WBSC runs key Baseball5 / Mini Baseball workshop for OlympAfrica directors in Africa
The workshop is one of the first initiatives under the MOU between the World Baseball Softball Confederation, Olympafrica Foundation and Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa to promote baseball and softball in Africa. Baseball5 will feature at the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal.
The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) held a workshop at the OlympAfrica centre in Somone, Senegal from 28 to 31 March, aimed at developing Baseball5 and Mini-Baseball across Africa.
The participants were the directors of the OlympAfrica centres in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), Soubre (Ivory Coast), Lagos (Nigeria), Somone (Senegal), Busia (Uganda) and Lusaka (Zambia) as well as three volunteers from the centre in Somone and two technical delegates of the Senegal Federation. They received training from Baseball5 certified instructors Daniel Atemo, Andrea D'Auria and Chedli Mokrani.
The workshop is one of the first initiatives under the Memorandum of Understanding between the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), Olympafrica Foundation and Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) to promote baseball and softball in Africa. Baseball5 will feature at the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal.
The activities included during the week-long course included a general introduction to Baseball5, the WBSC partnership with OlympAfrica and the Baseball5 rulebook before practice sessions and games of Baseball5 and Mini Baseball were held.
"Having received this initial introduction to Baseball5 and Mini Baseball, the OlympAfrica centres can now take this knowledge back to their country and start the road to the Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026," said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari who addressed participants via video. "Thanks to the partnership with Olympafrica and ANOCA, we will also extend the programme to other centres across Africa and continue growing baseball and softball across the continent."
The OlympaFrica Foundation, chaired by ANOC President Mustapha Berraf, aims at strengthening the impact of the Olympic Movement on the education and life of African youth. It runs 43 centres all over the continent.
OlympAfrica signed the Memorandum of Understanding with the WBSC in October 2021.
