Com-100

Professor Echols
Caitlin Llewellyn

Persuasive Speech Outline

Specific Purpose statement: After my Speech my audience will

agree with me that softball should be put into the Olympic games.
I. Introduction
A. Attention Gainer: Countless days having to wake youre self
up for a 6 am practice, thousands of dollars spent on equipment
and teams to play on and leagues to play in, blood, sweat and the
occasional tear. Dreams that you have dreamt of since you were a
child. All that hard work and years of practice and sacrifice for one
committee decision to crush the dreams of millions of little girls
around the world. I believe that softball should be put back into
the Olympic games.
B. Preview: In my presentation I will.
1. History of Womens Olympic softball
2. Why it was taken out of the games
3. Why it should be put back into the games
II. Body
A. History
1. Softball was added to the games in 1991. All to the thanks of
the great man named Juan Antonio Samaranch. Mr.
Samaranch was the person who really pushed the committee
to add softball to the games. The main reason for adding the
sport was for equal gender participation. This also was the
same year that 120 womens sports were added to the
games. In an article written by the NCAA, they had
interviewed Ron Radigonda, the Executive Director of the
Amateur Softball Association/USA Softball and he stated,
[Samaranch] was the driving force in making it happen.
2. The first year that softball was put into the games America
took home the god medal defeating China 8 to 1. The second
year that softball was in the games USA took home gold once
again. In America, one of our greatest past times of sport is
baseball, this was finally proving to the world that women are
just as athletic as men. In 2008, USA fell to Japan who took
home the gold medal. At the conclusion of the 2008 Olympic
softball games the girls wrote out in softballs 2016. Why?
They were sending a message to the committee to keep this
amazing game in the Olympics.
Why take out a sport that had just established a good fan
base from multiple countries and developed programs?
B. Why was it taken out of the Olympic games?

1. After the ruling was released fans, players, people from around
the world were heartbroken. When the ruling came out that not only
softball had been cut but also baseball. People wondered why? Many
people say that the vote was influenced because the committee felt as
if the sport was too American for the World Series stage. When asked
about how players felt about this ruling everyone was heartbroken and
also out raged. Lisa Fernandez, a three-time gold medalist pointed the
blame to the decision on IOC president Jacques Rogge. "Rogge has
basically conspired against the sports to get them removed. We had
done our job as a sport world wide to show we belong," she said. "I feel
one person, the president of the IOC, a person from Europe, has taken
it upon himself to ruin the lives of millions, actually billions of women."
She wasnt the only one outraged by this decision many players,
coachs, and aspiring athletes spoke out. Some other opinions, twotime gold medal-winning infielder Dot Richardson said the Olympic
dream "was ripped away from the 126 countries that play the sport of
softball, that just vanished.""I've always seen in athletics an antiAmerican sentiment throughout the world. Most of it is through
jealousy or envy," she said. "I just don't know if this had anything to do
with that."
That one decision by an anonymous committee has changed the
lives of girls around the world counting mine.
C. Why I strongly believe that softball should be put back into the
games
1. Growing up I was involved with probably every sport under the
sun. Literally you name it I have tried it. There was really only one
sport that really stuck to me. Softball. I had this talent that everyone
would always talk about, I just played because I thought it was fun and
all my friends played too. Eventually I lived, eat, and breathed softball.
I played in every season, even winter yes winter in an indoor league. I
gave up my weekends during the summer to travel around the tri-state
area and even further for tournaments. Why? Not just because I loved
the sport and had a passion for it because my dream was to one day
compete on the Olympic level and college level. Obviously Im no
Jennie Finch, but growing up watching these amazing athletes just
drove me to work harder and be just like them. I was devastated when
I heard the news, I could only imagine a younger girl pain. When asked
how she felt Jennie Finch replied with this "It's devastating and
heartbreaking, all combined," "Especially because the sport's at an alltime high right now. I know it's devastating for the young girls. The
sport taught me so many life lessons and also how if I want something
to work for it. Them taking this amazing sport out of the games were
beyond unnecessary. For every athlete there is always a pro league or
something but nothing in this world can beat that feeling of putting on

a jersey with your countries name on the back. I was fortunate enough
that when I was a sophomore in high school I wrote to Jennie and she
responded back to me. She stated in her letter back to me that there
was no feeling better than putting on that jerseys and playing for
country. If it werent for America gaining so much success in the
Olympics many of the little league teams would have not been made.
Also, the pro softball league that were formed. This sport is a passion,
and deserves the respect to be played in the Olympic games.
III. Conclusion
A. Review: Now you know a little about Softball on the Olympic
level and its history, and why it should be put back into the
games.
B. Closure: This sport has taught me to dream big and to work
hard and anything is possible, so for it to be undermined and
taken out of the games is crazy it deserves the respect that it
has earned and deserved.

Work Cited:
1. http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2013/09/02/jenni
e-finch-why-softball-should-be-in-olympics/2756255/
2. http://www.ncaa.com/news/softball/2011-07-19/history-lesson
3. http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=2103234
4. http://olympictalk.nbcsports.com/2013/09/07/baseball-softballioc-vote-international-olympic-committee/