For more than 30 years, Fran Sweeny has been a pioneer of local softball.
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Founding the Queanbeyan Bears Softball Club in 1985, Sweeny had already cultivated a large and loyal following that was evident in the nine teams fielded by the club in its first year of inception.
The strong participation translated into early results and the good luck has only continued for the Bears, with the club consistently posting impressive performances throughout its three decade long history.
"We always win and if not, all the teams make a showing in grand finals," Sweeny said.
"It's been that way for 30 years."
As well as their senior teams, the Bears also field three youth squads dubbed the Bear Cubs and the depth of the club is evident within it's strong junior contingent. Sweeny cites the inclusive nature of the Bear Cub culture, as well as the high quality calibre of her coaches in instilling the skills and the enduring enthusiasm required to play softball.
"I'm very particular with coaches," she said.
"My husband and I have trained them all up and of course they have come through with their own skills, so I've got the best coaches ever."
Strong foundations in family exist within the the Bears set up, with it's motto of 'Family. Work. Softball.' encapsulating the core values of not only the club, but the family unit at home who are heavily encouraged to become involved.
"We've been together for birthdays, and we go to all kinds of different things together. It's awesome, it really is, it's just like one big family," Sweeny said.
"Whenever you go to a Bears game, the whole family is always out there supporting them and sadly, a lot of teams just don't have that, so as the original players have grown older, they have had children and that's where our juniors have come from."
But it is in the maturing years of the club that those original players have banded together and started to send older members out to compete in various master competitions across the nation and the globe.
In 2017, the womens masters squad will travel to Auckland, New Zealand in order to compete in the largest multi-sport event on the planet, the World Masters Games.
The women's team has previously competed in five masters competitions, including Adelaide, Sydney, and Geelong, but next year will be the first time the club is fielding both a male and a female masters squad.
"It has taken that long to have men old enough because the youngest has to be 35 to play masters," Sweeney said.
"So we've got older players, but we've just had some that have been with us for a long time and just turned 35, so we're going for it and they're buzzing."
The Queanbeyan Bears will join 25,000 athletes from more than 100 nations as they all converge on Auckland to engage in their respective sports.
According to Sweeny, both the men and the women are excited to test their mettle against players from around the globe, while also enjoying the entire experience.
"It's serious fun, everything abouts masters is serious fun," Sweeny said.
"I'm really, really excited for the guys and with the women, although a lot of them may have gone before, they didn't all play as well as they would have liked so I'm excited for everyone to have that opportunity," she said.