In the final Provincial Preview installment of 2012, we meet with Baseball Newfoundland Executive Director, Ken Dawe.
Baseball Newfoundland has seen a steady increase in membership over the past five years and some key events and initiatives are underway in the Province to attract even more kids to baseball.
This weekend SportFest is taking place in St. John’s and Baseball Newfoundland will have a booth set-up where kids can clock the speed of their pitch on a radar gun and take some swings off a batting tee. SportFest is a place for kids to try team and individual sports and Baseball Newfoundland is taking advantage of this tremendous opportunity to showcase baseball.
“It’s expected that 8,000 to 10,000 school children and general public will attend SportFest and have a chance to participate in activities set up by each sport at their booth,” said Baseball Newfoundland Executive Director Ken Dawe. “Our intent is to provide activities and information that may result in attracting new players to play baseball.”
In late May and early June various minor baseball associations will host tournaments for elementary, junior high and high school kids which provide opportunities for kids to play baseball that may not be registered in an organized league.
“These tournaments have been successful the past few years in drawing new players to baseball,” added Dawe. “In addition, Baseball Newfoundland has also distributed Winterball kits to many schools in hopes of gaining new registrations.”
Rally Cap, an initiation baseball program designed for 4-8 year-olds, is catching on in Newfoundland after being introduced six years ago.
“Most of the local associations have been using or are beginning to use the Rally Cap Program,” explained Dawe. “The variety of appropriate uniform age group activities and practices are being seen as very helpful to the proper way of learning how to play the game and making it more enjoyable while doing so.”
In late April, Baseball Newfoundland held its Strategic Planning and Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) Implementation sessions along with their Semi-Annual Meeting.
“It was a very productive weekend with 25 delegates from across the Province committing to program plans for the years ahead,” said Dawe. “Baseball Canada Director General Jim Baba was on hand to assist during the weekend as Baseball Newfoundland made great use of Baseball Canada’s and Saskatchewan Baseball’s Strategic Planning documents and programs.”
A lot is happening on the baseball calendar in Newfoundland for 2012 including the National Peewee Atlantic Championship September 6th-10th in St. John’s and the Newfoundland Summer Games which is held every four years. Baseball will be one of the main draws with potential 2013 Canada Games players showcasing their abilities in the new 16 and under ‘Train to Train’ age group.
Baseball Newfoundland is excited to be sending a Bantam Girls team to the newly named Bantam Girls International Invitational in August. This will be the second time ever and first time since 2006 that the Province has sent a team to this event. Plans are also underway for ‘Girls Day in Baseball’ scheduled to be held in late July.
The Toronto Blue Jays are going coast-to-coast with Honda Super Camp’s this year and will be making a stop at St. Pat’s Ballpark in St. John’s August 13th-15th. Sandy Alomar, Sr., Jesse Barfield, Otto Valez, Duane Ward and Nigel Wilson will be instructors at the camp for kids aged 10-16.
For registration information, please click HERE.
For more information on Baseball Newfoundland and how you can get involved, visit their website: www.sport.ca/nlbaseball . You can also follow them on Twitter: @BaseballNL
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