BackSoftball Campaign Enters Crucial Year
Wednesday, October 15, 2008 10:18am EDT GB Staff

International Softball Federation (ISF) President Don Porter said in a press release he believes the next 12 months are the most important in the history of softball as the BackSoftball campaign counts down to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) session in Copenhagen.

Porter led a presentation at the Pan American Sports Organization General Assembly last weekend in Acapulco to re-introduce men’s softball onto the Pan American Games program after its elimination last year in Rio de Janeiro following seven consecutive prior appearances.

Porter also pledged to continue sending equipment and coaches to various countries in the Americas, as is done in other regions of the world.

The ISF last week announced the launch of the Easton Foundation Youth Softball World Cup in the Czech Republic next August, continuing the campaign’s commitment to promoting the sport to new audiences with special attention to young people and women.

Porter called the next year the “most important in our sport’s history. Hopefully we have shown the IOC how popular and successful softball can be at the Olympic Games and how much progress we have made since being taken off the Olympic program.

“Participation in the sport continues to grow at an astounding rate, with large numbers of women taking up softball, particularly in areas where sport is not so prevalent, such as the Middle East,” he said.

Also, there were international sell out crowds during the women’s fastpitch competition at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games and tickets for the competition sold out months ahead of the event. Huge television audiences tuned in to see Japan beat the defending world champion USA in the gold medal games.

There are softball events at the World Games in Taiwan, the ISF XII Men’s World Championship in Canada, the Central American Games in Honduras and the youth cup event in Prague.

The BackSoftball campaign is planning to be a major presence at several events to communicate to key stakeholders the progress it has made over the past few months.

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