{"id":21108,"date":"2013-06-11T07:55:09","date_gmt":"2013-06-11T14:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=21108"},"modified":"2013-06-11T07:57:17","modified_gmt":"2013-06-11T14:57:17","slug":"sorenson-back-for-now-or-never-coaching-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=21108","title":{"rendered":"Sorenson back for ‘now or never’ coaching job"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Click<\/a>
Click logo for original news story.<\/figcaption><\/figure>Cap tip Bob Henning<\/em><\/p>\n


\nBy TONY SMITH, The Press newspaper in Christchurch, New Zealand (Fairfax Group\/the www.stuff.co.nz<\/em>
\nNew Zealand softball great Mark Sorenson says it had always been his ambition to coach the Black Sox but it was “probably a case of now or never”.<\/p>\n

The four-time world champion has been confirmed as head coach of the world champion Black Sox for their title defence in Saskatoon, Canada in 2015.<\/p>\n

Sorenson said he was “honoured” to accept the job but taking over a team that won a record sixth world title in Auckland in March came “with a lot of tradition and responsibility”. “It’s a responsibility I take seriously because I was a part of helping build that tradition.<\/p>\n

“I’m deeply passionate about the Black Sox and their success and I really want it to continue.”<\/p>\n

The Hutt Valley stalwart replaces his former Black Sox team-mate, Eddie Kohlhase, who ended his nine-year tenure by leading the Black Sox to the gold medal in Auckland, avenging their silver medal finish at Saskatoon in 2009.<\/p>\n

Fairfax Media understands Sorenson got the job ahead of two members of Kohlhase’s support staff, assistant coach Dave Workman and pitching coach Chubb Tangaroa.<\/p>\n

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Long-time former Black Sox pitcher Marty Grant, who challenged Kohlhase for the post in 2009, was the other unsuccessful applicant.<\/p>\n

Sorenson ‘s last coaching job was in 2005 when he guided the New Zealand Junior Black Sox at the world under-19 men’s championships in Prince Edward Island, Canada. Since then, he has been focussed on family commitments and his business career.<\/p>\n

The 45-year-old former catcher admitted he had always been “harboured an ambition” to coach the Black Sox but “it was a matter of timing”.<\/p>\n

“I had some changes in my personal life and I’ve recently had a role change in my career.<\/p>\n

“To be honest, if it wasn’t now, it was probably going to be never. I’m not saying I’m going to be there for a long time, but we have had coaches who’ve been around for a while. I played for the Black Sox for 20 years and I only had two coaches [Mike Walsh and Don Tricker].<\/p>\n

Sorenson is only the Black Sox’s fifth head coach in 32 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cap tip Bob Henning By TONY SMITH, The Press newspaper in Christchurch, New Zealand (Fairfax Group\/the www.stuff.co.nz New Zealand softball great Mark Sorenson says it had always been his ambition to coach the Black Sox but it was “probably a case of now or never”. The four-time world champion has been confirmed as head coach […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,35,22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21108","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-isf","8":"category-oceania","9":"category-people","10":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21108"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21110,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21108\/revisions\/21110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}