As the world marks the International Day of
Peace, World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Secretary General Beng Choo
Low echoes a timely reminder on the role the baseball-softball community can
play in shaping a healthier and more peaceful society.
" Sport, and team sport in particular, have a unique, unifying power to bring people from all backgrounds together.
This week, we celebrate the International Day of Peace in what has been a difficult and challenging year for many of us. Yet despite the damage the pandemic has caused on public health and the global economy, it has also highlighted how nations of the world are capable of putting aside their differences and come together for a common goal.
For those of us who live and breathe
international baseball-softball, this comes as no surprise. Throughout our
lives we have witnessed how our sport has played a similar role in fostering
solidarity between the nations of the world.
With 212 Member Federations across every continent, WBSC’s global baseball-softball community is made up of people from a wide range of cultural, religious and political backgrounds. And yet, despite our differences off the field, we are united in our love for baseball-softball and tireless efforts to develop the sport worldwide.
At the WBSC, we are fully committed to
using the power of our sport and global community to promote peace around the
world. We are continuously looking at new ways in which we can shape a better
future. That is why, earlier this year, WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari signed
a Memorandum of Understanding with World Taekwondo and the Taekwondo
Humanitarian Foundation to promote humanitarian, social inclusion, peace and
development-supporting activities.
We are also acutely aware of the threat climate change poses to world peace. That is why the WBSC’s new global headquarters, which were inaugurated in Switzerland in July, were built with sustainability in mind. Here, solar panels providing some of the building’s electricity and start-of-the-art providing efficient and effective heating and cooling facilities, demonstrate the WBSC’s commitment to a sustainable future.
Furthermore, as a proud member of the UNHCR
and International Olympic Committee “Sports Coalition”, the WBSC has pledged to
improve access for all refugees to safe and inclusive sports facilities,
increase baseball-softball and sport-based initiatives for refugees and hosting
communities.
And so today, on the International Day of Peace, I urge the global WBSC family to continue to grow and nurture our sport around the world, and live by the Olympic values of friendship, excellence and respect. Because in doing so, we are shaping a healthier and more peaceful world together, where people put aside their differences and celebrate their similarities and shared humanity. "
