Luke at softball pinnacle

A LOCAL 19-year-old is set to take on the world as he prepares to represent Australia as a member of the Australian Junior Steelers Men’s softball team.
Luke Thomas has been selected to represent Australia at the Junior Men’s Worlds Championships in Midland, Michigan, USA, in July.
Luke’s mum Sue Thomas said this was the highest level of achievement for a young man of Luke’s age in not only Australia, but the world.
“The competition has 13 teams from every continent attending, playing to become number one in the world and take home the gold medal,” Ms Thomas said.
“As men’s softball is not an Olympic sport, this is its equivalent, there is no higher achievement.”
Luke juggles a full-time apprenticeship and a gruelling six-day-a-week training program, but it’s paid off as Luke has been able to realise his goal of joining the Australian team. Something Ms Thomas says Luke has been working towards for the past four years.
“Since he started his apprenticeship two years ago, he has only ever used his annual leave to compete at tournaments, never actually had a holiday,” Ms Thomas said.
“He has been representing Queensland in state teams for the last three years. He has been playing softball since he was nine years old.”