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Get to know your PSO (Provincial Sport Office) is back in time for the 2015 season with the aim to provide an informative look at each of the ten Provincial Baseball Organizations throughout Canada. The 2015 baseball season is already underway for some provinces, while others are still counting down the days until they can get on the field. Either way, baseball season is upon us so let’s take a closer look at the organizations that help bring baseball to communities across our country!
Name of PSO: Baseball Québec
President: Jean Boulais
Administrative Director: Maxime Lamarche
Headquarters: Montréal
Phone #: 514-252-3075
Website: baseballquebec.com
Twitter: @baseballquebec
Established: 1969
Number of staff members: 11
Number of Board members: 9
Major Awards: Province of the Year (1986, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2009)
Membership: Over 26,00 players, up from 24,952 players in 2013; 153 associations, 14 regions including one new one (Abitibi)
Annual Provincial championship events: 18
Most notable baseball player(s) to come out of province: Russell Martin, Éric Gagné, Denis Boucher, Claude Raymond, Ronald Piché, Derek Aucoin
Famous non-baseball alumni: Martin Lavigne, President, National Bank Financial, Wealth Management
Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games connections: Six athletes from Québec (Marie-France Castillo, Daphnée Gélinas, Vanessa Riopel, Sabrina Périard, Jessica Bérubé, Stéphanie Savoie) are candidates for the Women’s National Team that will participate in the Pan Am Games…Women’s National Team Manager André Lachance along with coaches JF Lacroix and Christian Chenard all hail from Québec.
Three areas of focus in 2015:
Partnered with Evenko for spring training games in Montréal
Although it was only two games, Major League Baseball was back in Montréal earlier this month as the Toronto Blue Jays and Cincinnati Reds met for a pair of spring training games at the Olympic Stadium. Baseball Québec worked closely with partner Evenko to ensure a successful set of games that saw close to 100K fans attend the two games.
The weekend took on extra special meaning as native Montéaler Russell Martin played in both games as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays and received many standing ovations.
Baseball Québec also hosted a Challenger Baseball Jamboree during the weekend at the Big O.
Membership Increase
Baseball Québec has been working hard under new Executive Director Maxime Lamarche on recruiting and retaining members, and the work has paid off as the organization experienced a 10% rate of growth in 2014 over their 2013 numbers.
The province’s focus on the Rally Cap program, which is mandatory for associations to implement, is a big factor in the success.
Rally Cap registration increased by 15% in 2014.
Four national championships to be hosted in Québec in 2015
Two Baseball Canada National Championships were hosted in la belle province in 2014 and this summer four of them will be staged in Québec. Both the 16U Girls and Senior Women Invitational will take place in Saguenay from August 13-17, while the 18U National Championship returns to Sherbrooke (August 13-17) for the second consecutive year. Finally, the rejuvenated 13U National Championship will be played in Repentigny from August 20-24.
