not be a top student. “I’m doing alright in school. For me, it is about priorities, and I’ve missed classes to go on overseas training trips to be better at the sport,” she said.

She and Chua deferred their A Levels for a year so that they could participate in the 2019 SEA Games. “I convinced my parents to allow me to do so, as it would be another six years before softball is included again, and I could participate in another SEA Games,” she said.

STAYING IN SOFTBALL FOR THE PASSION

The players that CNA Women spoke to all say it is difficult to have a career in softball in Singapore.

“Playing softball as a career is a challenge, due to the lack of competitions,” said Lim, who plays in the outfield position.

Guo added: “To play semi-professionally like us, there are sacrifices we need to make on our part, and also have support from the organisation, community and from our family and friends.”

The team, under the Singapore Baseball and Softball Association, receive some funding with the help of Sport Singapore.

Chua said her parents would occasionally ask how long she intends to stay in the sport. “They see that I’m always out in the sun or would come back with ankle sprains, and ask me if it’s all worth it,” she added.

But the wins spur them on, such as the breakthrough win over Hong Kong at the 2022 Asian Games. Cacia Tan, who made the first hit, recalled: “That game was telecast on TV, and our families could watch it, which validated the effort that we put in.”

The 2025 SEA Games is the next big milestone for the team and the women all said it would be a dream to get the gold.

“The softball journey isn’t about the end but also about the process. So like what my coach once said, there isn’t a perfect swing. So, I guess always having a better swing than the last is what is important as well,” said Guo.