The second time’s the charm for Brittany Robinson.
She taught in Henderson the last two years, but an opportunity to play softball in Switzerland resurfaced after she passed it up last year. In June, she headed to Zurich to coach, officiate and play with the Wils Devils softball team of the Swiss Softball League, a professional agency.
“It’s wonderful,” said Robinson’s mom Wendy Robinson of the opportunity. “It’s something she did on her own.”
Brittany is an only child, the daughter of Jay and Wendy Robinson, and the granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Morris Rivenbark and Mr. and Mrs. J.D. Robinson, all of Lenoir County.
She has been playing softball since she was 8 years old in Lenoir County and with area travel teams. The Deep Run native attended Arendell Parrott Academy, where she started on the softball team as a seventh-grader.
Her mother said she was recruited by some NCAA Division I schools and wound up playing at UNC, assisting in the Lady Tar Heels’ first trip to the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship game since 2002. Brittany Robinson, 24, graduated in 2011 with a dual degree in sports management and communication studies.
Being a people person, Robinson will fit right in during her trip. In a release, it stated she was valuable to the team and the best player from the United States.
“European teams are always looking for American players to come over and help better their players,” Brittany Robinson said in a statement to family friend Susan Baker. “American softball experience is priceless over there. It is really an effort to get softball on more of a world stage in order for them to get back into the Olympics. This is an opportunity many players should be educated about because there are not many opportunities to continue playing softball after college in the United States… .
“It is also a chance to (contribute) to young girls’ dreams of one day playing in the Olympics, which was also my dream, but it was not available at the time.”
Robinson will return to Eastern North Carolina in September, but not to teach. Wendy Robinson said her daughter will pursue a master’s degree. Brittany will also spend time travelling Europe by herself during her vacation.
“She’s very independent,” Wendy Robinson said. “She’s a great leader, she loves to give people an opportunity to enjoy the same things she does and she’s a giver.”
Robinson recognized her daughter’s talent at an early age and has been on board it ever since, saying her support is “mostly because she’s my child, and I know how much she loves softball.
“It’s her passion.”
Jessika Morgan can be reached at 252-559-1078 and Jessika.Morgan@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessikaMorgan.