Since Women’s Baseball was added to the Olympic bid for reinstatement by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF), the efforts to increase the standing of the sport in Europe were intensified. According to an article by Sports Features Communications the growth of Women’s Baseball especially in Europe is about to take off.
An excerpt:
Already more than 30 of the 128 federations manage a women’s discipline and the interest is accelerating.
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Alexander Ratner, second vice-president of the Confederation of European Baseball (CEB) confirmed, “There are seven European teams taking part in the Baseball World Cup and 22 all together. The fact that the Baseball World Cup will be staged in seven different European countries can also help to promote women’s baseball on the continent.”
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Baseball is one of seven sports competing for perhaps two slots at the Games in 2016 and added its women’s competition amendment in April.
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Increasing numbers
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IBAF president Harvey Schiller explains: “The growth of the sport in places where baseball is already popular, as well as the request by new federations to increase the number of young girls playing in baseball, led us to move ahead on this.
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“We have shown that baseball is a sport for all, and the addition of a women’s discipline for the Olympics only further illustrates that point.”
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With the increase Little League for all is growing quickly and federations now do not have to have girls switch to softball with a choice of having girls play baseball at an older age. Initial reports from Little League baseball, working with the CEB are showing an increase in enrollment of more than 10pc for boys and girls playing Little League baseball across the continent.
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Senior figures in the international game such as Andre Lachance, Donna Lopiano and Sandra Monteiro have no doubt about the power of progress within women’s baseball.
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Lachance, coach to Canada’s national team, found out all about that potential during an eight-day whirlwind European tour which took him France, Belgium, England, Sweden and Portugal. He says: “In every country, over the years, I have worked with them on development and encouraged them to start their own program. We need to give them the tools to market the sport.