OTTAWA – Baseball Canada announces that Northeast Zone Baseball in Edmonton, Alberta has become the first minor baseball association in the province to meet the Reaching Baseball Ideals (RBI) criteria.
“This just validates our baseball program that we have rejuvenated four years ago,” says the Northeast Zone Baseball Director Dave Ball. “I believe this can set an example for the rest of the province.”
Northeast Zone Baseball has met all the criteria to be RBI Approved, including implementing the Rally Cap program as its main development program for kids between 5 and 8 years old, having coaches certified under the NCCP and registering all players under the Baseball Alberta/Baseball Canada umbrella.
However the one hurdle the association had to overcome in its application process was the pitch count rule in the mosquito and peewee divisions.
“Just seeing the difference between a house league pitcher, how many pitches they throw with an innings rule versus the pitch count, when you actually sit down and do the math it is quite astronomical,” says Ball.
“So we told our coaches that someone had to step up for the kids and our coaches are doing that.”
For 2010 RBI accreditations are awarded to local baseball associations that comply with the minimum operating standards in these four areas:
An Association can become a Baseball Canada RBI Approved Association in 2010 by meeting these following criteria:
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.
