The Baseball and Softball Federation of Tunisia (FTBS) was nominated by the National Olympic Committee (CNOT) for the Prix du Flambeu Olympicque (Olympic Torch Award) for the category Gouvernance Sportive.

The nomination comes for making Baseball5 popular through open days in different Regions (vulgarization du Baseball5, journées portes ouvertes à travers plusiers régions). The CNOT Olympic Torch Award will be announced later this month.

"We took Baseball5 to the streets, the the school….everywhere," said FTBS President Saber Jilajla. "Minister of Youth and Sport Sonia Ben Cheikh was very impressed by Baseball5 and is fully supporting the project."

Tunisia inaugurated the first Baseball5 National Championship on 1 December. A total of seven teams participated to the opening day: Association Feminine Ouerdanin, Club Baseball Softball de Ben Arous, Association Sportive Militaire du Kef, Association Feminine de Sousse, Vague Sportive de Rejich, Sporting Ben Arous, Association Sportive de Bizerte.

"Baseball5 is the best way to move on easy. It's easy, it requires not much time to play a game and there's no venue involved," commented Jilajla.

The French Baseball and Softball Federation (FFBS) is organizing the 1^st Baseball5 French Open, to be held at l’Institut National du Sport, de l’Expertise et de la Performance (INSEP) in Paris from 18-19 January 2020.

The tournament is open to every player 16 years and older; each team must include six to eight players, with a minimum of three of each genre. Teams can register until 27 December, 2019.

The French Open will be played according to the Official WBSC Baseball5 Rules, available on the WBSC Baseball5 website.

The tournament is one of six events to be organized in France in the next four months, including the Open Baseball5 - Téléthon, Tiger 5, Winter Wisps Tournament, OSGOR Baseball Five Tower and Tournoi International de Paris (TIP) 2020, slated to be played from 30-31 May.

In addition, the first European Baseball5 Championship will be held in Lithuania from 28 February to 1 March, serving as a qualifing event for the first-ever Baseball5 World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico (dates to be announced).

"More than two years have passed since the Botswana Congress. There are no more than eight months left until the opening of the Tokyo Olympic Games."

WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari addressed the third WBSC Congress talking about what baseball and softball need to do in order to become permanent members of the Olympic Programme: "The globalization of baseball and softball and the quality of our tournaments."

"Globalisation is synonymous with development," Fraccari said. "In the last few months, we have worked hard to include baseball and softball in the Continental Games. I also think about the Asian Games in 2022 in Hangzhou, China, and the Pan American Games in 2023 in Santiago, Chile."

Fraccari commented: "It was not easy. These difficulties derive precisely from the meagre development of our disciplines in the countries that will host these Continental Games."

The WBSC President also emphasised the role of the Continental Associations: "We must redefine and strengthen the role of the Continental Associations, think of a revision of our Statutes in order to have them actively present in the WBSC Executive." The goal is to "design and implement together a really comprehensive and thorough development plan."

Fraccari praised the "articulated marketing and restructuring" of WBSC events. The resources that come from the event have been used to consolidate "our sport and disciplines in some countries" and even "created the basis for the birth of new federations."

"Development," added Fraccari, "involves another fundamental aspect: youth appeal and youth involvement." He then quoted IOC President Thomas Bach: "we must anticipate change in order to drive it, otherwise we will have to chase the change.

"We have to think about whether our disciplines are still attractive today. We know well that today young people live and consume sport differently from the past.

"Here then is the need for our games to be faster, shorter. The need to dress the sporting events with collateral initiatives. Any simple game shall turn into an event."

President Fraccari spoke about the commitment of the WBSC to use new media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram as communications instruments. "Across our social platforms combined we touched over 300 million people. Thanks to exclusive partnerships with Twitter in Japan and Facebook in USA, Canada and Mexico, Premier12 doubled its social media reach from its previous and already impressive inaugural edition."

"Another interesting figure," continued Fraccari "is the over 16,000 articles published by conventional media on the Premier12 during competition time. This means over 1,000 articles a day just about our flagship event."

"Today more than ever it is essential that our competitions, above all the major ones,
are capable of producing resources to spread and develop our disciplines," said Fraccari. "Otherwise all our projects will remain on paper only. We have paid particular attention on how to generate resources on our own. Today, thanks to a scrupulous management of our federation and to a rigorous use of our resources, we can say that we have reached an economic stability that allows us to look to the future with a little more serenity."

On a final note, Fraccari said: "Together with our baseball and softball sporting platform and exciting competitions we can continue to move forward and provide first-class events that will increasingly globalise our disciplines, attract new sponsors, generate more resources but above all will develop the baseball and softball athletes of the future. We are a fantastic sporting family."

Sakai, Japan - Empowering the member federations was the tagline for the WBSC Open Workshops held on Wednesday, on the eve of the third WBSC Congress, at the Hotel Agora Regency Sakai and they responded accordingly with packed rooms across all four topics - Coach Commission Project, Scoring Application, Baseball5 and Website/OTT Platform.

The most number of participants attended the Workshop on Baseball5, the urban version of Baseball Softball that WBSC has developed over the past couple of years.

Baseball5 has enjoyed unprecedented success. The third discipline recognized by WBSC has already spread to 69 countries, 19 developing the new game on their initiative. A total of 29 global coaching programmes have been activated.

Ayaku Rokkaku, a four-time Women's Baseball World Champion and MVP from Japan, has been one of the biggest converts to Baseball5, especially as an instructor. "I took Baseball5 to an elementary school in Japan and I had enthusiastic feed back. Baseball5 offers a great way to teach inclusion. I also believe, as a player, that Baseball5 offers a very good training opportunity."

Cameron Vale, the CEO of Baseball Australia, announced that Baseball5 is part of the range of sports that school teachers may select to get funding from Sporting Schools, a Federal Programme in Australia. "Baseball5, with the training opportunity it offers in hand-eye coordination, can prepare to many different sports, not only baseball and softball."

Various National Federations, including Pakistan, India and Uganda, offered enthusiastic comments about the introduction of Baseball5 in the respective countries.

WBSC will make a presentation during Thursday's Congress about the first ever edition of the Baseball5 World Cup, which was confirmed by the WBSC Executive Board to be held in Mexico next year.

Meanwhile, the WBSC Coach Commission introduced member federations to the Coach Licensing System. WBSC licensed 21 Continental Instructors (11 for baseball and 10 for softball) in October in Viera, Florida, who will train and certify coaches.

The coaches that need to operate at the grass-root level will be trained and certified, but won't go through final tests. These courses will last three days and will be for baseball and softball combined but won't include any instruction on pitching and catching.

The level 1 of certification will be for coaches that need to work at the U-12 and U-15 levels. These courses will have an entry and exit exam and will last four days. Levels 3 and 4 of certification will be for coaches that need to operate at the upper level.

The tests will be run through a digital platform and the WBSC Development Commission will be in charge of approving the requests to host courses by National Federations. "We don't pretend to invent anything," said Coach Commission chairman Marco Mazzieri. "We are trying to put a structure together."

Coach Commission member Andrea D'Auria added: "We need your feedback. We need to have information about your programme, to customize our courses on your actual needs."

The WBSC Scoring Application, Management System and WBSC website were the theme of two more Workshops.

WBSC scorers are using a costumized version of the MyBallclub App. National Federations that want to test it, may download it from the Android and iOS online stores.

The WBSC Management System allows the setup of tournaments, including rosters and games. The whole environment has been developed since 2017 and is now integrated with WBSC website.

The scoring app has been used since the Men's Softball Junior World Championship 2018 and has been tuned to the specific needs of the WBSC Scoring Commission. The goal for the 2020 season is to make more data available.

Baseball5 landed in India. WBSC introduced the new urban version of baseball-softball in collaboration with Punjab Baseball.

Guru Nanak Khalsa College for women in Ludhiana hosted in early November a Workshop to introduce the rules of Baseball5 to potential players.

A total of 60 participants attended the Workshop. At the end they split into different teams and played friendly Baseball5 games.

Following the launch of Baseball5 at the 2019 SportAccord Gold Coast convention, and the subsequent introduction to the schools in the region, Baseball5 is now added among the available programmes within “Sporting Schools” national government fund.

Baseball Australia CEO Cam Vale is firmly convinced that Baseball5 will drive the national baseball movement to new heights, “Baseball5 is a fun, fast-paced game and with limited barriers to playing lends itself to being a popular option for children through Sporting Schools and also in their own time” 

As part of the five-week Sporting Schools program students will be introduced to the four key skills of Baseball5 – throwing, catching, hitting and running – through a range of mini games. “Sporting Schools will allow Baseball5 in Australia to reach new heights,” Vale said. “It is also a significant boost to baseball because both junior and primary school students will now be introduced to our great sport. “We’re thrilled to target a new demographic as we roll Baseball5 out into secondary schools early next year.” Read Baseball Australia press release.

Baseball in Australia has been growing at a steady pace in participation and international results with the nation improving its position from 14^th to 7^th in the WBSC Baseball Ranking in the last five years and to 6^th place in the WBSC Women’s Baseball Ranking. 

Australian Baseball owes part of its recent success also to the Australian Professional Baseball League that is able to attract foreign talent and develop national young prospects.

According to Australian Government official website, “Sporting Schools” is a $240 million Australian Government initiative designed to help schools to increase children's participation in sport, and to connect them with community sporting opportunities. Sporting Schools programs are provided free to children and their families to help students build the confidence and capability to be active for life. Since Sporting Schools started in 2015, over 7,000 schools have received funding. This has provided more than five million participant opportunities to get students active, engaged and having fun while sampling a variety of different sports. Read more.

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) today launched a new Game Management System (GMS) as well as new guidelines for officials for the new urban five-on-five discipline Baseball5. The new GMS, which was trialed at select 2019 events, is intended to considerably simplify and standardise Baseball5 competitions.

The main innovation is the introduction of a Game Official, who has complete knowledge of the game and is able to manage all aspects of the competition. The traditional figures of Umpire, Scorer and Technical Commissioner have evolved into the role of Game Official, more accurately reflecting the "all you need is a ball to play" philosophy.

In line with the vision of Baseball5, the competition management has been streamlined to increase accessibility and to allow competitions to be organised, officiated and sanctioned more easily, in response to the wave of new Baseball5 events and competitions that have emerged across the globe.

The new GMS highlights the major features of Baseball5 competitions and games management, and it is intended to be a complement to the WBSC Baseball5 Rulebook 2019. An updated version of the WBSC Baseball5 Rulebook was also released today, in conjunction with the new GMS.

The release of the GMS, includes also the WBSC Baseball5 Scoring System has been developed to meet the following characteristics:

• Easy to teach and understand
• Intuitive and quick in practice
• Allow room for basic stats
• Minimize negatives
• Reduce interpretation
• Highlight positives

The 2019 season also served to finalise the technical specifications for the Baseball5 ball, which are presented in the Rulebook. Today the WBSC Baseball5 department also presented the Baseball5 Ball homologation programme. All management system publications and guidelines are available at the links below: 

Download Rulebook

Download Game Management

Download Ball Homologation

MONTREAL, Canada — Organized by Baseball Quebec, the first Quebec Baseball5 tournament was held last Sunday at the Claude Robillard Center in Montreal, home of the Canadian Baseball Academy (CBA). The activity was also intended to raise funds for the CBA and introduce the new discipline to the baseball community.

A total of 22 teams of 5 or 6 players were formed and some of them even moved from the Outaouais or Mauricie to participate in the event for a grand total o well over 100 players. The tournament featured around sixty (60) games played over five courts. Among several good teams, G-Town claimed the gold medal and the champions trophy in the final against the Pirates.

With Softball Quebéc umpires officiating the games, this event is yet another example on how Baseball5 can foster cooperation between the baseball and the softball communities. Also, Baseball Quebéc explains how the discipline that did not convince the most when first launched but that after experiencing the inclusivity and the dynamism of the game, we shall expect more Baseball5 coming out of that region.

Branding and venue set-up

Celebrity Game 

In the middle of the day, comedian and host Anaïs Favron and his 100% female team battled blogger and author Patrick Beauséjour, better known as “Le Barbu de ville”, with a team made up of some Baseball staff Quebec. For the occasion, the two teams played 7 innings and the formation of the Barbu de ville was imposed at the end of the match.

LUSAKA, Zambia — The Zambia Softball Baseball Association successfully concluded its first Baseball5 University Championship.

The tournament took place at the University of Zambia, Lusaka where the rugby field was temporarily converted into a Baseball5.

The competition was between the host team UNZA (Univerity of Zambia and CBU (Copperbelt Province University) took place over a series of 3 matches and was eventually won by the visiting team 2-1

Game 1
UNZA 2 – 5 CBU
Game 2
UNZA 10 – 5 CBU
Game 3
UNZA 10 – 12CBU

The Zambia Softball Baseball Association is working hard in partnership with the WBSC to develop Baseball Softball in the country. They were introduced to Baseball5 early this year and they are also taking part in the WBSC African Development Project, a multi-year effort tailored to national federations in the continent. Its vision is to address all aspects of the life of a sports federation, from administration to organization and running of regional and national competitions, all the way to preparation of national teams.

WBSC took the African Development Project (ADP) to Ivory Coast. This was the third Country visited by WBSC envoy instructors, after Zambia and Kenya, the first of the Francophone area.

A total of 25 participated in the Sports Management seminar, hosted by the National Baseball Softball Federation (Fédération Ivoirienne de Baseball et de Softball) at the facilities of the National Olympic Committee in the Country’s Capital Abidjan. The participants had different backgrounds: baseball and softball players, coaches, members of the City’s most important clubs, physical education teachers and staff of the National Baseball and Softball Federation, including the Secretary-General and the Technical Director.

The course developed on two full days and covered topics ranging from administration to planning, governance and communication. The participants were also given a brief introduction to Baseball5 and to the benefits of the new urban version of baseball-softball as a tool for inclusion in Countries with limited resources.

WBSC also took the chance to meet the Secretary-General of the National Baseball Softball Federation in order to understand the challenges that face the developing process of baseball and softball in Ivory Coast.

The African Development Project aims, in its phase one, at bringing sport management knowledge to a Country.
Once the National Federation has completed phase one, it’s entitled to go through phase two and host WBSC envoy coaches for two different seminars.

The ADP was built by WBSC Development Commission and the African Baseball and Softball Association (ABSA) as a result of the WBSC African Baseball Summit 2017 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

One year after the introduction of Baseball5 in the country, when WBSC and Cuban experts staged a seminar in Iran, the Iran Baseball and Softball Association (IBASA) recently concluded its first National Baseball5 Championship.

The final tournament took place in the country capital Teheran at the best-known sports environment of Iran: the Azadi sport complex. The finals featured teams from 5 provinces.

Final standings

1. Bushehr
2. Alborz
3. Seystan & Blouchestan
4. Arak
5. Semnan

Iran is yet another example of how Baseball5 is empowering WBSC members allowing them to easily get active and quickly engage more people across more community within their territory.

On 1 September Baseball Australia and the Cuban Baseball Federation announced the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding which includes extensive collaboration between the two WBSC members.

The memorandum signing followed the Council on Australia Latin America Relations (COALAR) awarding Baseball Australia a significant grant towards establishing a strong relationship between the two nations.

The federations will work together to introduce regular series for national teams and grow Baseball5 in Australia. The agreement opens the door for Cuban players and coaches to take part in the Australia Baseball League and the proposed Australian women’s league.

Baseball Australia embraced Baseball5 after the discipline was introduced in the country during the last SportAccord convention in the Gold Coast Baseball5. Given its accessibility, Baseball5 is regarded as instrumental for introducing baseball to the general public and the new generations.

Cuba who is a long-standing partner of the WBSC in Baseball5 development will offer Baseball Australia the necessary knowledge and through seminars and other training opportunities in order to accelerate the development in Australia.

World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) President Riccardo Fraccari welcomed the agreement between Australia and Cuba.

“WBSC welcomes this wide-ranging strategic alliance, which will help to promote baseball, the respective leagues as well as the National Team brand from youth to the highest levels in Australia, Cuba, further reinforcing the spread and global growth of baseball,” he said.

On the programme, Baseball Australia chief executive Cam Vale said the agreement presented significant opportunities for both countries.

“We’re now a step closer to regular international baseball against Cuba,” “there is also a commitment to growing Baseball5 in Australia, including the development of players and coaches, which is crucial as we look to roll out the emerging discipline.”

The new WBSC urban discipline Baseball5 was played for the first time in Great Britain at the Kent and Medway Business Games (KMBG), with almost 150 people participating in the multi-sport event. Baseball5 first appeared in the UK on May 20, with a preparation clinic for the KMBG.

At the Business Games, two teams played a slightly adapted version of the game, with a time limit ensuring that all participants saw plenty of action. Kent Sport ran the event after attending the May clinic and was thrilled with Baseball5’s inclusive and simple format.

“It was fantastic to see how quickly people who have no previous knowledge or experience of the sport were able to pick up Baseball5,” remarked Tim Sells from Kent Sport. “We had a wide range of abilities amongst the teams, but the simplicity of having no equipment meant that all the participants were able to achieve successful results. The small playing area and fast pace of the game kept everyone engaged throughout and feedback was really positive.”

BaseballSoftballUK Development Department goal is to introduce Baseball5 as an urban format of the sport, particularly in areas or communities where space and resources are limited.

WBSC held a training course on the Management of a Sports Organization for the Baseball and the Softball Federation of Kenya at the Kenyatta University in Nairobi.
The course is the first step of phase one of the African Development Project (ADP), built by WBSC Development Commission and the African Baseball and Softball Association (ABSA) as a result of the WBSC African Baseball Summit 2017 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Phase one of the ADP aims at developing managerial skills in the staff on African National Federations and introduces to phase two, that is about the technical growth of the Federation.

Once the National Federation has completed phase one, it’s entitled to go through phase two and host WBSC envoy coaches for two different seminars.

During phase three of the ADP, WBSC will support the National Federations in the organization of events.

The seminar in Nairobi had 20 participants, who went through lessons about the building of relationships with local Government, Sports Authorities, media and the general public.
Participants were also introduced to the concept of medium and long term planning and made familiar with the importance of athlete development.
Last but not least, they were introduced to the potential of Baseball5 in the African environment.

The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) organized a Baseball5 Coaching Seminar in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in collaboration with Softball Asia and the Softball Association of Malaysia.

A total of 62 coaches attended the seminar. The majority of the trainees came from Malaysia. An agreement with the Ministry of Education gave a chance to a number of school teachers to attend the seminar.
Vietnam, Singapore and Pakistan where the other Countries represented.

The instructors in charge of the Coaching Seminar were Mr Liu Ran (China), Mis Ayako Rokkaku (Japan) and Mr Itsarapong Oyaree (Thailand).

Participants were made familiar with different surfaces (grass, concrete and indoor hall) during the practical sessions on a Baseball5 turf.

At the end of the two-day Seminar, each participant returned home with a starter’s kit.

WBSC Secretary General and Softball Asia President Beng Choo Low attended both days of the Coaching Seminar.
“The game may be new, but has caught on like wildfire in other parts of the world.” commented Beng Choo Low “This sport is really young and urban, so it’s definitely in line with the vision of the International Olympic Committee.”

WBSC Secretary General Beng Choo Low is fourth from the left

Softball Asia Secretary General Sally Lim informed that additional Coaching Seminars will be organised all over Asia.

Seek Kok Wooi, the President of the Softball Association of Malaysia, told the local press that discussions are going on about plans to include Baseball5 in the school’s sports calendar.

This will lead in the mid-term to National competition in various Countries. The ultimate goal is a Baseball5 Asia Cup.
Thailand expressed interest to host the event.

Related article:

Asia launches Baseball5 Commission