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Jim Flanagan, with guest commentators Mark Long (Australia) and Josh Johnson.

Click here for issue number 3 of Diamond Dirt, by John Thompson, for the 2010 ISC World Tournament.

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From the Camden Advertiser:

Fifth and final installment in a series by Australia’s Mark Long:

Mark Long is a former Australian softballer who pitched Australia’s first World Championship U/19 Gold medal win in 1997. He created and now manages Australia’s leading high school based health program Eat It Work It Move It.

Could a glimpse into the future, let’s say July 2012, hear the following line at the end of Sportscenter?

“Coming up on ESPN 2, the world’s best men’s fastpitch softball players touch down on the next stop of the tour as the teams battle for the number one seed before the ISC world tournament.”

A US-Canadian tour or a pro fastpitch league are two options that generations of players have dreamt about.

The previous four articles have covered the complex issues of turning this phenomenal sport around.

The final instalment is an amalgamation of these ideas.

The challenges, competing interests and desires all make the process of developing a blueprint difficult, yet the richness of history and tradition could underpin an exciting future.

Importantly they are hopefully perceived as a respectful and unbiased approach that avoids blame and notes the difficulty of reinvigoration.

In short, a league is not an option.

The challenges around players’ visas, taxation issues without even examining the financial viability rule out even leaving the dugout.

Loosely, the fastpitch season today, minus the remuneration is no different from the ATP pro tennis circuit or PGA golf events.

It’s an example used when explaining to people what a season looks like in North America.

Different week, different town, different tournament.

IMG – the global sports management company – transformed golf, tennis and a number of other sports.

They did it quite simply, by creating products.

The few remaining traditional “hotbeds” of the men’s game demonstrate the game is not yet dead.

Consider what fastpitch softball would look like with a structure that packaged the best teams, governed by rules that fostered development, future growth and participation, linked by the ISC, ASA and NAFA brands alongside the legends of the game to create a story and set, from the beginning a modern framework that would facilitate growth and not plateau once it was working.

About 60 per cent of the plan is already in place.

The plan below uses names of teams and towns that are interchangeable.

ISC Hall of Famer Darren Zack. In the opinion of Fastpitchwest.com editor, Jim Flannagan, he shows the game at its best. Photo by Maddy Flanagan, www.maddysphotos.com, Copyright 2010.

The teams are the current Top 6 as per the ISC rankings to simply give the concept a face and some feeling.

The towns and their fields are all home to fastpitch history.

They are our own Yankee, Fenway, Dodger and Wrigley’s.

The need to develop junior players is unavoidable.

The 10-point plan is a starting point.

Starting and not just talking is paramount.

The international game is an essential element.

It must be packaged, embedded into the calendar, showcased and eventually monetised.

Big money in the game has been a contentious issue.

Many blame it for its demise.

In a free economy like the United States, it beggars belief that somehow this “gift” could not be harnessed in some fashion to create a successful formula.

In Australia, there aren’t sponsors who will bankroll teams.

The World Champion Aussie Steelers all put their hands into their own pockets to play – it is commonplace at every level.

Longtime and respected photographer and journalist, Bob Otto, nominated this shot from the 1997 ISC World Tournament in Victoria, British Columbia as fastpitch at its best. Courtesy: www.ottoinfocus.com.

Those sponsors are needed now, more than ever.

To challenge the thinking process, let’s work towards a 2011 start date.

Take the following with a grain of salt – it can be as big as you want, just hopefully not smaller.

With that, here goes.

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