Hunter Lang has always had pride of position on the softball diamond. Now the Port Moody teen’s place on the pitcher’s rubber or alongside second base comes with pride of her heritage.
Lang, a 16-year-old Grade 11 student at Port Moody secondary school, was recently honoured with a Premier’s award for Aboriginal youth excellence in sport. She and 11 other young First Nations athletes received their awards at a ceremony during the Gathering Our Voices youth conference at the Sheraton Vancouver Airport hotel in Richmond.
Lang’s background is Chinese on her mother’s side and Ts’kw’aylaxw on her father’s side, but until she played for Team BC in the U16 softball competition at last summer’s North American Indigenous Games in Toronto, she considered herself “just a kid.”
That experience of living and competing with First Nations players from other parts of the province and the continent helped Lang learn more about her own cultural background.
“It was cool,” she said.
Lang was a reluctant softballer when she first took up the sport, playing house league in Port Moody when she was six.
“I hated it,” she said. “I was bored and I had an attitude.”
Getting hit in the ribcage by the ball sealed her enmity.
“I was afraid of the ball,” Lang said.
But her dad, Jay, wasn’t about to let Lang give up. Instead, he doubled down and signed her up for rep ball in Coquitlam. A longtime athlete who’d played fastball, soccer and baseball, he figured the more competitive environment and rigorous coaching would motivate his daughter.
“They learn so much, so fast,” he said. “It’s more engaging.”
To help Lang overcome her fear of the ball, he outfitted her with a protective pad and lobbed tennis balls in her direction.
Jay’s strategy worked. Lang’s disdain turned to passion. She loved the atmosphere of her competitive team and their rousing cheers like:
“Hit the ball and
Run, run, run
All the way to Mexico, Tokyo, Pluto
Rah, rah, rah,
We can hit a home run, so
Hah, hah, hah.”
But most importantly, Lang thrived under the firmer hand of her coaches.
“It toughened me up,” she said.
A connection with former NCAA player Joni Frei led Lang to sign up for an intensive training camp in Kelowna with Frei’s Beyond the White Lines softball academy.
“She’s charismatic,” Lang said of Frei, who also coached at the college and international levels. “Players love playing for her and she makes players want to work harder.”
Last year, Lang led her Coquitlam Classics team to a silver medal at the U18B provincial softball championships. She also received an award from the Coquitlam Minor Softball Association for exemplary character and community service.
But with her experience at the Indigenous Games still resonating, Lang said she’s hoping to take the character aspect of her game to a whole new level.
“I’m taking it on as a responsibility,” Land said of her newfound appreciation for her First Nations heritage. “I want to try to be a role model.”
Lang said she wants to show other First Nations’ youth the opportunity sport can bring to learn about themselves and their community.
“I’ve learned how to work hard, not give up and shake it off,” she said. “Sport teaches people a lot of things they sometimes don’t take the time to learn.”
