The WBSC top management held another key seminar for WBSC Europe Member Federations focusing on member opportunities, development initiatives and the new Baseball5 toolkit on the eve of the WBSC Europe Congress in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The workshop precedes WBSC Europe's first electoral Congress, scheduled for Saturday, 12 February.
Marco Ienna, the WBSC Chief Operating Officer, gave a general overview of the WBSC membership opportunities to each National Federation, focusing on the 2022-24 Development Plan, which the WBSC has based on athlete development and the education of coaches and sports administrators. Another key part of the WBSC Development Plan is the Sport Promotion.
"With the WBSC working daily to grow baseball and softball as a strong and dependable member of the Olympic Community, National Federations, through their National Olympic Committees, can potentially access development funds from the IOC Olympic Solidarity Programme," commented WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari.
After providing an update on the latest initiatives and developments pertaining to Baseball5 - the five-on-five urban version of baseball/softball - at the previous European Congress last year, WBSC Baseball5 manager Valerio Cianfoni introduced the member Federations to the Baseball5 Toolkit.
The toolkit, which consists of tailored Excercise Cards that teachers can use to enhance the skills required for their programmes, is targeted to disadvantaged communities and the general youth through national school systems.
It is aligned with the UNESCO Quality Physical Education (QPE) and is built to support the acquisition of psychomotor, social and emotional skills. It will also be presented to all WBSC members at the next WBSC Congress later this year.
At the end of the WBSC Workshop, the Romanian Baseball and Softball Federation presented European Sports Connected, an online platform developed to facilitate communication between sports organizations and highlight funding opportunities at national level.
