OTTAWA-For over 30 years, St. John’s Minor Baseball has been providing baseball programs for local youth and recently became the first minor baseball association in Newfoundland and Labrador to fulfill the criteria of Baseball Canada’s RBI (Reaching Baseball Ideals) program.
“The RBI program has always been something we would have liked to attain,” said St. John’s Minor Baseball’s Director at Large, Ryan Garland. “With the new changes that Baseball Canada made to the pitch count process, we felt this was the perfect opportunity to apply for certification and finally attain the seal of approval we had been seeking for many years.”
The associations has had roots in St. John’s since 1980 and today sees over 600 kids participate in programs from ages 5 to 19 years-old.
Garland says that providing quality programming is something that St. John’s Minor Baseball strives to achieve.
“St. John's Minor Baseball prides itself on providing a high-quality minor baseball program to children in St. John's and surrounding area.”
The association is hoping that the recent RBI Approved certification will show the parents that when they sign their son or daughter up for baseball that the child will receive a quality experience that will keep them coming back year after year.
“(Our new RBI certification) allows us to show parents and new registrants that we have a standard of excellence that Baseball Canada approves of and show them that we are an accredited minor baseball program in Canada,” explained Garland.
Garland also says that the certification will attract new partners in the corporate community to invest in minor baseball that will add even more value to the association and improve the experience for members.
“Becoming RBI Approved also helps us locally in Newfoundland in getting sponsorship money from the Corporate Community as it allows us to show them the same level of excellence that we show the kids,” he said. “In doing this, we can also show the Corporate Sponsors that their money is going to a very worthwhile and beneficial program to the youth of St. John's and vicinity.”
When it came time for St. John’s Minor Baseball to focus their efforts on the RBI program, Garland took the lead in researching the process and was largely responsible for putting together the RBI Approved application to present to Baseball Canada.
Although taking a large role in the project, Garland could not have completed the task without the help of many other members of St. John’s Minor Baseball.
“Special thanks needs to be given to St. John’s Minor Baseball President Bob Morgan, Vice-President Jason Spurrell and Executive Director Mike Buist for providing feedback and offering constructive criticism to the proposal in order for me to put the document together,” added Garland who also consulted with Baseball NL Executive Director Ken Dawe on some preliminary research and guidance.
The RBI program is making its way across Canada with representation from six provinces and 21 local associations now fully certified.
To find out more about the RBI program and how your association can become certified, please click HERE.
