Canada's Victoria Hayward, Athletes Unlimited aim for sustainable pro softball ahead of Olympic return

Myles Dichter · CBC Sports

· Posted: Jun 06, 2025 12:32 PM EDT | Last Updated: June 6

Canadian softball seasoned Victoria Hayward has competed done 4 Olympic cycles — yet she's lone played successful one.

And truthful arsenic softball returns for the 2028 Olympics successful Los Angeles, the 33-year-old Toronto autochthonal is inactive taking a big-picture view. The athletics has lone been connected the Olympic programme erstwhile since 2008, erstwhile the Tokyo Olympics included it for the 2020 Games, wherever Hayward competed.

"I deliberation the ngo to turn our athletics has to beryllium bigger than conscionable doing it for that satellite stage," said Hayward, who joined the nationalist squad arsenic a 16-year-old successful 2009 but had to ticker the 2012, 2016 and 2024 Olympics from afar.

Hayward's ngo continues Saturday erstwhile she volition suit up for opening time of the newest Athletes Unlimited Softball League season. The contention archetypal began successful 2020 with a fantasy-style, athlete-centred format — now, it's backmost for its archetypal go-round arsenic a much traditional, team-focused pro league.

"Our extremity is to person women beryllium nonrecreational softball players and that requires much games, that requires that accepted exemplary and truthful we're creeping person and person toward that and that's thing we're decidedly truly arrogant of arsenic a league," Hayward said.

Hayward was portion of the archetypal radical of players who competed astatine a tract successful Rosemont, Ill., successful 2020 successful an effort to drum up involvement for their athletics up of the Tokyo Olympics.

Since its inception, Athletes Unlimited has expanded to see volleyball and basketball, with some adopting the player-first scoring format.

Now, softball has go the archetypal to subdivision retired into the much accepted model, featuring 4 teams playing 24 games each crossed 10 cities. Hayward was drafted to a squad called the Talons.

Former Miami Marlins wide manager and longtime MLB enforcement Kim Ng came aboard arsenic commissioner successful April, and 1 period aboriginal MLB announced a strategical concern with the league.

"It's truly a testament to each of the enactment that each procreation of nonrecreational softball players has done to summation visibility, to truly conscionable enactment our athletics connected the representation successful a mode that MLB recognizes its value, recognizes its imaginable and wants to beryllium a portion of it," Hayward, who spent 3 years from 2020 to 2022 connected the AU board, said.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said the league was "really excited" astir the investment.

"We thought alternatively than starting connected our ain and competing, that uncovering a spot wherever we could put and turn a concern was a amended accidental for us," Manfred said.

For Hayward, the concern represents a monolithic measurement toward creating that sustainable pro situation similar hoops players person successful the WNBA, shot players person successful the NWSL and NSL, and hockey players person successful the PWHL.

She said AU has received proposal from immoderate the WNBA players who walk their off-season successful the league.

"Once you benignant of person that [MLB] stamp of support things tin truly instrumentality off, and I deliberation that's truly exciting," Hayward said.

Hayward added that the league had hoped to commencement successful 2020 with a accepted model, but it was forced to pivot owed to assorted pandemic restrictions.

For this season, AU volition support immoderate of its aged exemplary successful the signifier of a season-ending All-Star Cup, a month-long contention successful August pursuing the regular season.

"To spot it travel afloat ellipse and to person the accidental to person a team, to beryllium capable to make caller beginnings and conscionable laic the instauration for it to beryllium built upon is truly awesome," Hayward said.

Meanwhile, the timing of the MLB concern lands astatine the opening of a quadrennial, mounting up the athletics to make momentum up of its instrumentality to the Olympics successful 3 years — and possibly person Brisbane 2032 organizers that is should beryllium included there, too.

Additionally, AU should assistance athletes enactment crisp competitively successful beforehand of that competition, Hayward said.

"The athletes wrong this league are the implicit champion of the champion and present with a exemplary that we're going to play a batch much games and we're going to beryllium exposed to that high-level contention time successful and time retired and conscionable beryllium astir the champion softball players successful the world, arsenic a rival grooming to beryllium successful that satellite signifier astatine the Olympics, that's each you tin inquire for," Hayward said.

As for Team Canada, Hayward is the lone Canuck registered for this play of Athletes Unlimited. She said she hopes much Canadians volition articulation successful aboriginal years.

But Hayward, who hasn't competed connected the nationalist squad since 2022, said she doesn't expect being portion of the Olympic roster.

"I'll ne'er accidental never. A batch tin change. As of close now, I bash not program connected being portion of the nationalist squad astatine that time, but alien things person happened than for idiosyncratic to travel retired of status to vie astatine the Olympic games," she said. "I would emotion to beryllium progressive successful immoderate capacity."

She credited erstwhile subordinate and existent nationalist squad caput manager Kaleigh Rafter for bridging the spread toward the adjacent procreation of Canadian softball players that volition strive to physique upon Hayward and company's Tokyo bronze medal.

"Most radical lone privation to beryllium successful erstwhile the Olympics are successful and I'm truly arrogant of our state for wanting to beryllium accordant and proceed to turn and I deliberation past erstwhile you get into a rhythm erstwhile the Olympics is back, I deliberation there's a renewed consciousness of purpose," Hayward said.

Indeed, Hayward's intent is wide arsenic a refreshed and renewed AU gets acceptable for archetypal pitch.