Kia ora koutou,
The Nelson Softball Association is excited to welcome you to the 2025/2026 season. We're looking forward to another great year of softball. Below we've put together some information to help with your start of season organisation. Please let us know if there is anything we can assist with.
Our Leadership Team:
This year, the Nelson Softball Association is led by the following board members who will work within various sub-committees. If you're interested in helping out with areas like grounds and facilities, competition and participation, officials, coaches and volunteers, high performance, or events and media, please let us know!
Nelson Softball Association Board:
President: Don Glenie
Secretary: Nicky Mason
Treasurer: Kathryn Dowdle
Executive: Chris Vercoe, Malcolm Keene, Adrian Malclomson
Grounds and Facilities
Working Bees: Please keep an eye on the Nelson Softball Facebook page for upcoming working bees. Putting up the fences is a big job, and many hands make light work!
Nelson Hockey/Softball Pavilion: The shared facilities with Nelson Hockey are a huge asset to our sport. If you'd like to use the pavilion for club meetings or private events, contact us, and we'll connect you with the right people.
Don Glenie and Kelly Hahn continue to represent softball on the Pavilion Board, along with Janice Oliver (Life Member) as an independent member.
Competition and Participation
Senior Softball Forum: NSA invites all Club Representatives, Senior Coaches, and Managers to a senior softball forum on Saturday 6th September, 3:00pm, Saxton’s Softball Park. This is to review the Competition Handbook for the 2025/2026 season. Please share this information with your teams and confirm your attendance. The previous season's handbook is available on our website to view. If you are not able to make it please send in via email your thoughts and requests for discussion.
Registrations: All player registrations are completed online through the sporty.co.nz website. There is a link for all Clubs on the NSA website.
Senior Competition: The senior men's and women's competition will be played in two parts: Spring and Summer. All games will be held at Saxton Softball Park, with a few games planned for Blenheim, pending entry from Marlborough teams. Once team entries are confirmed, a draw will be created and shared.
Spring League: 18th October - 20th December, 2025
Summer League: 14th February - 28th March, 2026
Team Cost: $1,200.00 + GST per team for the full season.
Invoices: Sent to clubs/teams upon entry.
Key Dates:
Club registrations completed online: 20th September (recommended)
Team entries due to NSA: 27th September
Team rosters due to NSA: 1st October
Super 7 Softball League: This season Nelson Softball Association is heading up a new pilot league.
The league vision and purpose is to grow Nelson softball by launching a dynamic new league that redefines how we play and develop. The purpose of this league is to establish a new, modified midweek softball competition that integrates players from all clubs via a draft system, fostering community and competition.
Game rules and adaptations can be found on our website soon. 7-A-Side Softball. 5 weeks in Spring and 5 weeks in Summer, with games played on a Thursday night at 6:15pm - 7:15pm. Cost is $20.00pp.
Coaches, Officials, and Volunteers
Coaching: Softball New Zealand has a range of coaching resources available online. You can find more information and resources on their website. We are looking at running some more coaching sessions again this season and will advise once firmed up.
SNZ Umpires & Scorers: The SNZ Umpires rules test is now open. Please encourage members to jump on line and complete. For more information, visit the SNZ Umpires page online or check in with Chris.
NSA also has 2 workshops scheduled for September, so keep an eye out for these and encourage members to get along.
We're also looking for more scorers this season! If you're interested in learning how to score, we'd love to hear from you. You can find frequently used links on the SNZ Scorers page. CSA has also been running an online evening clinic which has been awesome.
Volunteers: As with any sport, volunteers are crucial. If you have some free time and can help, please let us know! We need more scorers, umpires and coaches across all the softball leagues.
High Performance
Expressions of interest for Coaches and Managers for the 2025/2026 Representative Season were recently called and we still have some spots to fill.
Your support is greatly needed in this area, and it's not too late to apply if you're interested. In particular we are looking for Youth coaches for the Seddon Shield, U13’s and U15’s and senior Men and Women.
Key Dates:
Seddon Shield, Marlborough, Sunday 16th Nov.
Jefferies Cup, Jubilee Cup & Mainland Shield, Christchurch, Saturday 6th and 7th December.
SI U15 Boys and Girls, Christchurch 22-25th January 2026.
Other key dates can be found on the NZ Softball calendar.
Events and Media
We're excited to see the growing engagement on our website and Facebook pages. We'll continue to build on this momentum, so stay tuned for more!
The NSA Community Chat (Facebook Messenger) will continue to be used to share information with coaches, managers, team captains, and committees.
Signage and Sponsorship: New Board member, Adrian has been working super hard in this area. Keep an eye out for the new signs going up as our softball community supporters continue to grow.
Startup Dates:
NSA Senior Softball Forum, September 6th (3pm)
NSA Open Day, October 4th (12:00pm-3:00pm)
NSA Swing into Spring Tournament, October 11th
NSA Saturday Senior Softball League, October 18th
USC Monday Night Youth Softball League, October 20th
USC Wednesday Night Mixed Slo-Pitch League, October 29th
NSA Thursday Super 7 Softball League, November 6th
NSA Youth Softball League (U13's & U15's), November 1st
Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
Ngā Mihi
Duck, Nicky, Chris, Kathryn, Malcolm and Adrian
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