Tina Kramos, assistant coach of Illinois State softball, has been named to the Greek National Softball Team.
Kramos was one of 32 players of Greek descent (29 from the U.S., two from Canada and one from Australia) invited to tryout to be a member of the Greek National Team. The tryouts, which included both classroom and on-field sessions, took place in Plant City, Florida, August 21-25.
We did a lot of scrimmaging and drills, and it was a lot of hard work, said Kramos. The tryouts were very physically demanding. We had a timed mile-and-a-half run and played 33 innings in three days.
Kramos and the eleven other players chosen from the North American tryout will be joined by additional players selected from a late September Greek nationals tryout in Athens. After the Greek National Team is formed, the first training session will be held January 2-8, 2003, in Tempe, Ariz. Arizona State head coach Linda Wells was recently named as head coach of the Greek National Team.
Members of the Greek National Team will be evaluated throughout the next year through team training camps and tournaments until a final team is chosen to represent Greece in the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
Right now I am really excited about being selected, Kramos added. But at the same time I am living moment to moment because it is not certain who will actually play on the Olympic team.
Kramos, a 1995 graduate of Southwest Missouri State, is in her third year with the Illinois State softball coaching staff. Before arriving at Illinois State, she coached softball from 1995-97 at University of Colorado at Colorado Springs before spending three years at Nicholls State. Prior to her coaching career, Kramos was a member of the Southwest Missouri State softball team from 1990-95 and a two-time all-MVC first team selection.
