It’s been a while since Guelph native Kaleigh Rafter competed in the Summer Olympics.
Rafter, who was named a catcher on the Canadian women’s softball team for this year’s Olympics in Tokyo earlier this month, last competed in the Games in 2008 when they were held in Beijing.
Now 34, she’s getting set for her second Olympics.
“It's been a long wait for us in general,” Rafter said. “It's been 12, 13 years since the last one so we're so excited to be back on the docket and have another chance to compete and see this generation of girls and teammates that have given so much to the game for a long period where we didn't think there was ever going to be an Olympics. For them to finally have that experience, I'm just happy for them to have it.”
Softball was dropped as an Olympic sport following the Games in Beijing and will be making its return in Tokyo.
Rafter has been in the final stretch to the Tokyo games for about a year and a half now as the pandemic caused their postponement. She dedicated herself totally to the pursuit of Olympic success, walking away from an assistant coach’s job with a varsity women’s softball team at a top NCAA school.
“The summer before we actually qualified I knew we had a pretty good chance to qualify so I ended up leaving my position at the University of Virginia in the summertime just so they'd have time to find somebody else to take my spot, knowing then that I'd like to give my full go,” she said. “At the time, that 2019 fall, what I thought would be about eight more months of playing on the national team and not needing a job, obviously COVID hit in March and we're now 18 to 20 months later and I'm still doing this.”
She left Charlottesville, Va., home of the University of Virginia, and moved to Tallahassee, Fla., where Florida State University is located. Rafter played three seasons at the University of Detroit before transferring to Florida State after the Beijing Olympics for her final season of NCAA softball.
While she got a Bachelor of Science in criminology at Florida State that year, her schooling there wasn’t done. She received a Masters in criminology there in 2011 and a Masters in sports management there a year later. She’s also been back on campus in the last year.
“I've ended up staying here for about 18 months instead of what was supposed to be three or four months,” she said. “Because I'm an alumni here I'm allowed to go out, use their facilities and practise with the team. It's been just a good spot for me to train and to continue to be around the game at a high level.”
She’s also been working out with her Canadian teammates in Florida the last couple of months.
“We've been centralized as a team down in Fort Myers since the middle of March which has been awesome because we've been able to play and practise daily out on the field,” she said. “It's been really hot so we've been getting acclimatized to what will be a hot Japanese summer. We're really in a good spot right now down where we are. Thankfully Softball Canada and the coaches had the foresight to get us down there in March so we knew we could train.”
Rafter’s known as a power hitter and it was a Rafter walk-off round-tripper at the 2019 Americas Olympic qualifying tournament that secured Canada’s berth in the Tokyo games.
“As you get older, the power number, it's a little harder to do it at the level you once did it,” she said. “You just have to be a little more smarter and a little more crafty. I think both offensively and defensively you find ways to find competitive advantages with the skill set you have. I can't roll in there and hit a ball as far as some of the young ones coming up and that's OK. I don't need to hit a ball 300 feet anymore, I just need to hit it 220 so it gets over the fence.
“You kind of learn to maximize the skills you have a little bit more, not just rely on your God-given or whatever your natural abilities are. You kind of maximize what you have and find situations where you can really take advantage of the talents that you still have left and try to perform more consistently over a period of time.”
A home run is included in her memories of the Beijing games.
“There are so many (memories), but I definitely remember hitting my first home run,” Rafter said. “We were playing Netherlands and I hit a home run and that was just kind of what a moment to have at the Olympics. I definitely remember the game we got knocked out to make us finish fourth. Softball was played at such a high level. I remember watching the U.S.-Japan game in the final, sitting in the stands and just appreciating how great a softball game it was.”
Rafter is one of four players back from the 2008 Olympics, the others being infielder Jennifer Salling and pitchers Danielle Lawrie and Lauren Bay Regula, the oldest player on the team at 38. Rafter is second oldest.
That age means wisdom for Rafter, especially in preparing for a season.
“As you get older you start to learn what your body needs a little bit more so there is an evolution process that happens,” she said. “I think after you hit about your 28th year you realize you can't do the same things you've always done. I definitely don't train the volume that I used to train so I kind of know what my body needs.
“As you get older, your volume kind of decreases on the practice side and you spend a lot more time doing recovery things, whether it be the working out piece or just like hydration and the stretching. There's a lot more time that's consumed with those things and maybe less with actual softball training. You definitely go through an evolution, but I've been fortunate enough to stay fairly healthy for my career and still be able to catch full-time right now with the team.”
That wisdom also comes in handy at her catcher position.
“I definitely feel like I'm another coach out there,” she said. “A lot of the younger ones, they look to me for kind of tempo and where to play, what to do. It's a good spot. We definitely have some veterans up the middle and in our pitching staff so our battery (pitcher-catcher) is experienced. We have a lot of experience in there and we try to really let that radiate out to some of our younger players.”
Softball is to be a week-long competition at the Tokyo Olympics and is to start a couple of days before the opening ceremony and Australia, Italy, Japan, Mexico and United States are to join Canada for the round-robin portion of the competition. Top four will play for medals July 27.
“With all the teams that are there, it's going to be really competitive but we've been in games with them all so I expect us to go and have a shot to compete and stand at the top of the podium,” Rafter said. “That's kind of our goal going in. Why not us? Let's go for it and try to win a gold medal.”
The games will also bring Rafter’s playing days in international softball to an end.
“(Softball) is out of 2024 again and they're trying to get it back in for 2028, but I will say this will be my last Olympics as a player for sure,” she said. “I will be done after this cycle. When that last game is played, that will be my last game competitively as a player.
“I've had a good career. I will be ready to pack up that journey of my life and not play anymore.”
