London 2012: The International Olympic Committee Visits
the Potential Site of Olympic Baseball and Softball
Dedicated baseball and softball players turned out on the
bleak afternoon of 17 February to promote their respective
sports during the visit of the International Olympic Committee
(IOC) to Regents Park, London.
 The
IOC were in the capital to evaluate the facilities and plans
put forth in London’s bid to host the Olympics in 2012.
If London wins the Games, the baseball and softball competitions
will be held in two purpose-built venues in Regent’s
Park. As a small but significant acknowledgement of this,
BaseballSoftballUK and London 2012 organised for drills and
mini-games to be running in two areas of the north-east part
of the park (around London Zoo) whilst the IOC passed through.
Recognising that the success of our future Olympic teams –
and the growth of our sports as a whole – is dependent
on the young and developing players of today, BSUK recruited
the help of two Under-13 girls’ teams from Tanya Price’s
Grass Roots initiative, plus around 50 local school children
who had little previous experience of the game.
Thus, as the bus carrying a dozen or so members of the bid
team and of the IOC Evaluation Committee pulled onto the Broadwalk
that dissects Regents Park, they were greeted by the sight
of enthusiastic school children bring tutored through various
throwing, tee ball and game exercises by coaches from BSUK,
Major League Baseball and the softball community. Briefly
pulling up alongside the session, they were given a short
talk by technical expert for London 2012, Debbie Jevans, who
explained that the site would be used for the 8,000 seat softball
stadium, displayed on a billboard in front of the field.
From there, the group moved a few minutes south onto the
main presentation marquee which overlooked the prospective
site of the two main baseball stadiums, complimented in the
background by the Hub, the new pavilion and sports facility
currently under construction.
Slightly sheltered from the bitter cold, the delegation were
met by Jenny Fromer and John Boyd, Joint Chief Executive Officers
for BaseballSoftballUK, and presented with the details of
the site, including outlining the exact location and capacity
of the two baseball stadia - one, nearest the Broadwalk, would
seat 5,000 and the other, next to the Hub, would be the main
facility seating 15,000.
John and Jenny were asked by Sir Sebastian Coe to give a
few words on the governing bodies’ view of the proposals
and the importance of the bid coming to London. Fully endorsing
the bid, Jenny pointed out that having the stadia located
so centrally would mean that our sports would significantly
benefit from the exposure. The commission was told that Regents
Park is the most extensively and regularly used facility by
our membership in the UK. John added that the games would
benefit from being staged in the heart of our largest community,
and that they would be fully supported by the 300 teams based
in the London region. John said that the legacy left by the
games would help us in an area that we have traditionally
struggled with - building facilities that would enable us
to host international competition.
Before the committee left the site, they spent a couple of
minutes enthralled in watching the under-13 year olds’
exhibition game. They were apparently impressed by the obvious
(and audible) enjoyment of the sport by its participants,
despite the bitter weather conditions. One member commented
that he hoped to see some of these players competing in the
2012 games.
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