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Softball Canada - Annual General Meeting Wrap-up

Softball Canada - Hall of Fame Inductees

Left to right: Jody Hennigar, Kris Gillis, Wendy Dealy, Ivan Mader, Kevin Ryan (Walter Ryan’s son)

Photo credit: Jeff Crawford, www.jcrawford.ca

(Fredericton, New Brunswick) – Softball Canada held a very eventful Annual General Meeting last weekend in Fredericton, capping off a very successful 2008 season. Representatives from each Provincial and Territorial Association attended the three-day event, including a full day of discussion on the recently completed Long Term Player Development Model and how it will be implemented to develop athletes across Canada.

Interactive workshops covered all areas of Softball Canada’s operations, including Canadian Championships, Coaching, Slo-Pitch, National Teams, and Officiating. Also included on the agenda was a kick-off session outlining Softball Canada’s current and future initiatives to achieve its strategic plan. These included the “Make it your Game!” promotional campaign, the development of an “After Learn to Play” program as well as curriculum guides to help coaches manage practices. Another workshop demonstrated a variety of ways to use technology more efficiently in sport organizations. Finally, International Softball Federation (ISF) President Don Porter was very impressed with Softball Canada’s contributions to the game, and also spoke about the BackSoftball campaign and how the ISF is working hard to get softball back into the Olympics. Softball Canada also explained its own initiatives related to the BackSoftball campaign and encouraged Associations to bring those ideas back to their provinces and territories.

Softball Canada announced a Men’s Slo-Pitch Border Battle which will take place during the Senior Women’s US World Cup of Softball in Oklahoma City, OK next July. The Border Battle will feature a Canadian National Slo-Pitch Team taking on a United States National Team in a one game exhibition. More details on the event will surface in the coming months.

On Friday November 7th, Softball Canada held its Salute to Excellence Awards Reception which was followed by the official induction ceremony of Lucie Carmichael and Wayne Brown to the ISF Hall of Fame. Erin Durant (Prescott, Ontario) and Anne Kelly (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) were announced as the recipients of the Ethel Boyce Achievement Award ($1,000 bursary), while Matt Fromm (Kitchener, Ontario) and Alisha Sherwood (Saint John, New Brunswick) earned the Claude Deschamp Memorial Award ($1,000 bursary). Softball Canada then presented the Home Run Sports Coach of the Year Award to Dave Bourne (Ontario), the Home Run Sports Umpire of the Year Award to Geneviève Gaudreau (Quebec) and the First Annual Rose Hodgson Volunteer of the Year Award to Linda Petrie (Prince Edward Island). Lucie Carmichael and Wayne Brown were then honoured for their inclusion to the ISF Hall of Fame, as Mr. Porter presented them with a plaque and ring for their contributions as umpires at the International level.

The following evening, Softball Canada inducted five more people to its own Hall of Fame, honouring Wendy Dealy (Athlete – New Brunswick), Kris Gillis (Athlete – New Brunswick), Jody Hennigar (Athlete – Nova Scotia), Ivan Mader (Official – Nova Scotia) and the late Walter “Butch” Ryan (Official – New Brunswick). All of these inductees brought significant contributions to their respective provinces and country, and were very humbled by the presentations.

Finally, Senior Men’s National Team Head Coach Mark Smith took the opportunity to release the names of the 17 players who will represent Canada at the 2009 ISF Senior Men’s World Championships, which will be held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan from July 17-26, 2009. The roster was presented to AGM delegates in attendance and was posted on the Softball Canada website shortly thereafter. The team will be aiming for Gold at the event after a Silver Medal finish in 2004.

It was a very exciting Annual General Meeting in Fredericton, and Softball Canada would like to thank everyone who contributed to the success of the event. Next year’s AGM will be held in Ottawa, Ontario.