Chelsea Forkin

Forkin started in baseball as a six-year-old playing teeball. She followed the path to baseball and in 2001 by the age of eleven, she played on a boys' team, Melville Braves where she earned the team's Fairest and Best award.[1] Starting off in the junior system, she competed at the 2003 U14 Australian National Baseball Championships in Alice Springs, Northern Territory where she represented Western Australia. She was one of only two girls to participate in the tournament[2] and was Western Australia's first girl ever to be named to the boys' team.[1] She went on to represent Australia at the senior level. As a schoolgirl, she represented Australia at the 2004 World Series and World Cup of Baseball.[3] She eventually left the sport for softball.[4]

She plays two positions, catcher[4] and shortstop.[5] She started playing softball as a sixteen-year-old. Within two years, she had made the Australian junior national team.[4] By mid-2007, she had played seven games for the team.[4]

Forkin has represented Australia on the junior national level in softball. In 2007, she was a member of the Australian side that competed at the International Softball Federation Junior Women's World Championships in the Netherlands,[4][6][7][8][9] where she earned a bronze medal.[10] In 2007, as a member of the U19 national team, she also participated in a softball tour of the Netherlands.[11] She was still with the team in 2008.[12] In 2008, 2009 and 2011, Forkin had a scholarship with and for the Australian Institute of Sport team.[10][13][14][15]

Forkin has represented Western Australia on the national level,[12] she has twice been a member of the Western Flames team that won the national championships.[10] She represented Western Australia at the 2007 Australian U-19 Women's Fastpitch Championship, where her team lost to New South Wales in the finals. She was named the competition's most valuable player and best batter.[16] She has competed at softball on other levels inside Australia. In 2008, she played for a local side at the Northern Territory titles.[12]

Forkin has played for the Australian senior national team. She was a member of the national team in 2007 and participated in a six-game test series against China in the Redlands.[17][18] This was her first international competition with the team.[17] In March 2009, she participated in a Brisbane-based training camp.[15] In 2011, she was a member of the Australian side that competed at the World Cup of Softball.[19] She played in the 8–0 loss to the United States. It was her second loss on the day, also having played in a game where Australia lost to Japan.[19] She played in another game at the Cup against the United States where Australia lost 5–2.[20] She was on the Australian side that won a bronze medal at the 2011 Canada Cup.[21] She is a member of the 2012 Australia women's national softball team and is trying to earn a spot to compete at the 2012 ISF XIII Women's World Championships .[22]

Forkin was selected for the Australian women's national softball team at the 2020 Summer Olympics.[23] The team came away with one win out of five, beating Italy 1-0 in their second match of the Round Robin and finished fifth overall.[24] Full details are in Australia at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

In 2011, she was recognised by the Australian Institute of Sport when she was named as having earned a Sport Achievement Award.[21]

Forkin was born on 14 July 1989 in Perth, Western Australia[10][5] and is from Anketell, Western Australia.[22][12][3][17][4]