Tomasson heads women’s softball
By John Baracani
On June 1, Athletic Director Mike Riley announced the hiring of Cory Tomasson as the new women's softball coach.
Tomasson, who is also a speech instructor and coordinator of student activities at IVCC, replaces Bill Forrest who resigned at the end of the 1999 season.
The new coach he has become so involved with student programs and activities other than teaching because he enjoys working with students.
"I like students. I love being around them", he said. " I think they're fun to be around, they're creative, they're free thinkers. I want to encourage that, and I hope I can somewhat help them in what they do, whether it is getting involved in other areas or, in this case, if they want to go on to a four year school and play softball."
Tomasson has experience in the game of softball, serving as an assistant coach at Princeville and helping out with IVCC teams, as well as being an umpire for American Softball Association and Illinois High School Association for five years each.
"I love softball," Tomasson said. "I know the game of softball knowledge-wise. I have seen how players react on the field and I know what they need to hear at certain times, not as a team, but individually.
The new coach is optimistic about the prospects of the upcoming year. He believes that the addition of tuition waivers starting this school year helps create more competition amongst the positions. He also said he is very happy with the team that he will put on the field; adding that with the hitting, fielding and pitching ability of the players, he believes that his team can be successful.
"You'd be hard-pressed to find a group of girls that are this talented," he said. "Right now I have a number of girls that I feel comfortable with, that all belong playing softball at the college level."
"I recruited all freshman on purpose," Tomasson said. "The talent we have can carry over for two years."
While the team may have the talent, there are no players at this time who are returning from last year's club.
"We have 16 or 17 different players from last year's team, so I'm not saying we can improve on anything," Tomasson said.
The new coach said he would like to see more support by both students and faculty for all of the athletic programs at the college.
"I know a lot of people go back to their high schools to watch high school games, but they don't come here to watch the teams that are representing them while they are here."
Although he says he is very happy with the amount of recruits to this point, Tomasson encourages anyone who is interested in playing softball in the spring should contact him, including anyone from last year's team who may be interested in returning.