| Stokes in March 2012 during a photoshoot | |
| Sport | |
|---|---|
| Country | Australia |
| Sport | Softball |
Event | Women's team |
| Club | Glenelg Rebels |
Vanessa Stokes is an Australian softball pitcher. She plays club softball in South Australia. She has represented Australia on the junior and senior level.
Stokes is an Aboriginal Australian [1] [2] from Gepps Cross, South Australia [1] [3] who grew up in Darwin. [4] In 2003, she was awarded an Indigenous Excellence Scholarship. [1] She moved to South Australia after her Darwin-based softball coach moved there and encouraged her to move as well. [1] She attended Gepps Cross Girls High and took Japanese language classes. [1] Her mother also played competitive sport, representing her state in national competitions in softball and soccer. [1]
Stokes is a pitcher. [4] [5] She started playing softball when she was four years old. [1] [4] Her mother was her first coach. [4] As a young player, she dreamed of playing softball for the University of California, Los Angeles. [4] She plays for the South Australian club Glenelg Rebels. [5] [6] She was with the team for their 2011 season. [7] In March 2012, it was announced she and Stacey Porter would be ambassadors in a programme to increase aboriginal participation in softball around Australia. [2]
Stokes competed at the 2001 Arafura Games in softball. [4] In 2001, she was invited to play for a Texas U14 team, Hearts of Texas at a national competition in Oklahoma. The Texas team paid for her travel to the country. [1] [4] She has represented Australia on the junior national level. In 2001, she was a member of the Australian U19 national team. [4] She was invited to play for the U19 team when she was thirteen years old. [1]
Stokes was a member of the 2012 Australia women's national softball team. [3] She played 2012 game against New Zealand women's national softball team. [7] In March 2012, she participated in a seven-game test series in Canberra against the Japanese national team. She was one of two South Australians to participate in the series. [5] [6] [8]