Stunning year already for New South Wales
Kingsley Collins
25 June 2015
It has been a watershed past several months for baseball in New South Wales, highlighted by a series of outstanding personal and team achievements under a state administration clearly attuned to conveying our baseball message to the broader community.
Although Sydney Blue Sox could not quite get the job done at Australian Baseball League level, New South Wales enjoyed a magnificent start to 2015 by winning the Under 18 National Championship, the Women’s National Championship and the Under 15 Women’s Championship.
More recently, Sydney team Cronulla booked a trip to the World Series in United States by winning the Australian Little League Championship, while just this week ten New South Wales youngsters were named to the eighteen-player national squad for the Under 12 World Cup in Taiwan.
“We have hit the perfect storm – in a positive sense – through having so many exciting things to promote in New South Wales,” state High Performance Manager Glenn Williams told Australian Baseball Alumni.
“We had a very successful run at the Little League National Championships and we are delighted with the selection of ten kids to the national Under 12 squad.”
“While those achievements are great in themselves, we have been ramping up our efforts in the media and we are really trying to talk up baseball in any manner that we are able.”
With that purpose in mind, Baseball New South Wales recently appointed Chris Dorougar as Communications and Marketing Manager, with an immediate and perceptible impact.
“Chris has been hammering out the stories on everything baseball in NSW,” Glenn Williams said. “Thus far he is doing a great job. He has already gotten the Cronulla team onto SBS, radio stations, local papers – and he is close to having them locked into some television appearances.”
Further media attention is expected over coming weeks as preparations continue for the Under 12 World Cup campaign in late July and the Cronulla sojourn to Williamsport Pennsylvania from 20-30 August. More immediately, we can look forward to a three-game series organised by Baseball New South Wales designed to provide invaluable game time to Under 12 players whilst serving as a fund-raiser for the World Cup squad.
Generously supported by Harvey Norman, the “Friday Night Lights Series” will be held at Blue Sox Stadium – Blacktown International Sportspark – on Friday 3 July, 10 July and 17 July, with games starting at 7.00 PM.
“The main purpose of the series is to raise funds to support our national side for its historic debut at the Under 12 World Cup,” Glenn Williams said. “Aside from that, it offers a great opportunity for baseball lovers to see our very best emerging talent in action. These kids will be our stars of the future - and who can tell how far any of them might go in the sport?"
“The series – and the baseball - should be a fantastic spectacle.”
“We have been blown away already by the positive response to this series. The Harvey Norman contribution will go directly to the fund-raising appeal and we certainly encourage any other corporate groups who might be interested to contact us at Baseball New South Wales,” he said.
“2015 has been a fantastic year for baseball in New South Wales, but we have to keep working hard. We want to build on the momentum that we have going to help really hammer the message home to the broader community just what a fantastic sport baseball is for our kids, for both genders and for people of all ages.”
The success that any Australian baseball organisation or any baseball club enjoys never comes by chance. It will inevitably be the result of careful forward planning – perhaps over many years - and it will be achieved only through the committed diligence of persons who have the best interests of the sport at heart.
Australian Baseball Alumni joins Baseball New South Wales in congratulating the Cronulla Little League team and the ten youngsters who have been selected for the Under 12 World Cup. We applaud the “Friday Night Lights Series” initiative – which we trust will be an outstanding success – and we urge the baseball public to come out in droves to support our emerging young players at this exciting time.
EDITOR: If your club or your association has a good news baseball story that you would like to share with the Australian Baseball Alumni community, please do not hesitate to contact us (email kcollins@iprimus.com.au or movfin@excite.com).
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