2002 / 2003 Season Report to VSA May Assembly

A major membership drive before the start of the season resulted in 10,000 flyers being delivered to mailboxes in Sale, Maffra, Rosedale, Stratford, Longford, Heyfield, Tinamba and surrounding areas. This was 5000 up on the previous membership drive of three seasons ago, which resulted in a number of new teams being entered in both junior and senior divisions. Although a costly exercise, high hopes were held for a similar if not better outcome as mailbox drops appear to be one of the most cost effective ways of promoting softball and our Association to the local community.

Practice / information sessions were organised with the initial response very promising, especially with the juniors, with many from outlying areas wanting to be involved in our T-ball competitions. With twenty five or so potential players responding, two diamonds were needed for the Saturday morning practice session. For many it was the first time they had played the game, as with the smaller schools the opportunities were limited for them to play in a school team. With the seniors session, those who attended appreciated the use of the pitching machine which produced a decent ball to hit. From the initial response the possibility of three maybe four new teams seemed likely, although unfortunately this did not eventuate, with only the status quo being maintained from last season for the number of teams in our Open Mixed competition..

From the Saturday morning session one new Grade 3,4 & 5 T-ball team was formed, with the rest spread amongst the existing T-ball teams to maintain the level of a total of eight T-ball teams from last season. It is of some concern to note that out of these eight teams, five are from the one school and that there was not enough interest to form a Grade 5 & 6 T-ball competition or to keep our Junior softball competition running. Thankfully the integration of the grade four players from last season into the one competition proved a success and helped make up the numbers.

It had been hoped that the membership drive would have at least resulted in a net increase of competing teams from the previous season, but in reality the future of the Association is still uncertain with each of our competitions just surviving with only four teams. On the positive side though the cost of the membership drive was justified, as without these new players these competitions may have folded

Saturday morning Prep, Grade 1 & 2 T-ball was once again a success with our youngest members, with four teams playing close, fun games all season. By not having a ladder or a final at the end of the season, the emphasis in this division is on player participation and not necessarily on who wins the game.

The integration of grade five players into the existing Grade 3 & 4 T-ball division certainly raised the standard of the new competition and did not create any problems for the younger players. All teams showed a notable improvement in skills as the season progressed, especially the new Mixed Nuts team with many first time players. Last seasons premiers 545 Redbacks once again dominated the season with only two losses. St Mary's Sloggers and 545 Tarantulas battled all season for the right to play the Redbacks in the grand final. Redbacks opponent would not be known until the conclusion of the last round where the Sloggers convincingly beat the Tarantulas. The grand final was a fitting conclusion to the season where in a high standard game watched by many spectators, 545 Redbacks won back to back premierships by defeating a gallant St Mary's Sloggers 25-20.

A big thank you must go to our junior umpires Gordon Meredith, Dale Heywood, Scott Bennett, Kieren Donoghue, Harley Kenney, Emily Willmott and Beth Goodsell for doing a tremendous job on Saturday mornings throughout the season. With next season, hopefully enough interest can be generated for a Grade 5 & 6 T-ball competition to commence.

Already feeling the effects of the loss of our Open Women's and Junior Softball competitions our Open Mixed Twilight competition was put in dire straits with the withdrawal of two teams from last season. Thankfully the return of an old team, with new faces and a new name, a new team from the R.A.A.F Base and the retention of some of our junior softballers resulted in the 15th season commencing with four teams.

Maintaining their impressive record of past seasons, the newly named New Jays were once again the team to beat, while in comparison the new team Burnouts struggled to consistently hold members on the diamond and unfortunately withdrew before the end of the season. As a result the draw was changed to even out the rounds and to include a semi final to maintain interest in the competition. M10 Panthers made the most of the change and seized the opportunity to play in a grand final (after last seasons wash out) by defeating T.N.T 17-12 in the semi final.

In the grand final played under lights in perfect conditions, M10 Panthers must have used up all their good plays in the semi final game the week before and could not repeat the performance, with New Jays winning in a convincing manner 25-5. Once again a big thank you to our Bairnsdale umpires Jean Marriot, David and Frances McGrath for making the journey and being part of grand final night. David had the added bonus of unexpectantly playing, to make up the numbers in the early playoff game, in full umpires uniform. For those present a rare sight indeed.

Our masters representative team Gippy Girls competed at the World Masters Games held in Melbourne last October. Playing in D grade with nine other teams, Gippy Girls performed exceptionally well by winning seven out of nine preliminary games to finish 3rd in their division. Overall in D grade there were thirty teams (in three divisions) playing for three medals only and for some debatable reason Gippy Girls were not given the opportunity to playoff for any medals, not even bronze. In the end the two teams finishing above them eventually won gold and silver. Everyone who was involved agreed it was a great once in a lifetime experience and with the next World Masters being held in Canada, I believe coins are already being saved for a possible team entry.

I would like to sincerely thank Russell Booth for being our Associations representative for matters relating to the usage of Stephenson Park / Rotary Reserve and its facilities over the past six or so seasons. Although Russell himself may admit that at times little appears to have been achieved, in a never ending battle against bureaucracy and indifferent council decision making, yet without his passionate involvement and valuable input our Association would certainly be in a poorer position.

Once again a small Executive Committee kept the Association in order this season. The committee would like to welcome Lynette Bennett as our new treasurer and to thank Del Donoghue for taking on the role over the past three seasons and for her continuing involvement with the 545 T-ball teams.

Ross Game

President.

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