In the seventh of 10 provincial association profiles, Baseball Canada speaks with Baseball New Brunswick Executive Director Jason Dickson about the 2006 season.
BASEBALL CANADA (BCAN) – In no particular order, what five initiatives are you looking forward to the most for the 2006 baseball season?
1. Rally Cap Program
JASON DICKSON (JD) – Our biggest initiative is to increase our registration numbers from last year. That begins with the Rally Cap Program which is a program that moves away from the traditional methods of instruction. I think that a lot of coaches that get in at that level are kind of unsure of what to do. The Rally Cap Program helps teach the kids specific skills sets and provide them with constant positive reinforcement.
2. Blue Jays Clinic
JD – In keeping with trying to increase our numbers we’ll be welcoming four Toronto Blue Jays Clinics, which travels around four cities throughout the province (Fredericton, Moncton, St. John and Miramichi) in July and August. There will be around 75 to 80 kids at each clinic and they’ll receive professional instruction and coaching from current or former Blue Jays players and staff.
The province was able to host the clinic two years ago and we’ve seen that it draws a lot of interest out here. Obviously people get to watch them on TV all the time, but it makes things pretty special when they travel out to the east coast and people get to see them in person. It’s a huge thing for these kids because they get pretty excited when they see that uniform.
3. Super Clinic
JD - We are hosting the annual Super Clinic in December, so we’re in the process of getting things set up for that event. The Super Clinic presents a good opportunity for coaches in this area, who haven’t been able to travel, to get their Level 3 certification.
The Super Clinic really draws more attention to the coaching world and people are more likely to get involved with coaching as a result. Obviously with the new National Coaching Certification Program and the online registration it’s a lot easier now for people to get into coaching and this clinic can really build on that.
You’re obviously always trying to recruit new players, be we have to understand that it’s equally important to continue to recruit coaches.
BCAN – The Super Clinic offers coaches a wealth of insight into the finer points of the game, from hitting fundamentals to situational team defence. What will be one of this year’s main points of focus?
JD – This year we’ll try to do something different and couple in some player development clinics. We might even bring in a group of young players to give the coaches the opportunity to put into practice what they’re learning on site. It’s also an opportunity for some of these players to get a different perspective on the game. It’s great for them to get exposure to minor league coaches, somebody from Baseball Canada and other baseball people.
BCAN – With both the Blue Jays Clinics and the Super Clinic happening in the same year in New Brunswick, how excited are you about how these events can help generate interest in the sport in your province?
JD – From both the player’s standpoint and the coach’s standpoint we’re going to get two of the best opportunities to make a push to get people more interested in baseball. That’s very exciting.
4. Winterball
JD – We had another really successful year of Winterball this year. We ordered an additional 26 kits and got them into the schools and, surprisingly enough, in some of these places it was the first time that kids were really introduced to baseball.
We’ve got a couple of associations that have popped up again and that are looking to make resurgence into baseball, which is always a positive thing. That all goes back to the Winterball kits – They’re really useful to jog your memory.
Winterball is a well-written and well-planned program that’s really easy to implement into the daily programs within the school systems. If this is a way to steal some time during the school day where kids are thinking about baseball and playing baseball during school hours, it’s like an extra practice. Seeing as we are somewhat weather shortened, Winterball Kits are really important to us.
5. Atlantic Championship
JD – Last year, due to a few reasons, we ended up dropping our Atlantic Championships. We were talking about taking a year off, but after speaking with some of the different teams, especially at the intermediate level, it appears as though there’s great interest so it’s something we’re looking to jump into once again.
For some of those intermediate teams that don’t head to the nationals, we’d like to give them something beyond the provincial finals.
Coming up!
Play Ball 2006! Baseball Nova Scotia
Play Ball 2006! P.E.I. Amateur Baseball Association
Play Ball 2006! Baseball Newfoundland
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