Archive for the ‘ISF’ Category

ISF throws Aussie pitcher a curveball

Friday, November 19th, 2010

Editor’s note: Word of the “rule change” discussed below has yet to really filter through to North America, but having watched Adam pitch, one has to wonder what impact that this will have on American and Canadian pitchers who essentially throw much the same way …

Editor’s update, Saturday, November 20, 2010:
Discussion on the issue going on over at the Sask Jr. Dbacks board.

From ABC Grandstand Sport in Australia – click here for original story.

By Tim Gavel and staff

Updated November 19, 2010 12:50:00

International career over? The rule change means Adam Folkard may never represent Australia again. (Getty Images: Chris Skelton, file photo)

The international career of one of Australia’s top male softballers hangs in the balance after the sport’s governing body changed the rules due to his dominance.

Adam Folkard was one of Australia’s stars in the Steelers’ International Softball Federation (ISF) World Championship victory over New Zealand last year.

Folkard was so dominant that he pitched a no-hitter to end the Black Sox’ reign as world champions.

Responding to concerns from rival countries that Folkard’s pitching was limiting the role of batters, the ISF changed the pitching rules.

The rule change only affects international softball, meaning the ACT-born pitcher can still play for his club team in the US but, as a result, Folkard has been effectively been stopped from playing for Australia.

He is not only the most dominant pitcher in softball but also one of the fastest, with recorded delivery speeds of 130 kilometres an hour.

In essence, the key to Folkard’s success has been his ability to disguise his delivery rather than his speed.

The new rules effectively prevent pitchers from shielding the ball from the sight of batters, and they appear to be a deliberate attempt to blunt Folkard’s influence on the sport.

The pitcher himself has played down the notion the rule is solely to lessen his impact from the mound.

“There’s a fair few people overseas, especially in American clubs in the club league there, that all pitch the same way as well,” he told Grandstand.

“People say it’s because I was dominant at the worlds but I had a good game just like they could have had a good game.

“There’s no use punishing someone for having one good game. It’s unnecessary and it’s not that big an advantage to pitch the style that they’re banning.”

But Australian men’s head coach Bob Harrow said there was no doubt in his mind that the rules were modified to rein in Folkard’s dominance.

“There is a lot of pitchers in the world pitching like he does now, and it’s going to hurt a lot of people,” he said.

“Let’s face it, in our Australian squad there are three others that are probably going to be affected too, just in certain areas they haven’t been calling [the foul] yet.”

Harrow said inconsistencies in how the rules are enforced could be damaging for the sport, despite the changes being made to make games more entertaining to watch.

“The bottom line is I don’t think even the umpires are completely aware about how the rules should be called yet,” he said.

“I had a meeting with the umpires last night on the phone and they’re starting to take a look now because they’re going to lose a lot of ballplayers like Adam Folkard and we just can’t afford that.

“They say they want to see a lot more runs in a game – when you get 17-15 scores, nobody wants to see that in men’s softball.”

Folkard was selected in the Australian team to play New Zealand and Argentina in Canberra in December, but he has pulled out and his international career is now in jeopardy.

He said he did not want to embarrass himself on the international stage by fouling out for his action.

“There’s no point being in the team and taking up a spot when I won’t be able to pitch,” Folkard said.

“Obviously it wasn’t an easy decision to make but it’s one I had to make.

“It’s an honour playing for Australia. It’d be pretty cool if things could get sorted out and we could get back to the way things used to be.”

The Australian Softball Federation is hoping the international body changes its mind on the rule change.

Some reader commentary posted to our Facebook page after the jump
.

David Jett Shame on the ISF!
Friday at 2:34pm ·

Tyson Barkman dis-like…..
Friday at 3:11pm ·

Kyle Beane Well, since there are so many elite pitchers out there, it’s good that they’re taking steps to get rid of some…..the game’s going down faster and faster and the people at the top aren’t helping it.
Friday at 3:40pm ·

Ronnie Rupp Harkens back to when MLB lowered the pitching mound because Bob Gibson was ” too dominate” Making up rules to keep somebody from beating you? Because you can’t hit him??? Tough luck you can’t hit him! It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. If you can’t hit Folkard or anybody else for that matter, go play slo- pitch. I promise you, no pitcher will dominate you there.
Friday at 3:53pm · ·

Steve Thurmer They can ‘t be serious.
Friday at 4:39pm ·

Marv Razor If hiding the ball is the issue that is just wrong. What needs to be changed is the hop. The hop is what has changed pitching not hiding the ball. The great will be great with or without the hop. The hop is the area that needs a rule change.
Friday at 4:53pm ·

Thomas Svane Hansen dis-like…
Friday at 5:09pm ·

Jason Wright Does anyone have clarification on the rule change?
Friday at 7:38pm ·

Sean Cleary WOW!….dis-like…
Yesterday at 5:55am ·

John Limon BOO WOO so you can’t hit what you can’t see. That’s what seperates our GREAT game from silly ball . Tell me if I’m wrong but isn’t that why they call our sport FASTPITCH . Best Wishes Adam , sorry to hear you can’t repersent your Country . What a shame.
Yesterday at 6:07am ·

Tommy Flores This really is not intended to madness by the international softball federation, and they resemble dinosaurs instead of going forward or going in reverse are equal to those of the federation of Venezuela in softball
Yesterday at 6:45am ·

Anthony Beaumont What a bullshit rule, pitching is the name of the game. People who make those decisions don’t respect the game at all!!! Change it back! Greetz from Holland
Yesterday at 7:58am ·

Gary Anderson if this does come about, it is sheer madness on the part of the decision maker’s and appears to be a kneejerk reaction to someone’s whining—
Yesterday at 10:05am ·

Bernie Lopez I always wonder about people who come up with stupid rules to continuously thwart the game of fastpitch, i.e., the IOC banning softball from the Olympics, etc. And now they want to lessen the ability of one of fastpitch’s greatest treasures by changing his pitching technique. Shame on you rule makers. May I suggest you take up slowpitch. Earl Hicks is in heaven looking down slowly shaking his head.

Bob Court — 2010 North Cowichan-Duncan Wall of Fame inductee

Monday, November 8th, 2010

Bob Court enjoyed a stellar softball career, which started by honing his craft through his early years in the Duncan Junior Baseball Association before playing men’s fastball at the age of 15.

In 1985 as a member of the Victoria Junior Athletics, the smooth-fielding second baseman helped the club win the Canadian junior national championship.

As a member of the Victoria Payless, Legends and Travellers Inn, Court won 13 provincial and four more Canadian Senior A championships.

A perennial all-star, Court was a mainstay on the Canadian national team from 1991 to 2004.

Click logo above for the complete story.

USA Softball Jr. Men’s Team – Open Call

Monday, November 8th, 2010

The USA Softball Jr. Men’s National Team is still looking for players.

** These players need to be born in 1993-1996
** No softball experience needed to be part of National Team.
** Training will be in summer of 2011
** World Championships are in Parana, Argentina in 2012

Please give these young men a chance to represent their country. If you know someone, please forward the link below.


Click here to enter player bio and contact info.

We know there are many players out there that just don’t know there is a boy’s national team.

Please help us.
Thank You

TIMOTHY LYON
Head Coach
USA Softball Jr Men’s
National Team
801-244-7477

Team Argentina heading to New Zealand

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

From our friend Martin Jorge:

Argentina Men’s National Team Staff confirmed today that school will be touring in New Zealand and Australia between 24 November and 12 December in what will be the first international competition will face the national team since he is commanded by Eduardo Sabaté.

Selection will be leaving from Buenos Aires on November 24 for New Zealand where he held a series of meetings with the selected second in the world, the Black Sox. On 1 December the national group will travel along with the selected New Zealand to Australian lands, where they will play from 3 to 5 December, the National Championship Skin, along with the eight best teams in Australia. The international series between the three selected, will run from 7 to 10 December in the city.

Yesterday, the Body Coach of Argentina Mayor announced the list of players who will join the Argentina National Team during the international competition:

1-Bittor, Nicholas Paraná
2-Bolzán, Kevin Paraná
3-Brandauer, Juan Bahia Blanca
4-Cáceres, Mauricio Bahia Blanca
5-Ferrara, Lautaro Paraná
6-Godoy, Gustavo Paraná
7-Godoy, Manuel Paraná
8-Guerrinieri, Gustavo Paraná
9 – Jiménez, Nicolás Bahía Blanca
10-Malatesta, Marcelo Paraná
11-Montero, Mariano Paraná
12-Montero, Maximiliano Paraná
13-Montero, Pablo Paraná
14-Motroni, Bruno Paraná
15-Petric, Fernando Paraná
16-Potolicchio, Juan Paraná
17-Rúa, Fernando Buenos Aires
18-Sabaté, Paraná Francisco
19-Sacks, Paraná Germain

It is noteworthy that two substitute players for any contingency that may arise with the squad (injury, administrative, labor or personal disabilities, etc.).

The Body Coach of Men’s Argentina is headed by Mayor Eduardo Sabaté, along with his assistant Mariano Spotorno (not travel due to labor), Rafael Salguero, Ricardo Biondi, Laureano Gomez, and Javier Martínez Team Leader.

Jorge Martin
Head of Media and Communication
Softball Confederation Argentina

Argentina 2012

Thursday, October 21st, 2010

Yesterday, we posted an announcement on the Argentina Jr. Boy’s team. Today, we are pleased to share a nicely produced video from the folks in Parana, Argentina, hosts for the 2012 ISF Jr. World Championships.

Parana was described to me by my friend Martin Jorge:

Parana is a nice city to go, it’s on the shore of an important river, called Parana River. It’s one of the most important rivers in the country. It’s a city who loves softball, they play the better softball in the country… in fact, almost every player who made ISC are from Parana (only Lucas Mata isn’t). They have a nice stadium (the 1995 Pan American Games were played in this stadium), a very nice field in front of the stadium, and 3 or 4 nice diamonds in the city, which I’m sure will be improved for 2012.

Argentina announces Junior boys roster

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010

From Our Friend Martin Jorge, the communications director for softball Argentina, and host of Latin America’s number one fast pitch website “Softball News LA”:

Editor’s Note:

Parana, Argentina will be the host of the next ISF Junior boys world championships in 2012. In 2008, Argentina moved up in the ranks of the Junior boys competition, notching their first ever win over playoff round bound New Zealand, as well as the USA. The metal around in 2008 consisted of eventual gold-medal winner Australia, silver medalist Canada, bronze medalist Japan, and playoff round qualifier New Zealand. These four countries still remain the teams to beat, but in the next tier, a number of Latin American countries are improving their level of competition to press the USA as contenders to advance to the medal round, including Argentina, Venezuela, and Mexico. The other four competitors from 2008 are relatively new to the program, Denmark, the Czech Republic, South Africa and Botswana, but are advancing as well. The 2012 competition in Parana, Argentina is still more than a year away, but Argentina is among those countries getting busy presently.

(Google translation)

Argentina launches third phase of the Youth Men’s National Team

The Body Coach of Men’s Youth Argentina announced last night the list of players who at first continued in the selection process, which ends with the formation of the National Team to compete in the ISF Junior Men’s World Championship 2012, to be held in the city of Paraná. A total of 63 young people from 13 cities were selected by the Technical Corps for what will be the third stage, called “Preparing the Athlete.”

“The principal novelty of this new period is to reduce youth group with which to work, which were selected on a technical level, physical and attitudinal that the coaching staff intends for the program now,” said Mariano Spotorno, Head Coach of Argentina Youth Team. “In turn, the youth group will be divided into two sub-groups, one called ‘National Team’ and one ‘Development Group’.”

The National Team will be composed of young people who at the discretion of the coaching staff, are currently best able to meet a higher level of competition and training. For its part, the Development Group will be the kids who, for whatever reason, currently fail to meet the boys at the National Team, but it is considered that in the course of a year may reach. However, it is clear that these groups are dynamic and can leave or enter them every young person who is deemed appropriate.

From Technical Corps added that “the second important point is this stage is to start making skills with other teams for the preparation and evaluation of the existing game.” He further clarified that “with the National Team try to make teams for 1st Division Men of all locations that we visit, as well as participate in all national powers Division 1 Men we can. For its part, the Development Group will have powers against male youth teams and / or Senior Men teams a level consistent with the aforementioned group. ”

The Technical Corps reported to begin this stage, there will be a championship called “Selective Tournament, to be held in the city of Paraná on 13, 14 and 15 November, which will form the two sub-groups, and a merger of the National Team on 27, 28 and 29 of the same month in the city of Buenos Aires. In development work, there will be “training camp” where children must remain at least one week concentrated activity to be undertaken in times of summer and winter, with dates to be confirmed.

Finally, members agreed that the Technical Corps “No doubt what has been done so far encourages us to continue betting on this program and hope to get a team representing our country in the most dignified way possible, it is a long way we should go, but the enthusiasm they have put so far our young people and the support we received in each city visited and the Confederation of Argentina, we feed the desire to do more and improve the things we did before. ”

The list of players selected by the Technical Corps for the Athlete Preparation stage are:

1. Kuperman Rodrigo Morón
2. Julián García Morón
3. Espeche Jesus La Plata
4. Lanzavecchia Homer La Plata
5. Civic Dario Campana
6. Avalos Campana Neri
7. Geuna Brian Bell
8. Andrada Matías San Antonio de Areco
9. Fernández Franco Lincoln
10. Simonelli Lincoln Michel
11. Villagra Juan C. Santiago del Estero
12. Tucumán Walter Fernandez
13. Villaroel Esteban Tucumán
14. Tucumán Sergio Morales González
15. Buera Leandro A. Villa Clara
16. González Kevin D. Villa Clara
17. Zalazar Silvio Villa Clara
18. Yery Walter D. Villa Clara
19. Migliavacca Paraná Teo
20. Migliavacca Paul Paraná
21. Angiolillo Lighuen Paraná
22. Paraná Fausto Villanova
23. Gini Franco Paraná
24. Masmú Paul Paraná
25. Minigutti Matías Paraná
26. Paraná Mateo Terrace
27. Aranaz Daniel Paraná
28. Scialacomo Giuliano Paraná
29. Paraná Ivan Sacks
30. Paraná Alejandro Juarez
31. Paraná Lucio Rodriguez
32. Paraná Lautaro Rickert
33. González Martín Paraná
34. Deu Nicholas Paraná
35. Gandoy Juan Carlos Paraná
36. Paraná Francisco Lombardo
37. Correa Franco Paraná
38. Alvarenga Hernán Paraná
39. Paraná Joaquín Alegre
40. Vuoto Felipe Paraná
41. Godoy Roman Herbel Paraná
42. Carril Facundo Paraná
43. Malarczuk Paraná Ladislao
44. Tessore Nicholas Paraná
45. Matías Zapata Paraná
46. Rubilar Paraná Lihue
47. Paraná Gastón Suárez
48. Zara Juan Cruz Bahia Blanca
49. Olheiser Federico Bahía Blanca
50. Ezequiel Bahía Blanca Saenz
51. Grimaldi Bruno Bahía Blanca
52. Abraham Augustine Bahía Blanca
53. Huemul Mata La Pampa
54. Fernández David La Pampa
55. Álvarez Maximiliano La Pampa
56. Madariaga Franco La Pampa
57. Morales Daniel La Pampa
58. Ortellado Franco La Pampa
59. Rivero Waldemar La Pampa
60. Rocha Alfredo Mendoza
61. Olavarría Agustín Ferreyra
62. Navarte Augustine Olavarria
63. Peruilh Mariano Olavarria

The Body Coach of Men’s Youth Argentina Mariano comprises Spotorno (Head Coach), Julio Gamarci (General Coach), Martin Scialacomo (Leadership Team), in collaboration with Gustavo Guerrinieri (Physical Training) and José Guerrinieri (Pitching) .

Jorge Martin
Head of Media and Communication
Softball Confederation Argentina

New Zealand Black Sox Team for Test Series vs Australia

Monday, October 18th, 2010

Editor’s note: Speaking of the Black Sox, here is the latest on the New Zealand Black Sox, from their Facebook page, on the “new look” team for the upcoming series versus Australia in December of this year. Having dominated the world for more than a decade, until Australia took ISF gold in 2009, it will be a new look squad, though anchored by an all-star veteran nucleus of Casley, Rona and Shannon, but looking to the future led by youngsters like Ben Enoka and other newcomers. The Black Sox system has shown time and time again why they remain among the teams to beat.

From their Facebook page:

Black Sox Team for Test Series vs Australia
by Softball New Zealand on Monday, October 18, 2010 at 2:10am
There is a new-look to the Black Sox softball team for the up-coming test series against Australia. From the team that lost in the world championship final to Australia last year just four players – Rhys Casley, who will captain the team, Brad Rona, Patrick Shannon and Ben Enoka remain.

“We are in a development phase of a new campaign, historically the Black Sox only ever pick their best team every four years and we see no reason not to continue with this logic,” Black Sox coach Eddie Kohlhase said.

“Whilst some regulars have missed selection for this tour we have a group of 40 identified squad members whom are all committed to the goal of raising the bar to ensure the Black Sox keep evolving.”

While there are four players from last year’s team remaining, Kohlhase has also recalled Thomas Cameron, Tyson Byrne, Regan Manley, Bernard Hale and Wayne Laulu who have all had time in the Black Sox team in the past four years.

The new-comers to the side are Te Wera Bishop, Shaun Jamieson, Aaron Kuru, David Butler, Bobby King, Dan Tarapi, Campbell Makea and Jerome Heretuku.

Of those eight the biggest surprise is perhaps the inclusion of the 17-year-old Bishop, who will be the back-up catcher to Shannon. The series in Australia is an opportunity for the Wellington youngster to learn from the experienced Shannon.

The team will assemble in Christchurch on December 2, and depart for Sydney four days later. The series is from December 8-10.

It is hoped that while the team is in Christchurch they will play against Argentina before heading to Australia, but that is yet to be confirmed.

Pitchers
Regan MANLEY (HB)
Shaun JAMIESON (HV)
Thomas Cameron (WN)

Catchers
Te Wera BISHOP (WN)
Pat SHANNON (AK)

Infielders
Tyson BYRNE (HV)
Rhys CASLEY (c) (HV)
Brad RONA (vc) (NH)
Aaron KURU (HB)
David BUTLER (HV)
Bobby KING (AK)

Outfielders
Bernard HALE (AK)
Ben ENOKA (AK)
Wayne LAULU (WN)
Dan TARAPI (WN)
Jerome HERETUKU (AK)
Campbell MAKEA (WN)

ISF Men’s Fastball Video

Thursday, September 16th, 2010

Cap tip to our Australian friend, Mark Long.

Click here to view.



(click logo for official ISF website)

Men AND Women’s Fastpitch at ISF Site

Thursday, September 9th, 2010

See it HERE..

National team snub spurs

Monday, August 30th, 2010


(click logo for original news story)

BEING overlooked by national selectors has spurred on rising softball star Annali Dolman.

Dolman, of West Lakes Shore, was dumped from the under-19 squad last year, after making her debut in 2008.

Outstanding performances on the national stage, however, have seen her return this year. “Since I didn’t make the team I’ve been busting my butt off to make sure I keep getting back there to represent my country,” Dolman, 16, said.

“I tried hard to get back in this year and I did. learned I had to push myself if I wanted to achieve something and get myself back there.”

Outfielder Dolman was named Most Valuable Player in the National Schoolgirls Championships, won by SA in May. She has won the past two state schoolgirls championships with Immanuel College and was named best batter for the Australian schoolgirls at an international series in July. She is trialling with the under-19 and open state teams before the start of the season in October.

“My enjoyment for softball has grown heaps over the past year because I’ve had my best performances,” Dolman said.

“In the short-term I want to make the under-19 world championship team and the state team.

“Long-term I’d like to play for Australia. That’s the main goal.”

Dolman last week took out the western individual female achiever category at the Messenger Community News Youth Sports Awards.