SportzGemz » softball

Softball: Lack of funding puts team GB World Champs place at risk

Wendy — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:44:38 +0000

06.01.12

With the turn of the year, athletes, commentators and millions of sports fans in Britain are looking forward ever more eagerly to the London Olympic Games.

Meanwhile, a small sporting tragedy, and another blow to women athletes in Britain, is about to take place without much public knowledge or recognition.

By January 27, the Great Britain Women’s Fastpitch Softball Team, currently among the top three teams in Europe and ranked 11th in the world, will have to declare whether it will take up the place it achieved through qualification at the 2012 Women’s World Championships, to be held in Whitehorse, Canada in July.

And with three weeks to go until the deadline, it’s looking like the team, many of whom are students, won’t be able to afford to go and will have to give up its place.

Olympic history

Women’s fastpitch softball may not register with most people in the UK, but it was an Olympic medal sport from the 1996 Games in Atlanta through 2008 in Beijing. The decision to drop softball and baseball from the 2012 Games was particularly cruel to those sports in Britain, for whom a host country place in London could have transformed their public profile.

Although a serious national team programme in women’s fastpitch softball only began in 1999, the GB team moved steadily up the European rankings over the next few years. Despite withdrawal of funding from UK Sport in 2007, the programme has gone from strength to strength, with players and staff paying most of the costs. In 2009, the team achieved a best-ever second place finish at the European Championships and qualified for the first time by right for the 2010 World Championships in Venezuela.

Fighting for funds

The money that got the team to Venezuela, along with player contributions, came through winning free flights in a British Airways contest plus significant donations from a British businessman based in Coventry and an American multi-millionaire based in Detroit, both of whom had personal connections with team members.

At the 2010 World Championships in Venezuela, the GB team finished as the 11th best team in the world – an amazing achievement for a country where the sport and the player pool are very small and the programme has no public funding, in contrast to most of their competitors.

In 2011, with money left over from those 2010 donations, the GB Team played very competitively against the top four teams in the world at the annual World Cup of Softball in the United States, then qualified for the 2012 World Championships by finishing in the top three at European Championships in Italy.

But now the money has run out. The cost of preparing for and competing at the 2012 World Championships is estimated at £60,000, well beyond what the players and volunteer coaches can afford. Predictably, all attempts to find commercial sponsorship for a women’s minority sport with little public profile have come to nought in the current economic climate.

And UK Sport, with its “No Compromise” focus on funding for sports that can win Olympic medals, is unable to help, despite an acknowledgement by Chief Executive Liz Nicholl that GB Softball has achieved more than many sports receiving Olympic funding.

Bob Fromer, who has overseen the GB Women’s Softball Team programme as General Manager since 2000, says: “A wonderful and dedicated group of players has made GB into one of the world’s elite softball programmes over the past few years, against all the odds.

“These players, many of whom will retire after this summer, deserve to play one more time on the World Championship stage. Sadly, it’s beginning to look like they won’t get the chance.”

Outfielder Karlene Headley-Cooper adds: “We deserve to be at the World Championships and we now expect to compete with the best in the world. Just thinking of that gives me goosebumps – and makes me smile.”

Hoping for a miracle

The GB Women’s Softball Team has been reduced to hoping for some kind of miracle to occur over the next three weeks. Otherwise, the players’ World Championship dreams will be over and the programme, with no prospect of future funding except in the unlikely event that softball regains an Olympic place, will struggle to reach such heights again.

Anyone interested in being part of that miracle can contact GB Softball General Manager Bob Fromer on bob.fromer@bsuk.com or 01886-884204.

GB Softball
Sportsister, The Women’s Sports Magazine

Help the girls out by giving a small donation here.

Softball, Canada Cup

Wendy — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:38:46 +0000

If you’re out and about this week, July 4-10, 2009 you’ll want to visit Softball City to watch some world class softball. Team Canada with Danielle Lawrie, Team USA with Jenny Finch, Team Holland, Team Australia and Team Argentina are just some of the teams playing there. This is the best of the best in Women’s Fastpitch. Many of these athletes competed in China at the Olympics last year.

The Canada Cup is now in it’s 16 year. What is great about this event is that along with the women’s teams who are featured and showcased, there is the women’s junior championship, the future’s division and the showcase tournament. The Special Olympics division of the tournament ended yesterday. The caliber of ball is world class, of course. It’s exciting to watch and an inexpensive way to spend the day.

MVP Athletics is one of the proud sponsors of this event and if you check out their booth, you can pick up some SportzGemz while your purchasing you softball and pen to collect signatures. There are lots of opportunities to collect signatures.

Our daughter, Nicole Ratel, who plays with the Surrey Storm 94 is competing this year for the first time. She is part of the Showcase tournament. Over the course of the week, she will play teams from Alaska, Calgary, Quebec and Ontario. At the end of each game, gifts are exchanged and this year our opponents will receive Diva Diamondz Sport, a smaller version of SportzGemz.

I hope you can check it out and support softball!

Best in the West

Wendy — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:07:07 +0000

Fusion dominates west

Langley Advance

Published: Tuesday, August 12, 2008

The Fraser Valley squad stamped an exclamation point on its western Canadian title by slamming the Richmond Islanders 9-2 in the gold medal game.

The Fusion 94 can officially lay claim to the title of being best in the west.

The Fraser Valley girls fastpitch squad rolled to a gold medal at the Peewee ‘A’ Western Canadian Championships in Richmond last weekend.

The Fusion placed first in the round robin, winning five of six games while outscoring their opponents 31-5.

Facing a tough Saskatoon Lasers squad in the semi- final, the Fusion trailed by one run in the fifth inning.

That’s when Nicole Ratel slammed a two run homer deep to left field and the Fusion took the lead for the first time in the game.

A few batters later, Jess Edmiston hit a double up the middle with two runners on base to extend the Fusion’s lead to three runs.

The Fusion were then able to hold off the Lasers, beating them 5-4.

In the western Canadian final, the Fusion faced a tired Richmond Islanders 95 team.

The local girls beat their Richmond foes in a mercy rule shortened game, winning 9-2 in five innings.

It looked as if the Islanders were about to make a comeback, until Mikaela Chranofsky hit a solo home run deep into centre field.

Chranofsky’s blast sparked a seven-run inning which finished the Islanders.

On the strength of her fine outing, Cranofsky won her second MVP award of the tournament.

The Fusion received solid performances on all fronts.

Nicole Ratel and Jaimi Wainright had solid games behind the plate, with strong pitching performances by Jennine Walsh and Brooke Anderson, who were supported by Lauren Barrie.

Kayla Smith, Katie Young and Mikayla Fowler had great offensive outings at the plate, and huge defensive performances all weekend.

Other MVPs were awarded to Lauren Iverson, Nicole Ratel, Brooke Anderson, Jenine Walsh, Danica Kump, and Jessica Edmiston.

The Fusion are coached by John Walsh, Dave Edmiston and Lorri Iverson.

BC Summer Games

Wendy — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:46:14 +0000

Several players from the Fraser Valley Fusion ’94 softball team played in Kelowna at the BC Summer Games this past weekend.

“It was a very hot weekend and the SportzGemz worked great to keep cleats and catching equipment dry”, says Nicole Ratel. I hate putting on my catching gear when it smells and the SportzGemz make sure that doesn’t happen.

Congratulations to the girls!

Softball – Fraser Valley Fusion ’94

Wendy — Sun, 25 May 2008 22:23:04 +0000

SportzGemz are a proud sponsor the 94 Fraser Valley Fusion Girls Fastpitch Softball Team.

A set of the SportzGemz was given to each player. 2 sets were given to the catchers.

Last year one of the catcher’s sustained 2nd degree burns to her knees and legs because of the bacteria growing inside her shin pads. She has scarring down the front of her legs as a result.

In order to prevent this from happening again, the girls have been taught and encouraged to use their SportzGemz after each game.

Preliminary feedback from Jaimi Wainwright and her Mom Traci was funny! Jamie received the SportzGemz and the instructions and told her Mom she thought they were a “stupid” idea. Jamie’s Mom, Traci insisted that Jaimi at least try them.

Jaimi is now a believer! She and Traci reported that the SportzGemz are terrific! They dried the cleats out and completely removed the smell!

The ’94 Fusion team is looking forward to a terrific year! Their stats are impressive and they brought home the gold in the Newton Tournament this past weekend.