Helen Townsend

Helen Townsend, born on 16 August 1969 in Christchurch, is a New Zealand secondary school teacher and Olympic softball player. She began playing softball at the age of fourteen, represented New Zealand at under-19 level while at Burnside High School, and from 1990 played for the senior women's team, taking part in the world championships of 1994 and 1998. New Zealand missed the 1996 Olympics but reached the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, where the team came fifth, and she retired from playing after that tournament. She later became a video analyst for the New Zealand men's national softball team until 2009, when she was inducted into the Softball New Zealand Hall of Fame.