By Bobby Roy, Leduc Roy
For the second straight year, Jim Jones, sport and agricultural tourism coordinator at the Leduc Recreation Centre (LRC), will try and help lead the Canadian Junior Men’s National softball team.
Jones was recently chosen as one of the two coaches who will help assist the Junior Men’s National Softball team in their quest at the upcoming ISF Junior Men’s World Championship, which will take place Nov. 1-10 in Parana, Argentina. As someone who has been involved with the sport for more than 20 years, Jones is hoping he can impart his playing and coaching knowledge onto the young players this year.
“I’ve played in around 12 Canadian Championships as a player, so I know what it takes to win those. That’s what I can pass onto them,” commented Jones. He will join fellow assistant coach George Ryder from Port Dover, Ontario and head coach Tom Doucette from Middle Musquodoboit, N.S.
Jones worked with Doucette with the national team at the last championships and knows what Doucette brings to the table as a head coach. “He’s just a fantastic man. He’s very solid, ground and is very much concerned with the kids on a day to day to basis. You won’t find a better guy to coach the team,” said Jones. This isn’t Jones’ first stint as an assistant coach at the national level for Softball Canada. He was an assistant with the Junior Men’s National Team who won a silver medal at the 2008 ISF Junior Men’s World Championships in Whitehorse, Yukon. Jones’ presence in the game of softball began before he started coaching. He is a former Men’s National Team player who was inducted to the Softball Canada Hall of Fame as an athlete in 2004 and helped win a gold medal at the 1983 Pan American Games with his team. He has also helped coach his two sons in the sport right from the beginning.
“At three or four years old I started throwing the ball around with them and I’ve been coaching ever since. I really don’t think I haven’t coached a year since my first boy was born 23 years ago,” said Jones.
Although there was a silver lining to the 2008 championships in Whitehorse, the Canadians could have easily had the gold medal to show for their efforts against the Aussies.
Since this year’s championships aren’t on home soil, Jones isn’t sure what to expect.
“It will be a challenge, because we won’t be the crowd favourite this time.” Being stationed in western Canada, Jones will have the job of scouting the best of the west for this year’s team, which in 2008, had a lot of western Canadian flavour. “I really think it’s important that, on the coaching staff like myself from western Canada, I am familiar with the western players. A lot of times the time is made up of mostly players from Ontario and that could be the case again this year since Ontario has a really strong program,” explained Jones.
Selections for the team will be decided later this summer.