Why the 2025 World Games Will be Crucial 'Learning Experience' for Patty Gasso, Team USA

OKLAHOMA CITY — Despite winning eight titles at Oklahoma and building a dynast in Norman, there’s still plenty legendary coach Patty Gasso wants to learn.

She was able to kickstart that process over the last week after hosting a four day camp with Team USA, culminating in Friday’s USA Softball Showcase at Devon Park.

Team USA won both games over the USA All-Stars, but the value of the week was far more than a pair of wins over players who are also in the USA Softball player pool.

“There's a lot of things I need to learn,” Gasso said on Friday night. “And I learned so much in this camp and just this game. It's played differently. Rules are different. It's faster.

“… I'm watching, I'm asking a lot of questions. So the international rules are quite different. The international strike zone is quite different, and that's what they were trying to develop for us today. So I've just got to learn.”

Part of the week was spent getting more familiar with all the players at Gasso’s disposal for Team USA, but Gasso and her coaching staff also spent a portion of the camp building extensive player profiles that she wants to have on hand for every athlete in the USA player pool.

“We did use a lot of measurements,” Gasso said. “… If for some reason they aren't making a team or so forth I have something to show them and I can say it to them. And I think that's one of the biggest things that I felt a need for is honesty. And that's what they deserve if they give their time for all of this.”

Once the team got onto the field to compete, Gasso balanced her coaching style which has bred so much success at Oklahoma with the needs of professional softball players.

“I don't need to treat them like college athletes. But I will say what I need to say when it's needed and they responded really quickly,” Gasso said. “And for many of them I don't need to. They know what they're doing. They're professionals. They handle themselves that way. So it was very easy. Everybody wants to be good and find a way to make this team. So if you're out and just kind of careless about it then obviously you're shooting your own foot. So I didn't have any of that. Everybody was just fighting, fighting, fighting for themselves.”

Part of that coaching was helping the collegiate athletes in the player pool — like standout pitchers Karlyn Pickens, Teagan Kavan and Kaitlyn Terry, among others — to settle into the highly competitive environment.

“(There were) nerves, you could feel that. Deep breaths. Trying to take deep breaths,” Gasso said. “But I was really trying to get them to just be free. We talked a lot about that. And then some of the veterans that were with some of the younger players really did a good job of helping them through it. But once they got on the field, they got to perform. You could see them really balling out.”

Gasso hosted another camp for Team USA early last month as well, and while she’s competed with and against the best players throughout her career at Oklahoma, she did say it was nice to have former Sooners around at both camps to have familiar faces in the fold.

“It just is very easy when you come back with (Jocelyn Alo) and Jayda (Coleman) and Tiare (Jennings), (Kinzie) Hansen, (Alyssa) Brito, Kelly (Maxwell), it's very easy. It feels very natural,” Gasso said. “And that helped me as well because I could look to them. If I felt uncomfortable, I could just look to them because they make me feel so comfortable. So it was enjoyable and a different journey that we're on now.”

Patty Gasso and Kinzie Hansen talk after Hansen reached base at the USA Softball Showcase at Devon Park. | SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Now, Team USA will look ahead to the 2025 World Games next month in China.

It’ll serve as the first international competition for the Red, White and Blue under Gasso’s leadership, and begin the march toward the 2028 Olympics.

Every time she steps on the field, Gasso’s primary goal is winning.

But the 2025 World Games will be crucial in her continued growth as Team USA coach, as well as building the culture she needs for her team to take home the gold medal in 2028.

“I want this to be a learning experience, but at the same time I really want to push this team to compete,” Gasso said. “There are times that you're tired and you're ready to tap out, like when is this over, and we're not going to let that happen. We're going to fight until the end.”