Dear Friends,
We have arrived at the end of 2011, which was an extremely trying year that saw us engaged in the reorganization of our institution as well as in the management of three of our Championships, namely, the 12U in Taiwan, the 16U in Mexico and the Baseball World Cup in Panama. It was a year dedicated to giving a more promising future to the IBAF and to the restructuring of our championships, which involved all the professional organizations for the first time.
As we all know, the XXVI IBAF Ordinary Congress took place in Dallas on December 3rd with 65 countries having taken part together with (and for the first time) the professional (MLB, NPB, KBO, CPBL), and Youth Organizations ( Little League, Pony League and Babe Ruth League).
During the Congress, the work carried out during 2010 and 2011 was put to the forefront. This was a period mainly dedicated to the development of an idea of Global Baseball and to the strengthening of relationships with the professional organizations. As highlighted in Dallas, extreme importance was placed on the outcomes of the meetings with the IOC with regard to baseball’s reinstatement onto the Olympic program, and to this end, the Congress voted unanimously on the proposal to work together with the ISF (which was represented by President Porter and Vice President McMann at the Congress) to present a single nomination for the 2020 Olympic program, which will be decided in 2013
The Congress also made changes to our statutes as needed to create a more streamlined and effective operational mechanism. The Congress also unanimously approved the new plan of competitions for the period 2012 – 2017, which will involve a much wider activity at the youth level and foresees a world championship open to the possibility for all countries to reach the final phase via a uniform qualification system.
The Congress also covered the IBAF-MLB agreement and presented the agreement between IBAF and the communications agency MP & Silva, which is a media group that will publish a new magazine open to new initiatives that individual federations will want to illustrate, for which informative support had been previously requested.
There were some very notable activities surrounding the Congress: an IBAF Executive Meeting was held on Dec. 1; Continental Confederations gathered on Dec. 2 and saw the confederation of the Americas (COPABE) elect Israel Roldan of Puerto Rico (current Secretary General of the IBAF) as president in place of Eduardo De Bello of Panama. As a result of the elections, Jorge Otsuka of Brazil was named onto the IBAF Executive Committee to replace the post left open by Eduardo De Bello.
This in sum was the essence of the XXVI IBAF Ordinary Congress. All this information and more can be found on the IBAF website, which is fast becoming a valuable tool for our communications.
What awaits us now is the planning and implementation of what the Congress decided in Dallas, while remaining fully committed to the Olympic reinstatement campaign, and on this seriously important matter, we all need to work as a team and with great determination. It is for this reason that I ask each federation to keep close contacts with its Olympic Committee to request support for our campaign.
As we close out this year, I would like to personally, and on behalf of the Executive Committee and IBAF staff, best wishes for the holiday season and for a 2012 full of new and continued successes.
Riccardo Fraccari
IBAF President
