Australian Baseball Federation
Your Baseball E-News – 30 March 2001
We are attaching our E-news again in three formats: HTML, Word and plain E-mail text. For plain E-mail Text instead of our hyperlinks we will post the URL (those long garbly lines). If this URL does not take you to the related site by clicking on it, please copy and paste this into your ‘search address’ in your browser (prefer Internet Explorer Browser) and press ‘enter’ to get to these sites.
NEW AUSTRALIAN BASEBALL FEDERATION PRESIDENT
We would like to welcome Ron Finlay on board as our new President for the Australian Baseball Federation. Ron writes about the challenges and goals he has set for the federation. He is open to your input in attaining those goals. Read More
YOUTH NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Statistics for the U14s and the U18s are now in their respective sites. We apologise for the delay in placing the U16s Statistics up on the site and are currently reviewing Statistical Software Packages to make this process more efficient in future Championships.
ARCHIVING 1999-2000 ISPORT WEBSITE
We are currently ‘archiving’ our 1999-2000 Season Information into the 2000 Link which is located on the left-hand side of our website. This will cause difficulty in upgrading some information on the various sites. We appreciate your patience in this matter as we upgrade the 2001 site.
INTERNATIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE AUSTRALIA
The IBLA has met with the Major League Teams during spring training. All reports from last season were positive. We look forward to confirming their participation in the coming summer season, which is due to start late November 2001. 2000 Archived ABF/IBLA Site
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL INTERNATIONAL
MLBI’s Yard Ball program ran successfully with more photos and updated information placed in the Yard Ball Site. More
The Los Angeles Dodgers compliment our Aussie Players who are on their 40-man roster: Jeff Williams, Luke Prokopec and Adrian Burnside… "all three pitchers from down under have talent and with the support of an organization that prides itself on international development, three Australians pitching at Dodger Stadium is not out of the realm of possibilities." More www.dodgers.com
BASEBALL SOFTBALL AFFILIATION
Australian Baseball and Softball Australia have combined forces to utilise resources to promote T-Ball via the Pitch-Hit-Run Program sponsored by Major League Baseball International. Chet Gray has been appointed to drive the program with the two organisations. We have already received many inquiries from various organisations interested in becoming involved in the program following its recent Media Release.
"A Strategic Development Meeting between Don Knapp, Grant Weir, Chet Gray and Tom Nicolson (MLBI) took place recently. The aim of this meeting was to look at developing a strategic plan for implementing some of Major League Baseball’s initiatives such as the Pitch-Hit-Run, Yard Ball, Blast Ball and Corporate Slow Pitch Programs, with additional review of involvement from softball"…Chet Gray
COACHING EDUCATION
We are reviewing the ABF coaching manuals and looking at on-line opportunities. We will start with upgrading the Level O–‘Orientation to Coaching’ Manual and look at opportunities for improving on the Levels 1 and 2 Manuals with some type of on-line system for regional areas.
UMPIRES
The Australian Baseball Umpire’s School will be held at the Fort Largs Police Academy and Port Adelaide Baseball Club in South Australia from 23 – 30 September 2001. MORE information and an ‘Expression of Interest Form’ can be found in the ABF Umpire’s Site.
A huge ‘thank-you’ to David Smith from Queensland for placing the Official Australian Baseball Rules on our website. MORE
THE NATIONAL LICENSING PROGRAM
Working closely with the Victorian Baseball Association, the National Licensing Program is taking on a new form and management under the leadership of the VBA. Discussions are occurring with the many suppliers to progress this to its next stage, which we will soon be informing our members about.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
We are constantly upgrading our Major Events Calendar. New additions are The University Games which will take place later on this year...The Northern University Games in Townsville from 1-5 July and the Australian University Games on 23 – 28 September. The first Baseball World University Games will be taking place from 25 July – 8 August 2002 at Messina ITA. MORE
CAL RIPKEN WORLD SERIES
Our young ball players will participate in the Cal Ripken World Series (a division of Babe Ruth League, Inc.) in Vincennes, Indiana, USA. This will be held from August 18-26, 2001. Coaching Staff and player rosters will be finalised soon. MORE
WORLD CHILDREN’S BASEBALL FAIR
The 12th World Children’s Baseball Fair will take place from the 2nd – 10th August at Kanazawa City, Japan. Chaperone David Adkins of South Australia will accompany the five 10 -11 year old children. The lucky five are: Loutit Alastair (ACT), Michael Lennox (NSW), Curtis Jackson (NT), Pike Kane (SA) and Harrison Blake (WA). MORE
BASEBALL CONFEDERATION OF OCEANIA
The Baseball Confederation of Oceania joins our website. They can be found under the INTERNATIONAL pull-down menu from the ABF Home Page. The list of Executives, Contact Details and Map of the Oceania Region are presently listed on the site. We hope to hear more about our affiliates in the Oceania region. Check out the events on their site before travelling to these regions in case there are any major games on for you to watch.
The Confederation’s congress is coming up around the end of April to the first week in May. It will be a voting congress so there could be new office bearers. The IBAF Congress will be conducted in Lausanne, Switzerland on the 4th and 5th of May at which time we hope to have full Oceania Representation from our members.
THE MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY PROGRAM
The High Performance together with Major League Baseball are actively finalising arrangements to kick start the Major League Baseball Academy Program which will be based in Queensland during June through August. First round scholarship offers have been issued.
OVERSEAS PLAYERS’ NEWS FORUM
Other ways our FORUM is being used is to give you feedback on our Overseas Players. Parents, friends, players and organisations have written us filling us in on bits and pieces about their players. Stay tuned and let’s support them when a SURVEY is being conducted in their respective clubs. MORE
Cameron Cairncross is unfortunately out for the season due to ligament injuries. The Major League season is kicking off soon and we will be posting updated Overseas Player Statistics weekly on the website. The MLB Team rosters will be going up on their respective club sites soon for us to start tracking our Pro players.
ATHENS OLYMPICS 2004
The ABF/Olympics Site has regular NEWS posted in its site on the progress of the ATHENS 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES…Grand National Sponsor has been named for Dairy Products MORE
THE AUSTRALIAN PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS AND TOURING TEAM
The Australian Provincial Championship is ready to ‘go’ with great photos of the venue posted on the website. This site is ready to place results of the games by our APC Web Administrator, Geoff Roneberg who has been diligently working on the website. Details of the Touring Party will also be posted shortly. MORE
THE NATIONAL WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP
The National Women’s Championship 2001 is under way with an exciting Opening Ceremony to take place on the 14th April introducing our new President, Ron Finlay. Special guests to appear on the day will be the local Blacktown 2000 Paralympian Gold Medallist, Julie Higgins, Jennifer Organ to sing the National Anthem and an Aboriginal Welcome by local female elders Sister Edna Watson and Sister Patricia Jarvis from the Darug Tribe. The Blacktown City Council has been extremely supportive both with the development of the facilities and with the Championships. MORE
The Australian Baseball Federation … representing the 7 State Organizations
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