Tavistock to host Men's Canadian Championship

[Al's Fastball News]

http://www.tavistock.on.ca/U21mens.html

Tavistock to host Men's Canadian Championship

from the Tavistock Gazette, Wednesday, October 21, 2015

After 14 years on the executive with Tavistock Minor Ball, vice-president
Dave Bailey will see a longtime dream come true.

The Tavistock Minor Ball Association is thrilled to announce
that they have won the bid to host the 2016 U21 Men’s Canadian
Fastpitch Championship.

Minor Ball President Brian Wagler and tourna-ment co-chair Kyle
Smith made the announcement last week at the October meeting
of the Tavistock Men's Club.

"We're excited to bring a national championship tournament to
Tavistock," Kyle told the club. As a result, "we're looking for
volunteers and service clubs to help," he added.

The U21 Tournament is set for August 2-7, 2016 at Queen’s Park
and Optimist Park in Tavistock.

The process started some three years ago with a small group who
then reached out last September to put together a bid to Softball
Canada.

As a fastball internet broadcasting personality, Kyle said he
spends a lot of time at ball parks around the province and country,
and assured the group there are not many facilities like Tavistock.
Because Tavistock is centrally located, "we will draw teams from
the east and west," Kyle said. And because Tavistock is hosting
the tournament, the local Juniors automatically qualify to play.
Another advantage is that Stratford Cubs are the 2015 U21 defending
champions and their fans are sure to be avid spectators.

There could be anywhere from 8 to 14 teams in the tournament
travelling here from British Columbia to Newfoundland. Tavistock
was chosen by Softball Canada over two other bids, from Quebec
and Newfoundland.

It is expected that from 800-1,000 people per day will attend
the 6-day event. The hosting agreement states that Queen’s Park
must have seating for 1,500 people, so the committee is looking
for someone to provide portable seating.

The 2015 tournament was held in Napanee.

Kyle said he believes this is something that has never been done
in Oxford or Perth counties. "It will be the first time to be
on the big stage," he said. "We're excited and we want to set
the bar high for future tournaments." It is expected to bring
good money into the local economy and a chance for service clubs
to creat some fundraising opportunities.

The committee is hoping to set up a food village, beverage garden,
souvenir station, along with live broadcasting and streaming
of the games.

"The level of ball is quite phenomenal," Kyle said. This area
has the only Junior Men’s Fastball League in Canada. "We're excited
to showcase Tavistock," he added. "We want to leave a legacy
for Minor Ball."

Kyle is co-chair of the tournament along with Tavistock Minor
Ball vice-president Dave Bailey. President Brian Wagler also
addressed the Men's Club with details of the organization and
thanks for their past support of the Association.

He said Tavistock Minor Ball has about 200 youth involved in
all age divisions from Blastball to Junior. There are 30 coaches
and 14 executive members. 2015 was a successful year as the Squirt
Boys were OASA provincial champions and the Mite Girls were ORSA
provincial champions; the PeeWee Boys earned silver at the Western
Canadians and the Novice Girls won silver at the Eastern Canadians.
The Tavistock Junior Men's team placed 4th at the Canadians in
Napanee. Locally, the Hickson Midget Boys were third at the Provincials
and Eastern Canadians.

Tavistock Minor Ball has accumulated some valuable experience
over the years hosting the annual Cephas Roth Tournament and
this past year hosting the Midget Eliminations and the Squirt
Provincial tournament.

Other members of the organizing committee are Kevin Zehr, Jrs.
Head Coach; Jamie Woodend, Zone Umpire-in-Chief; and Kris Hohl,
volunteer coordinator. Contact Kris at kehohl at hotmail.com or
Kyle at kyle.smith at ballparkradio.com.


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