Having left the UK in June 2009, former Bolton player Martin Bell has been in New Zealand for nearly 8 months. After only taking 4 months to land the all important job Martin and his family have settled in Auckland.
Martin soon went to practice with his 'new' team West City Wildcats. A Championship winning team which he thought he could join and get back into Baseball after a few months off. After a few practice sessions he soon realized what a step up in quality it was. Pitching was quicker with more movement and the fielding more intense, never mind the fitness training at the Wednesday night coaching sessions. He found it tough going but stuck at it through to the end of pre-season doing ok, to see if he would catch the team.
After being chief ball retriever on the bench for a couple of weekends Martin got a couple of innings at the end of the game in the 3rd week. Having struck out over 5 pitches, the fielding wasn't too bad, one stop and throw out to first followed by the innings ending catch, things were looking ok.
The following week saw him start at 3rd base, batting at 7. Great he thought. However, Sunday came, and the drizzle with it, a miserable day, drizzle stopped and started throughout. The family had come to watch but ended up in the car for most of the afternoon. Martin didn't fare too well either, striking out twice and a fly-out to centre field, not even deep CF ! The fielding fell apart too, a couple of balls flew past 3rd inside the base which he failed to cut off along with a couple of throw downs from the catcher that failed to get the batter due to him being out of position. Although the 'coaching' that followed on the bench was the complete opposite of what he had learned with Bolton. Strange, maybe it's like the water in the plug hole, you do things the opposite way down here !
The game drifted on for a mammoth 5 hours and the full 9 innings, Martin being pulled in the 7th.
After not enjoying the outing at all, for reasons such as not being up to the task and spending all day at the park and not enjoying it, it took a lot to call the coach the following Tuesday to quit the team. The main reason was spending all day there when he could be out and about experiencing life in a new country that has so much to offer. Why would he want to spend all afternoon missing baseballs and sitting on a bench with a team of winners when he could be out and about on the beaches of New Zealand and living the dream ? The decision was made and the coach accepted it gracefully.
But despite the invitation to come down anytime to train or watch etc, Martin hasn't been to a game, but wishes he had. This weekend saw West City retain their National title once again. Maybe he should have stayed ? But then again maybe not.
Martin has been enjoying what New Zealand has had to offer. He has a good job doing IT Support for an Insurance company in Auckland city centre, lives in a good area, is out and about every weekend with the family doing something new each week. Summer has been a great one, loads of sunshine, temperatures around 26/27C most of the time, he's been having a great time. His 3 children are enjoying their life enormously too, the girls are settled in school. His wife Claire has settled in well too meeting loads of new people through Alfie and Aimee's school and really enjoying the lifestyle. 2 year old Alfie loves the outdoors, indeed he has his own baseball and cricket bat and ball which he has with him all the time, so maybe Alfie will be a Wildcat in the future, who knows?
