FORKIN Chelsea

General
FROM BASEBALL TO SOFTBALL
She grew up in Perth, WA, Australia, playing a variety of sports, including baseball, on boys teams, and was selected for the Western Australia state boys baseball team. "I was a massive tomboy so I remember dreaming of playing footy and Major League Baseball. My affinity for never giving up came when I started playing sport in mixed boys teams. I participated in athletics at school and outside of school, I played mixed baseball, basketball and soccer. I figured out pretty early on that I loved the feeling of competition in sport and no matter what, I wanted to win. Back in the early 2000s, female presence in baseball teams was rare, and I remember copping a fair amount of flak from the opposing team's parents. At the time, I didn't really seem to take much notice because I knew I was capable of holding my own with the boys, and honestly, that gave me the confidence to play my own game and just get on with it. Looking back, perhaps those parents were just threatened that I was throwing the ball harder and hitting the ball further than their sons? Whatever the case was, I never dwelled on it, nor did it affect me in a negative way - if anything, it fuelled me to be better and taught me about acceptance. When I hit the age of 16 in 2005, I had accomplished everything I set out to achieve - represented and played baseball for Western Australia and Australia. Looking back now, I'm super proud to say that I set those goals early on and then achieved them at such a young age and this is what led me to begin my softball journey." (olympics.com.au, 22 Dec 2020)

OCCUPATION
She is the sports coordinator and a physical education teacher at a high school in Redcliffe, QLD, Australia. She says balancing her softball career with teaching has grown easier the longer she has done both. "Throughout the years it's taught me a lot about time-management, to be able to fit training and travel in. My school is so supportive of my career so it's probably pretty helpful that they are understanding." She is also a qualified sports coach in softball, netball, touch football and volleyball. (podcasts.apple.com, 04 Feb 2020; LinkedIn profile, 01 Jan 2021)

FURTHER EDUCATION
After completing a bachelor's degree in secondary education and teaching at Queensland University of Technology in 2015, she enrolled at the University of Queensland in 2018 to complete a master's degree in coaching. (LinkedIn profile, 01 Sep 2018)