2023 Year in Review: WBSC Legacy Club provides new opportunities using Baseball5 in Jordan

The World Baseball Softball Confederation Legacy Club has continued to help baseball and softball grow in Jordan through a number of strong initiatives and programmes using Baseball5 over the past six months.

Launched by the WBSC earlier this year, the Legacy Club aims to raise funds that will help the sport grow and develop across the world, focusing on engaging new communities and by using it as a tool to drive social cohesion.

A brand new Baseball5 field was inaugurated in the Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan in March, during the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation’s Hopes and Dreams Sports Festival, while the WBSC Legacy Club is now supporting Baseball5 activities in the Souf Refugee Camp, where a large number of Palestinian refugees reside.

Thanks to the work of the WBSC and its Legacy Club within these camps, the WBSC was invited to take part in the Global Refugee Forum on 13 December and renewed its commitment to the UNHCR’s Joint Pledge on Sport for Inclusion and Protection, which has five different areas that signatories must meet.

These areas are to:
- Promote an enabling environment that delivers access to safe sport;
- Promote and provide inclusive and safe, sport-based initiatives;
- Promote and provide opportunities for enhanced skills and pathways in and through sport;
- Use targeted communication, evidence and advocacy;
- Strengthen partnerships and coordination efforts.

“The WBSC Legacy Club has allowed us to build on the work we had already achieved within the Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan. We are continuing to see Baseball5 used as a tool to engage both children and adults in the Camp, and it is driving both social engagement and building a community for the residents," WBSC President Riccardo Faccari said. “The support of The Legacy Club is vital as we expand our activities in Jordan and look to run further programmes and initiatives in other locations. The success of our work is reflected in the commitment of the Jordan Olympic Committee to forming a new baseball and softball federation and we look forward to working closely with the JOC moving forward.”

Italian coach Andrea D’Auria ran a high-level clinic for coaches, game officials and practitioners at the Azraq Refugee Camp, which was attended by 12 inhabitants from the Camp and the nearby village Balila. Teams from local villages have also competed against the Azraq Refugee Team in tournaments.

The Baseball5 Refugee Team Head Coach Amjad Alatoom was able to attend the recent Baseball5 Youth World Cup in Turkey alongside two Jordanian coaches. Coach Alatoom was one of the international game officials after taking part in an education course ahead of the tournament starting.

The success of introducing Baseball5 into both Refugee Camps and other communities within Jordan has led to the Jordan Olympic Committee appointing a five-person taskforce to create a baseball and softball federation in the country in conjunction with the WBSC.

Once formed, the intention is to expand further the sport in Jordan, using Baseball5 as a first tool through the schools and to have the first national team formed by the best athletes and coaches of the four villages involved (Balila, Meqbeleh, Summa and Souf).