Schools have a role to play in baseball development

The South African Baseball Union (SABU) said it is working on introducing baseball to schools to fast-track the development of the sport in the country.

According to SABU president Marc Moreau, they have made inroads by introducing the sport to rural and township children through Baseball 5s, a shortened format of the game.

Support from schools has been difficult because they do not recognise baseball as one of South Africa’s major sporting codes.

“In South Africa, the government identifies 16 priority sporting codes being supported in schools. We invite schools to write to SABU if they want the sport introduced to their schools.

“We will then contact them and bring coaches to assist the teachers in developing the sport within the schools,” Moreau said during the National Baseball Championships seniors final in Boksburg on April 11.

He invited schools in the country interested in introducing the sport to their programmes to send SABU a message on their social media platforms.

He said a successful mass participation programme would pave the way for a semi-professional league.

“Once we get a semi-professional league, we can ask the players to commit more. But before we get there, we first have to transform and develop. We can’t have a semi-pro league and not give children opportunities.”

Moreau alluded to their success in introducing the sport in the Free State, where baseball is played in 24 schools in the province.

Although they receive no funding from the government, Moreau and his team have worked hard scouring the country in search of talented players to increase the pool for national team selectors.

“We represent our country. We selected our teams on merit. We’ve worked hard at identifying talent across the country.

“We have lots of players from the previously disadvantaged areas in the nation not because of who they are but because of their talent on the baseball field.”

While he commended his colleagues’ fundraising efforts, Moreau says the drawback of their lack of funding is that a province like Limpopo doesn’t have an active baseball league. This affects player development.

“It’s tough for us as a federation. It would be good to get appropriate funding. Limpopo has lots of representation on the national team. We need to get them playing regularly so that they can get better.

“We are working hard and focus on transformation, development and gender equality,” Moreau said.

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