The sports club check of the DOSB …

… opens the doors to a new sports and team experience. The sports club check for 40.00€ is used for new registrations in a sports club and supports an initiative of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) – moments that are worth their weight in gold and hardly cost anything.

Click here for the DOSB sports club check.

See you on the field!

Let the others care of themselves

Following a call by the Düsseldorfer Tafel, donations were gathered from the Düsseldorf Senators in the past two weeks. In association with the Walter-Eucken Vocational College in Düsseldorf Bilk. The Düsseldorfer Tafel and especially the Kinder Tafel can no longer cope with the increasing need of help. So the respond came imidiatly.

Due to connections to the vocational college on Suitbertusstraße, which had attracted the attention of the Senators with the “WE SHARE” campaign, there was no need for a special invitation to follow this campaign.

“While others only take care of themselves, we want to set an example.” That was the unanimous opinion of the Düsseldorf Senators, who were allowed to hand over the collected donations in the form of 20 boxes to the WEBK on November 30th, 2022.

We must never lose sight of those in need. How little does sporting success matter when people are suffering.

Thank you Düsseldorfer Tafel and thank you Walter-Eucken vocational College for this great campaign.

Next Stop PlusUltraPitching

With the end of of the regular season the Softball team of the Düsseldorf Senators is in no way about to lay down low throughout the winter. The preparation for next years season are already in full swing and therefore, even before the start of the indoor practice season, the team has some good news to announce.

Always eager to improve his craft and on the look for inspirations, head coach Frank Mohr stumbled across the Youtube channel of a young lady from the US.

On the Agenda: Pitching

“We are missing a Coach for this position, who can analyze and teach this complex motion as a whole. We are doing our best, looking for resources to improve and were even able to record some form of success throughout the last year. But if we want to improve and take the next step, we need help from outside. Help, we’ve now found.”

He soon found himself on her website, sending an email and even getting an answer the day of.

“I realized quickly that when it comes to Softball and the way to teach it, we’re following a very similar path. It almost seemed impossible not to work together and I am more than happy to know Courtney Oliva from PlusUltraPitching will be by our side for the years to come.”

*Who Is Courtney and what does PlusUltraPitching stand for?*

PlusUltraPitching is not just a business Idea to generate money. For Courtney it’s all about prioritizing the athlete and their development both on the field and as a person. With joy and pride, she follows what has become of her students, what kind of people they have grown to be.

Another pillar of her work is, wanting to make lessons and softball instruction available and not just to those who can afford it. Too often she found herself frustrated by reaching a paywall or having to commit to a membership looking for new drills. Thus PlusUltraPitching was born to provide coaches and players with an opportunity for free content to grow their game but also the game itself, in a way beyond the usual.

Her motto “Go Beyond” symbolizes this very approach.

*When it comes to softball, there are no short answers for Courtney*

As a former pitcher for the Assumption Greyhounds, she shares her experience with expectations and pressure at the higher level.

“My time in college taught me the importance of finding a team and coach that connect with your personality. I reflect on my pitching in college to help me continue to develop myself as a player and coach. Being an athlete can be difficult, so I call on my experiences to help push my students to be better so they can handle those difficult moments. 

Throughout the years I’ve played and coached, however, my favorite part of softball has been its ability to connect with people I may have never met otherwise and create unforgettable bonds. Softball requires a different level of trust not found in many other sports; you learn to trust and forgive your teammates, in good and bad moments.

I guess for a shorter answer… I love softball because I think it’s the best sport ever!”

She found her love for softball at the age of 7, surely as result of watching her favorite baseball team the New York Yankees and with them her favorite player in Derek Jeter.

“I wanted to be just like him—the first female shortstop for the Yankees!”, she shares. “That dream changed once I learned how to pitch. My dad and I would often go out to the backyard after dinner to practice.  Listening to the pop of the leather as the ball is thrown back and forth was (and still is) therapeutic”

*The first session with the Senators*

Just as passionate as she philosophizes about softball, she analyses Videos of our pitchers. In a first session movements were explained and broken down to the littlest detail. In the end the pitchers were given an individual practice plan, which will help to aid their improvement.

“Courtney is a stroke of luck for us”, emphasizes Head Coach Frank Mohr who is present at every session listening carefully. “Even if she isn’t with us physically she definitely is our pitching coach!”

In the end, we learn that there are connections to Germany and Courtney hopes to return one day for a cultural and culinary journey.

She will be most welcome.

2022 – AN EMOTINAL ROLLERCOASTER

This 2022 season is behind us and, looking back, an overall successful one. The softball ladies of the Düsseldorf Senators were not only able to draw attention to themselves from a softball point of view – they go into the offseason with a balanced record – but also as a team, the ladies presented themselves as a solid unit, on and off the field.

Wins or losses play only a subordinate role for them and so it is not surprising that they hold their head high, no matter the size of a potential deficit.

“This team has such fighting qualities as I have seldom experienced,” summarizes Frank Mohr in retrospect. “They are like a battered boxer. They stagger, fall to the ground and get up again. Over and over again. But they never get knocked out. This can be quite challenging for the opponent. Our games are always a rollercoaster ride of emotions.”

Not so for the ladies on the field, who believe in themselves until the end and always find their way back into the game. A strength that even the opponents had to acknowledge.

The whole team had worked hard on themselves during the winter months and completely overhauled their technique at the plate . Even if things looked good during the pre-season, only games are really revealing. So Jülich became the first real challenge.

“We certainly played our worst game in Jülich. It was a day where a lot of things just didn’t work out. The at bats were good, something we were most worried about, but the Duchess were always in the right spot on defense and we ourselves made too many mistakes on that very side of the ball.”

The season opener was followed by three wins in a row, of which the game against Ratingen is particularly noteworthy. Solid as a team, with very good pitching, discipline at bat and solid hits, the ladies managed to beat one of the top teams in the league 9:7.

“It was an absolute thriller and held you in suspense until the end. The support from the spectators was overwhelming. It’s just great how many people watched our games, it was great fun.”

Unfortunately, the ladies’ winning streak couldn’t last and came to an end against the opponent it had started with in Ratingen.

“There was definitely more in it for us and if our starter hadn’t gotten injured, it would have remained a game at eye level. Maybe with a better ending for us.”

And indeed, this game initiated a kind of turning point. A turning point, however, not in a positive way. In the next games the team wasn’t able present their best starting lineup again and in Wesseling they even were one player short of a full 9 person lineup.

“No one likes to play outnumbered and surely not against the top team in the league, but what our girls were able to come up with, digging deep, must have impressed even the opponent. I have never seen a game played with such passion.”

Injuries and other types of absences were difficult to compensate for this season. Even if the roster could be enlarged – four new players found their way to the Südallee – the ladies are still missing three to four new players to look into a more relaxed future.

“When you see us on the field, you can only get excited about softball,” notes one of the players.

The ladies’ statistics speak for themselves when it comes to a new found hitting prowess. They managed to score exactly 100 runs and set a record with 96 hits, including 24 XBH.

Head coach Frank Mohr ensures that this is a great foundation to build on throughout the off season, as well as promising improvements on defense.

We don’t want to forget to thank all the supporters who have accompanied us throughout the year. Without your commitment and encouragement, the softball team wouldn’t be where it is now.

Senators at the ISR Open House

“A piece of home in Düsseldorf”. The Düsseldorf Senators presented themselves at the Open House of the International School on the Rhine (ISR) in Neuss last Saturday. The baseball and softball department had contacted the sports director of the school a couple of weeks prior to draw his attention to the program.

“It would be a missed opportunity, not to try it.” That was the unanimous opinion.

“And apparently we found the right words.”

It’s all about the families and especially the kids, for whom we want to offer a piece of home in Düsseldorf with our familiar  activities. Because hardly anything else connects more than sports and creating an atmosphere in which everyone feels comfortable, is all we want.

Baseball and softball are still no overly popular activities in Germany. Not so in the US or other parts of the world. So the idea of ​contacting the ISR was quickly brought up.

“However, we did not expect an invitation to the ‘Open House’.”

Information material was quickly designed and put on paper  in order to be able to enliven the information stand accordingly. Numerous visitors found their way to the senators’ booth, which more than justified the effort involved.

“We were able to connect with various people and collaborators, which presents us with a promising future as a club. A long-term cooperation with the ISR and other organizations is therefore not out of the question,” says Frank Mohr, who was allowed to present the Düsseldorf Senators in Neuss.

We would like to thank everyone involved who made this event possible. We were welcomed with open arms and immediately felt part of a large community. We really appreciate that.