The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

FOLLOWING a meeting of World Baseball Softball Confederation executives in the region, new initiatives were addressed that could positively impact the Bahamas.

The international governing body recently hosted their Board of Directors for the WBSC - Softball Americas and current president of the English Caribbean Amateur Softball Confederation, Burket Dorsett, represented the Bahamas at the meeting.

“For us one of the big items that was approved is a system whereby member federations will  be able to apply for International Olympic Committee solidarity grants through the WBSC,” he said. “As long as you make your applications well ahead of the event, the plan is to have a response within 30 days. These grants can be used for a number of things including: preparation for teams for the 2020 Olympics, technical courses for umpires and scorers, development of national coaches, federations’ operational expenses, training and federation staff, school projects – such as the Austin Knowles tournament that just took place, players pitching and fielding clinics, and others. This is one of the direct benefits from softball being back in the Olympics.”

International Softball Federation President, Dale McMann, presided over the meeting as the group formulated qualifiers for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Several events for the Bahamas and the remainder of the English-speaking Caribbean are on the schedule for this season.

First up will be an umpire certification clinic in the Turks and Caicos and the ECASC Congress running concurrently June 1-3 . This summer will feature the U-19 Girls World Championships, hosted in Clearwater, Florida, July  23-27.

At the senior level, the Ladies’ CAC and Pan Am Qualifier takes place August 3-14 while the Men’s Qualifier takes place September 14-24. Both events will be hosted in the Dominican Republic. The WBSC Electoral Congress will close out the schedule, October 12-14.

“This will be an important tournament for the region and plans are well underway. Each team will be allowed a roster of 15 players and already confirmed the participating countries, which includes 23 men’s teams and 21 ladies’ teams divided into different divisions,” Dorsett said.

The 2018 CAC Games will be hosted August 3-19 in  Barranquilla, Columbia. The 2019 Pan Am Games take place July 26 to August 11 in Lima, Peru. With the aforementioned tournaments, each member federation will have three chances to qualify for the 2020 Olympics.

“Some other major items were approved. The position is that WBSC will be one body with two divisions. Officers will recognised individually by the IOC, but there will be one president, one constitution, one set of by laws and one bank account. Each discipline will submit their respective budget for approval,” he said.

“With regards to funding and fees, the directive is that no athlete in softball or baseball be denied from Olympic participation once they have qualified as it relates to tournament fees, however, membership executives must remain current and will be penalised for participation in congress, lack of votes at appointment or assembles.”

Dorsett previously served as president of the New Providence Softball Association and Bahamas Softball Federation before taking the helm at ECASC.

The organisation has hosted a women’s championship in the Bahamas in 2013 and a men’s championship in 2015.

The WBSC is the world governing body for baseball and softball and was established in 2013 by the merger of the International Baseball Federation and the International Softball Federation.

The WBSC was granted recognition as the sole competent global authority for both the sports of baseball and softball by the International Olympic Committee.

The WBSC has 208 national federation members in 141 countries and territories across Asia, Africa, Americas, Europe and Oceania.

As the recognised governing body in baseball/softball, the WBSC is charged with overseeing all international competitions and holds the exclusive rights of all competitions, tournaments and world championships featuring national teams.

Discussions to merge baseball and softball world governing bodies were sparked by a memorandum of understanding that saw baseball and softball leaders agree to form a joint bid to be added to the 2020 Olympics Games sports programme.