Silverdale’s Taylah Tsitsikronis has just returned home from Japan, after making her Olympic debut for the Aussie Spirit Women’s Softball Team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
27-year-old Taylah was part of the Aussie Spirit Women’s Softball Team that finished their Olympic campaign in 5th place with a 1-4 win/loss record.
“It was a pretty cool experience, being around a lot of high-level athletes. The competition was like we thought it was going to be which was very tough playing against world class teams. The result was definitely not what we wanted, and it’s made us hungrier to be better, but as a whole it was a great experience to be part of” said Taylah to the Mulgoa Valley Gazette.
Taylah and her teammates competed against Japan, gold medal defending champions, in the first event of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Despite spectators being unable to attend the games, millions of Australians were cheering on the Aussie Spirit from their lounge rooms around the world.
“Playing at the Olympic Games, it’s a dream come true! It wasn’t too different playing with no crowds, as softball doesn’t get the thousands and thousands of people in the stands here in Australia. It would have been cool to have our supporters there with us. We did feel every bit of support that was sent to us from home though” recalled Taylah.
She explained that it was hard to choose just one highlight of her Olympic experience, “The whole experience was a highlight, not one particular point. The USA game for us was probably our strongest game, our team showed genuine fight against one of the best teams in the world”.
Taylah plans to continue playing softball at home again once the health restrictions for COVID are lifted. She has no plans to hang up the boots just yet on the game that she loves.
“We can’t thank everyone enough. The amount of support we got all the way from home and from around the world was amazing. Thank you to everyone that supported me through this experience and helped me get to where I am today. I am so proud to represent the country and I’m sorry we didn’t get further for you guys. We will be back bigger, better, and stronger from this experience” Taylah ended.