OTTAWA – The 2009 season was the first time the small town of Preeceville, Saskatchewan organized some minor baseball in the community over the last 25 years. Now for 2010, the Preeceville Minor Baseball Association has become the eighth local association in the country and the fifth from the prairie province to be “RBI Approved.”
“Right off the bat we started with the Rally Cap program when we started this association and during a general meeting we discussed moving forward with an application to be RBI Approved,” says the Secretary Treasurer of the Preeceville MBA Andrea Tonn.
“There was no question for us that this was a way to show the community that we were in line with the Baseball Canada programs and to show that we were moving in the right direction.”
Considering that this is an association that started from scratch only a year ago, the typical problems that other local associations run into to meet the criteria of the RBI Program were virtually nowhere to be found in this case as the Preeceville MBA were aware of these programs from the very start.
“Some of the local baseball people here steered us toward all the Baseball Canada programs in the beginning,” says Tonn.
But what prompted the community to restart minor baseball in the area after a 25 year absence?
“Basically we wanted our girls to play baseball,” explains Tonn. “Baseball is important to my husband and I and we wanted our girls to know how to play, be it at whatever level.”
She adds: “We had a very small group of kids just play for fun, then I started getting phone calls asking if their kids could join us and it grew from there.”
For 2010, RBI accreditations are awarded to local baseball associations that comply with the minimum operating standards in these four areas:
· Development Programs
· Membership with Baseball Canada
· Coaches Training
· Accessibility
An Association can become a Baseball Canada RBI Approved Association in 2010 by meeting these following criteria:
· The Association is a member in good standing with the Provincial Baseball Association (as recognized by Baseball Canada) and with Baseball Canada through the registration of all players, coaches and umpires participating in the local Association.
· The Association is fully utilizing the Rally Cap program as the main Initiation program for kids between 5 and 8
· The Association is providing support to its coaches by driving them to the Baseball Canada NCCP Programs ensuring that all Rep level coaches are properly certified as per Baseball Canada requirements and that all house league/community programs have at least one coach per team who have completed the Initiation Coach level at minimum
· The Association is providing access to all programs to boys and girls at any age
· The Association is in support and using the Baseball Canada pitch counts for the Mosquito and Pee-Wee divisions
In order to become a RBI Approved association for 2010, simply send an email to rbi@baseball.ca addressing all the criteria mentioned above. Baseball Canada will contact you to approve your Association or to ask additional questions.
