Published: July 01, 2008 09:45 am            

Local umpire headed to Olympics

When she started umpiring softball games at 15-years-old nearly a quarter-century ago, Traci Stoelting never could have imagined where it would eventually lead her.

Stoelting’s craft has taken her all over the United States and to foreign lands, but no trip can compare to the one she will make in August, when she umpires at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.

“My dream has always been to go to the Olympics, like it is for most every umpire and ball player,” Stoelting said. “It’s just so surreal to be able to say that I’m doing it. I can’t even describe it.”

Just one other umpire from the U.S. will make the trip to complete the Olympics’ 12-person crew. To make the cut Stoelting’s history came into play as she had worked countless national and international events plus the 2006 World Championships — also held in Beijing. Her body of work put her at the top of the list and helped make a dream come true.

Much has changed since Stoelting went to high school at Terre Haute North, where there was not a high school softball team until two years after she graduated. She played recreational youth ball until she was 14, and her father, Dean, introduced her to umpiring.

“He is the sole reason for me doing it all,” Stoelting, 40, said. “I started when I was 15 and I think my first Division I (college) game was when I was just shy of my 17th birthday.”

Unlike most of the competitors in this year’s Olympics, Stoelting has been to Beijing before, and her trip two years ago was an eye-opener.

“The people there are so nice, they’re accommodating, and they’re proud of their country,” Stoelting said. “It is very dirty and vile … they spit a lot. That’s a custom I wasn’t used to. They apparently don’t like to swallow that.”

Stoelting said few Beijing natives speak English, so the thousands of interpreters made available are essential. It is conceivable that Stoelting will umpire the last Olympics to include softball. Along with baseball, it has been nixed from the 2012 list of sports, but a fight is already underway to reverse the decision, one Stoelting said was “shocking” to all of those involved.

Many of those spearheading the battle to bring softball back believe the decision is more about politics than sports, that it is due to a backlash against the U.S. and the policies of the Bush administration — specifically, the war in Iraq.

“Politics definitely has something to do with it, since it was such an American sport,” Stoelting said. “But it is gaining so much popularity, in European countries especially. I just came from Italy a year ago, and it is very popular over there, and I think those countries want it back just as bad.”

While the U.S. has won the softball gold medal in every Olympics since its inclusion in 1996, Stoelting said the other participating nations already have begun to narrow the competitive gap.

Since she isn’t allowed to call any games involving the U.S. team, Stoelting has no problem professing her support of the squad.

“I’ve gotten to know them really well after all these travels, so that’s a really neat thing, too,” she said. “It’s hard to get close to them, but I have an ‘in,’ I guess. They’re like rock stars. They are a great bunch of women.”

Umpiring isn’t the only thing that keeps Stoelting busy. She is a nurse at Clarian West in Avon, where she has lived since 2001, and she is also deeply involved in the lives of her children— Austin (17), Tatem (15), and Cole (11).

Tatem just umpired her first softball game two weekends ago in Brownsburg.

“It was special, especially because she’s the same age as I was when I started,” Stoelting said.

While Stoelting supports her children’s athletic endeavors, she said it is the reciprocal support she gets from them that has made her upcoming journey possible.

“I am most happy for my kids, because they have sacrificed with me being gone in the spring and being gone for so many things,” she said. “Now it’s sort of a payoff for them, too. Even though they’re not going, they’re seeing what it all was for.”

        

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