2013 has been a fantastic time for Maidenhead Softball Club, including achieving a ClubMark award and running a successful schools programme. The year was capped by the club running its first “Hit and Run Tournament” on 29 September.
Local schools
The year began with the club working with local schools, starting on a cold February morning at Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School, where the task was to strengthen softball in their curriculum through training in lesson time for Year 9 and GCSE classes, then during an after-school club.
The goal was to enter a Year 9 team from the school into the Bucks School Games, which they duly did – and won. During preparations for the School Games, volunteers from the club also helped introduce softball to Great Marlow School via an after-schools programme.
These programmes, together with participation in a week-long “Get Berkshire Active” initiative to bring people into sport, brought nine under-16s into the club’s new youth programme. These players subsequently went on to play a big part in the Maidenhead Rebels' league season and in the club's tournament team at the British Airways, Windsor Invitational and Diamond 3 tournaments, and two of them helped the Maidenhead Royals to the runner-up spot at the BSF Silver Nationals.
During the winter, some of these youth players will also be attending Academy Softball sessions.
Clubmark
While the school and youth programmes were under way, the club was in the process of being assessed for the Clubmark accreditation.
This was achieved in June when BSUK National Development Manager Will Lintern signed off the form indicating that the club had met all the requirements. This was a huge milestone in the club's history.
Hit and Run Tournament
The season closed with the Maidenhead “Hit and Run Tournament”, at which new players, developing teams and clubs with youth players were invited to come along and play at a similar level.
Eight teams competed on a glorious late September day, with the Oxford Beavers winning the Cup competition – their first-ever tournament triumph.
Phil Candice, Team Manager of the Essex Redbacks, wrote an article in the Essex Enquirer titled “Hit and Run is a lot of fun”, and summed the day up as “one of the best tournaments for the expected standard of players”.
Phil’s team, playing under the name of the Avengers, was made up of players for whom this was their first competitive experience of the sport. And the Avengers were not alone, as about a third of the players on show were either new, youth players or had less than a season's experience of the sport.
This was exactly what the club had in mind in staging the tournament, and plans to run the event again next year and beyond.
Planning
With the outdoor season over, planning for 2014 is well under way. The club has two more schools to work with over the winter, as well as being in the first phase ofa “Get Berkshire Active” satellite club programme.
For more information about Maidenhead Softball Club or the Hit and Run Tournament, visit www.maidenheadsoftballclub.co.uk or the club's Facebook page: www.facebook.com/MaidenheadSoftballClub.
