Former all-world player has much perspective

BY STEVE EWEN, THE PROVINCE

Coach Mark Smith takes in the action at Softball City on the weekend.
Photograph by: Wayne Leidenfrost, The Province, The Province

He was a softball vagabond. He worked in corrections with young offenders. And he helps coordinate programs for some 60 sport organizations in Nova Scotia.

Mark Smith’s resume could become even more eclectic, too, if women’s fastpitch is readmitted into the Olympics and he stays at the helm of the Canadian national team.

Smith is currently guiding that squad at the Canada Cup tournament at Softball City. He was named bench boss in January; he also happens to be the skipper of the men’s national side, a post he’s had since 2001.

“It would be a nice problem to have,” Smith, 50, said of the Olympic possibility. “I haven’t thought that much about it yet, though. I know in October there’s a decision [via an IOC vote].

“If it does get back in to the Olympics and I’m approached about that position, I’ll certainly think about it. It’s not a slam-dunk for me. I’m in a very good place in my life with my family and my career, so it would have to be an exceptional circumstance to get me to leave what I have.”

Smith was born in Halifax and lives in Falmouth, N.S., with his wife and their teenaged daughter. By day, he is Sport Nova Scotia’s director of sport development, a job that sees him assist various athletic groups and one that he’s held since 2001. Prior to that, he worked for 15 years with young offenders.

“It teaches you how to manage people, deal with people, deal with conflict, how to make sure young people have constructive, positive things in their lives to keep them focused,” said Smith. “I love working with at-risk kids. I think they’re creative and innovative. It’s just that unfortunately, in a lot of cases, their focus is in the wrong direction.”

His focus for the longest time was softball and only softball, he admits. He’s one of the greatest players to ever come out of this country; he was inducted into the Softball Canada hall of fame in 1999 and the International Softball Congress hall of fame in 2004.

In senior men’s club ball, he played for teams in five different provinces, including helping Victoria Payless to fifth spot in the ISC world championship tournament they hosted in 1990. He also was a star in California, leading the Camarillo Kings to the ISC world title in 1981 as a mere 22-year-old, and then a repeat performance atop the worlds the following year.

He was also part of a runner-up team in his nine ISC world tournaments and garnered three first team all-world selections.

He admits, though, that he may not have been the easiest guy to coach back in the day.

It’s funny how things turn out sometimes.

“I was the type of player who needed to be mentored,” said Smith. “I had a lot of energy and a lot of talent, but I needed the mentoring of the older guys to keep me in line. I was 20 years old, living on a beach in California. It doesn’t get any better than that. I was single and living the life. You’re 10 feet tall and bulletproof. That’s what you think at the time.

“You find a good gal, you settle down and you start to find out that there’s more to life than softball. I went through a period from 17, 18, to 21, 22, when softball was all that I did. I didn’t work. I was a softball pitcher.

“All of the sudden you get a job, you buy a house, you fall in love, and you start realizing there’s a whole more to life than throwing a ball. I think a lot of players go through that.”