BackSoftball’s commitment to global expansion gathers pace with African initiatives

Plant City, Florida (USA); February 26^th 2009: The BackSoftball campaign’s commitment to expanding the popularity of softball to new frontiers is gathering pace after Gambia this past weekend staged a successful sensitization seminar attended by journalists and radio media.

Next month the Gambia National Softball Association, one of the International Softball Federation’s newer members, will also host a two-day ISF forum in Banjul on the future of softball in Africa, with attendees being invited from 22 countries on the African continent, further underlining the growing popularity of softball.

These initiatives have been spearheaded by Beatrice Allen, 1st Vice President of the Gambia National Olympic Committee and member of the International Olympic Committee.  As part of the initial promotion of softball in Gambia, coaching and technical courses for new coaches will be held and softball clubs created before schools are targeted.

Softball will also be in the spotlight in Africa in 2011 when Cape Town, South Africa hosts the ISF IX Jr. Women\‘s World Championship (19-and-under, fast pitch) and in addition, a shortlist is being finalized for the hosts of the 10th All-Africa Games, at which softball is to be on the programme.

This activity is in line with BackSoftball’s commitment to promoting softball to women and young people, who can take up this hugely popular sport with little equipment and a basic explanation of the rules.  Softball is particularly popular in areas where team sports are not so readily accessible or sophisticated equipment is in short supply.

Softball’s growth is also due to the sport’s adherence to Olympic values, such as its superb anti-doping record at the elite level, with no positive tests in the almost 30 years since testing began.

International Softball Federation President Don Porter commented, “I’m delighted that Gambia’s national softball association is off to such a good start and I believe that the African softball forum will further enhance the sport’s profile and popularity in Africa.  Softball’s development in Africa is further evidence of its growing popularity.  This is further progress in our plans to expand and improve the administration of softball and to convince the IOC that the sport should return to the 2016 Olympic Games.”

Ms Allen said, “I believe (softball) can be easily understood in the country.  Despite being a young organization, we have been given the opportunity to host the first ever forum on softball on West African soil.”

Softball was first featured in the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996 and last year’s competition in Beijing, which was won by Japan, was hugely successful with a total attendance close to 180,000 and a continuation of the sport’s excellent record of no positive drug tests in major competitions.

A final decision on which sports will be added to the current roster of 26 at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games will be made at the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen in October this year.

Further information is available in the OTHER DOCUMENTS section of www.BackSoftball.com.

For more information please contact ISF Director of Communications Bruce Wawrzyniak at brucew@internationalsoftball.com, +1 813 864 0100 or +1 813 453 8762 or David Alexander at David.Alexander@Calacus.com, +44 7802 412424