Star Australian pitcher Kaia Parnaby was at her Brisbane home in March when he mother called and told her to flick the television on, her voice laced with a hint of urgency.
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"My mum called me and she's like 'Do you have Sunrise on right now? They're saying the Games are postponed'," Parnaby recalls.
"I'm like 'We haven't heard definite yet from [Chef de Mission] Ian Chesterman, but we have heard rumours'.
"Half an hour after that we got the email that the Olympic Games had been postponed. We're all on Zoom calls that night of what our training then would look like.
"It hit us hard but because we'd already been in a lockdown state at home. We readjusted our training program for another 12 months."
For softball, the postponement of Tokyo 2020 was a particularly fierce blow.
The sport hadn't been on the Olympics schedule since 2008, and it emerged in mid December that softball would not be a part of Paris 2024 either, with organisers choosing to go with break dancing instead.
In a silver lining, it's expected to return in 2028 at the Los Angeles Games in a country where the sport has a much larger following.
And the AIS has recently announced almost $640,000 in funding to ensure the sport's post-Tokyo program doesn't lose any momentum.
A selection camp boasting up to 35 players will be held in Canberra in mid February, from which a Tokyo squad of 15 will be selected for the 2021 Games.
"We just get so much at the AIS, being around there it's quite easy," Australian coach Laing Harrow said.
"Our nutrition's there, food's there, recovery's there. We have access to the meeting rooms, video footage and so forth.
"Everything's in one area, it's only 10 minutes to Hawker to come and train. It's great for us."
Harrow said the sport was already preparing for a return to the Olympics in 2028.
"We've received some extra funding from the AIS from the pathways point of view and obviously we've got to focus in that area for the future being 2028," Harrow said.
"We've got to invest some time in that give our athletes coming through the experience that these girls have received over the many years of international ball.
"At the moment it's pretty hard to do internationally. We've got to make the most of that and what areas we can improve on from a technology point of view and how we can implement different things in the program for the future.
"We have to do that to be competitive at the next Olympics."
Parnaby knows exactly what it means to attend an Olympics, even though she didn't debut until 2009 - a year after the sport's last appearance at a Games.
She was part of the opening ceremony in Sydney in 2000, and can't wait to get back.
"I got to see all that and from what I've heard from all the athletes, it was incredible - I would love to be on the other side of it now," Parnaby said.
"If I can hold on to 2028 and LA put it back in then I'm stoked. If Queensland get it in 2032 and my body's still there - I'd love to play in a home Games."
James Buckley
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
