We join the wider Victorian softball community in congratulating Kerry Franklin, Ray Carter, and Angela Broadbent on receiving a Softball Victoria Life Membership at Saturday’s 2021 AGM.

These three worthy recipients were inducted for their valuable and exceptional service to softball in Victoria over an extended period of time.

KERRY FRANKLIN

The name Kerry Franklin is synonymous with umpiring in Victoria.

Kerry began her umpiring career in 1979 at the Frankston Softball Association at just 15 years of age. Over the next 21 years her career took her from the local grounds at Frankston all the way to Homebush stadium at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

Kerry was introduced to the Frankston Softball Association at the age of 13 and represented the Association as a player at the State Championships for over 10 years. At 15 she began umpiring and at 17 travelled to the Melbourne Association where she came under the watchful eye of Marj Dwyer and her senior umpires.

She continued her umpiring career attending both State and National Championships and attained her Australian Level 6 umpiring accreditation in 1993. Between 1992 and 2003, Kerry attended 10 Open National softball tournaments as an umpire. She was a member of the 1994 and 1997 International Umpire Development Squads and her first International tournament was the South Pacific Classic in Sydney in 1994. The following year saw her involved with the Trans-Tasman exchange with New Zealand attending the Women’s Interclub Championships in Dunedin New Zealand.

Kerry’s list of personal achievements is long, having attended many International tournaments including the South Pacific Classic in 1998, the Women’s World Championships in Japan in 1998 and the South America Olympic Qualifier in 1999. The last two tournaments were instrumental in her achieving a place at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

In 1989 after gaining her level 3 umpiring accreditation Kerry joined the Victorian Umpiring Committee Training sub committee working with the experienced Lyn Bishop. Duties on the training committee would include planning the annual state training calendar, liaising with local associations and delivering required clinics and training courses across the state. From 1992 to 2002 Kerry was in charge of Victorian Umpiring Committee Training Materials, which included writing training manuals and overseeing training materials delivered for courses within the state.

After a 12-year hiatus Kerry returned to the sport in 2017 and continued her on diamond umpiring career.

Kerry has gained the respect of her fellow umpires and is held in the highest regard by the Victorian Umpiring community as well as the many softball members who can attest to her professionalism and integrity.

Her contribution is evident in the number of umpires who have trained under her, many of which reached the international stage, accrediting Kerry as a key mentor.

RAY CARTER

Ray Carter began his involvement in softball in the Northern District Softball Association’s inauguration year of 1980-81 as a scorer for a local primary school team. He has had continuous service as a Club, Association, State and Official Victorian scorer and statistician ever since.

Ray’s dedication and contribution to softball has been been exemplified across many key roles:

• Founding member of the Lalor Eagles Softball Club and as its Vice President in 1981/82 and then its President for 10 years from 1983/84;

• General member of the Northern District Softball Association in 1983/84 and then as its Junior Vice President in 1984/85, senior Vice President in 1985/86 to 1990/91 and as its President in 1991/92 and 1992/93;

• Registrar for Northern District Softball Association from 1985/86 to present. This role includes coordination of Association and Club membership, production of season draws and schedules, recording of results, ladders and Association game statistics and also involves Website Management for the Association;

• Registrar, committee member and website recorder for the North West League (NWL), Victoria from 2005 – 2010;

• Past member of various Softball Victoria committees including the Scoring Committee and the Events Committee.

He was honoured as a Life Member of NDSA in 1993-94 and was awarded the Merle Short Service Award in 2018.

As a scorer, Ray attained his Level 4 Scoring & Statistics accreditation in 2007 and has attended many refresher courses and training courses in order to remain proficient in both paper and iScore scoring.

Ray’s dedication to the game and his mentoring has assisted many young and developing scorers over the years.

ANGELA BROADBENT

Angela has had an active and on-going involvement at various levels of playing, coaching, umpiring and administrative roles at Clubs, Association, Regional, State and National competitions since 1983.  

With almost four decades of contribution, Angela is often seen around tournaments and delights in getting to know and interact with people from all associations.

She is commonly referred as a ‘go to’ person for answers to questions about tournament rules and procedures or just up for a general ‘chat’. Further to that, Angela has chaired and convened one of the most successful tournaments Victoria has seen, the WSA Memorial Shield, that has brought players together statewide to play an elite competition.

It’s the work that goes on behind the scenes which is often unrecognised. Understandably it’s a team that brings the event to fruition but in a lot of cases Angela is the one who puts her foot forward to take on roles requiring major commitment and contribution.

From being a player since 1983 to coaching, scoring and umpiring, Angela has sought to improve her knowledge in each area by seeking out accreditation and examination of varying levels.

Her recent work over the past 6 years on the Softball Victoria History Project has seen a reintroduction of people back to softball. In some instances she has reunited players after being away from the sport for more than 40 years. Her wealth of knowledge has seen successes with information collected.

A great ambassador and willing mentor for our sport, her tireless dedication is recognised and respected by members across Victoria. She has given exceptional service as described in the evidence above, of significant impact to softball in Victoria.