The NHS mum preparing to be part of British baseball history
BBCWhen British baseball history is made this Sunday, one of the team, Betheliza Dela Paz, will be reflecting how she balanced training for the Women's Baseball World Cup with juggling an NHS job and raising her children.
The mum-of-three described her selection for the Great Britain (GB) team as "an amazing journey", which began when she played softball growing up in the Philippines.
She loved baseball but said it was only the boys who played the sport: "The only pathway for girls was fast-pitch softball and that's what I played growing up and I fully enjoyed it."
Dela Paz moved to the UK in 2011 and took up a job in the NHS as a surgical care practitioner but continued her love for the sport.
She joined a softball team and then, in 2021, a GB baseball team was created, and the 41-year-old was scouted to take part.
"I finally got the chance to play baseball after an invite from a friend who I played slow pitch softball with," Dela Paz, from Coventry, said.
"Then I got scouted for national team and the rest is history; I find myself representing GB and we're going to make our debut at the world stage."
The team qualified for the Women's Baseball World Cup in Taiwan which starts on Sunday and the tournament will mark GB's debut in the event.
"It's years of dedication and hard work and perseverance. And obviously that belief that we can we can make it as a team collectively," Dela Paz said.
To qualify for the World Cup group stage, they first had to beat the best teams in Europe at the European Championship in the Czech Republic in 2025.
"We were only formed in 2021. It's an amazing journey. And it's a testament. It's a massive statement of success for the British women's baseball programme," she said.
She also had to balance training with raising her three children and became known to the teams for breastfeeding her babies in between matches.
"We would try and make it a family day out so I don't have my mom guilt," she smiled.
"I'm sure a lot of people still recognise me as that girl with a double buggy and a toddler running around who has a pop-up tent and who would go in that tent in between games to breastfeed her kids."
While men's baseball gets some funding from UK Sport, because it is an Olympic sport, women's baseball does not - women instead take part in softball at the Olympics.
Dela Paz and her teammates had to fundraise about £3,000 each to pay for the flights and accommodation for the trip.
The group matches start on Sunday in Taiwan and will see the GB team take on Venezuela, Japan, Cuba, the Philippines and Chinese Taipei across the tournament.
The three top teams from the group stage in Taiwan will go to the World Cup finals in America in 2027.
Japan are the favourites going into the tournament as Dela Paz knows: "They are world giants in baseball and this will be GB's debut at the world stage and that's obviously massive for us."
But it's the game against her home nation of the Philippines that Dela Paz is most looking forward to.
"It's just amazing to basically have two parts of your personality come together in one diamond field. And it's going to be a truly magical moment for me," she said.
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