|PIC1|The Well-Being Australia (WBA) respite ministry for elite athletes coordinates two facilities; Basil Sellers Moruya and Basil Sellers Tweed. Mark Tronson, the WBA chairman and Baptist minister of 32 years, and his wife Delma, reside in the Tweed.
"We consider it a very important part of our ministry. One of the activities is that we visit each of the Australian Institute of Sport units based in south east Queensland early each year, one of which is the Softball Unit," Delma Tronson explained.
"This gives us an opportunity to make coaches and new athletes aware of the need to schedule a period of respite as part of their ongoing training program."
Delma and Mark were welcomed at the Beijing Olympic team's camp in Brisbane last year where they gave an address on Respite Awareness that as both coach and team manager recongnised the importance of 'focused rest'.
"It was lovely meeting these young women who had so clearly excelled in their chosen sport and, who like our own adult daughters, also loved all the normal things that young women enjoy, such as shopping and clothes," Delma Tronson remarked with a smile.
Head coach Fabian Barlow welcomed the recent 'respite awareness' visit and has arranged for Delma and Mark Tronson to visit Canberra in September, where the squad will be preparing for the World Cup in 2010.
While in Canberra Delma and Mark Tronson will link in with the AIS chaplain, the Reverend Peter Nelson.
"Peter Nelson has been a special joy to us over many years, especially as I had the privilege of appointing Peter to that role in 1989," Mark Tronson said.
"Fabian Barlow explained that this final World Cup squad will be formed after the
World Cup preparation tour during July and August, that will take in Canada, the USA (particularly Colorado where the World Cup will be held next year) and then Japan," M V Tronson noted.