From having taken a Japanese Cultural topic as a subject in college to now hoping to partake in the Tokyo Olympics, Tahli Moore’s story has been nothing short of inspirational. We find out what her life is like outside the mound.

What do you enjoy outside of Softball?

I enjoy the beach, so during the summertime, it is a great opportunity to get outside and enjoy nature. I also enjoy my work in construction, using my degree away from the diamond. Family is also important to me, whether that’s going to my grandparent’s house and chatting or big family dinners.

Any favourite beaches?

My favourite beach is Freshwater Beach, especially doing the Freshie to Curl Curl walk is a great way to end the day. I would love to be able to surf, but I am more of a ‘tan and jump the waves’ person.

What’s your favourite part about construction?

As an environmental advisor, I ensure that all the teams are working together and compliantly. It comes with a lot of responsibility but also teaches the crew the importance of the environmental factors on the project. The company I work with has been great at encouraging females to work in construction and to have flexibility available to all, which is vital when it comes to juggling work and training.

I completed my undergrad in Geographic Science (JMU), and then completed a Masters of Environmental Management and Sustainability (JMU and UoM). It’s great to know that I am able to use those degrees and my passion in my work now.

What were your favourite subjects in school?

I enjoyed all of my geography classes in high school in which I ultimately ended up studying full time in college. I also enjoyed music and physical health classes throughout my education.

With the upcoming Olympics in Japan, what are you most looking forward to seeing overseas?

I haven’t been to Japan before, and I think I’m the only person in the squad who hasn’t been to Japan. This will be a business trip for us so we won’t be able to go full tourist mode whilst we are over there. Thus, I am a bit disappointed about that because everyone speaks so highly about Japan and all these amazing experiences, but we aren’t going to have that this round, so I’ll have to go back in the future.

I am looking forward to being able to see the cultural side of things as I took a Japanese Cultural topic as a subject in college, so it’ll be interesting to see if what I studied is what’s there.

And what’s your favourite cuisine?

Japanese or Mexican would be my two favourites. I would have to take Mexican as my favourite at the moment.

What’s your favourite venue to play at?

It has to be Blacktown; a lot of my firsts have been at Blacktown: my first Nationals in Under 16’s, my first time playing for Australia in juniors and finally my debut for the Senior team was at Blacktown in 2019. It’s somewhere that my family can come and watch me play, it’s a pretty special place to me.

The transition from Australian education to American education – how did that go?

I did four years at James Madison, and it was a reality check. The volume of Softball they do in a week is a lot; I went from Sydney where you are training maybe four-five times a week, whilst in the States, it’s twice a day. A typical day was: gym at 5 am, go to your classes for 3-5 hours a day and then when the afternoon comes around you’d do 3-4 hours of training and then finish the day with study hall, and you’d have to find time to sleep and eat within all of that.

It was really tough as I had barely stepped foot in a gym before I went there, and it was just full on, the volume we did, and the expectation and quality of softball were very high. I caught up pretty quickly, but those first few months were brutal.

We’d have a doubleheader on the weekend, especially in pre-season and during the season, you’d have a three-game contest against another team, so it would normally be a doubleheader than a single contest on the weekend. Playing anywhere from 40-60 games in a season.

Any pre-game rituals?

Not really, I am a big person on, ‘look good feel good’, so I make sure that I always have my sunscreen on and a bit of mascara, so my eyes don’t look a bit more alive, and then I’ll put my hair back to a ponytail, and I’ll be ready to go.

I’m not really into the superstition side of things, so I just make sure that whatever I’m comfortable in and whatever I look good in is on me.

Any team or player you are looking forward to versing the most?

I’m not fazed; at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who you are, you’ve got to play the game of softball, so every pitcher has got to throw over the plate and we’ve got to hit it, so I’m not worried that much.

I’m not a pedestal person, so I’m not one to go ‘oh, this team is the best’ or whatever, I think that’s more ego, so if we take people off the pedestal, then the better we’ll play because I believe this team can beat anyone on any day.