November14^th, 2008

SoftballCanada Annual General Meeting Wrap-up

SoftballCanada Hall of Fame Inductees

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

Photocredit: 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 managepractices. 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’scontributions to the game, and also spoke about the BackSoftball campaign andhow the ISF is working hard to get softball back into the Olympics. Softball Canada also explained its own initiatives related to the BackSoftball campaignand encouraged Associations to bring those ideas back to their provinces andterritories.

 On Friday November 7^th, 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 LindaPetrie (Prince Edward Island). Lucie Carmichael and Wayne Brown were then honoured for their inclusion to the ISF Hall of Fame, as Mr. Porter presentedthem 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 ofFame, 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). Allof these inductees brought significant contributions to their respectiveprovinces 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 ISFSenior Men’s World Championships, which will be held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewanfrom 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 willbe aiming for Gold at the event after a Silver Medal finish in 2004.

Itwas a very exciting Annual General Meeting in Fredericton, and Softball Canadawould like to thank everyone who contributed to the success of the event. Nextyear’s AGM will be held in Ottawa, Ontario.

Formore information, please contact:

GillesLeBlanc

Manager– Marketing and Communications

SoftballCanada

(613)523-3386 x. 3105

gleblanc@softball.ca