Bracknell Baseball Club

AA FINAL  Bracknell hosted the British Baseball Federation's AA Final on Sunday 28th September, rained off at the Final Four event earlier this month.  The Sidewinders and Bournemouth Sharks will start their game at 1pm.

PONYs v BLAZERS II  Blazers II kindly gave the Tornadoes an opportunity to warm up for the Pony Final Four by playing a double header on Sunday 7th.  The Tornadoes, most of whom also play for the Blazers II regularly, ran out winners of both games and Coach Paul Vernon had an opportunity to run through his pitching options for the two games in Cartmel next weekend.

GIRLS FASTPITCH SOFTBALL  Coach Stan Doney of BSUK would like to run girls' softball teams during the winter at under 13, under 16 and under 19 age groups.  The teams will practise and play games, possibly, indoors, against other areas where BSUK have been running development work.  In the first instance e-mail info@bracknellbaseballclub.co.uk and we'll pass your details on to Stan.

GIRLS' FASTPITCH SOFTBALL

E-MAIL

info@bracknellbaseballclub.co.uk

TORNADOES MAKE THE FINAL FOUR  Because of difficulty in finding a free date the BBF last week announced the abandonment of the Playoff Tournament which was to decide two of the four teams to qualify for the Final Four.  Consequently Bracknell, guaranteed at least 2nd spot in the south, have earned an automatic place at the Final Four, to be held in the beautiful Lake District town of Cartmel on September 13th and 14th.  The Southern Conference winners, and top seed at the championships, has yet to be decided.  London could not field a team last weekend, both clubs are keen to decide the divisional victors on the field and so it is hoped a single game will take place on Wednesday 3rd or Thursday 4th of September.

TORNADOES MAKE FINAL FOUR

September 13th / 14th

Cartmel, Lake District

SUMMER CAMP  Around about a dozen young people attended the Bracknell Baseball Summer Camp at Westmorland each day between Monday 4th and Friday 8th August.  Coach Brian McCarthy kept the young players busy with drills and games assisted by Pony player and Foundation Coach Connor Vernon.  Our numbers were down on previous years.  Any feedback on why that may have been would be welcomed through info@bracknellbaseballclub.co.uk.

ANDY SIMMONS

Bracknell are saddened to report that Andy Simmons passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer on Friday 1st August.  Andy has helped to coach the Bronco team over the past couple of years and was a member of the coaching staff at last year's Final Four.  Andy was proud of being a Great Britain international and has been heavily involved in the GB Academy for many years.  His love for the game and enthusiasm for working with young players will be sorely missed.  Our thoughts are with his wife, Genny, and two sons, Aaron and Tobi.

COACHPITCH  Friday 8th August was the last coach-pitch session of the season.  We hope all our players enjoyed the sessions and look forward to welcoming them all back next year.

COACH-PITCH

NOW FINISHED

GB JUNIORS  Great Britain finished 2nd in the European Junior Qualifier in July.  They lost game 2 of the final 6-7 to Belgium having already lost what became game 1 during the round-robin stage.

Our Club Quiz Night went well on Saturday 19th July.  This special report from Club President Mark Salter:

I thought the evening went pretty well, considering the circumstances.  Both Youth teams were playing away, the Tornadoes at Brentwood(!), so causing some late arrivals including MC Paul Vernon, adjudicator Michelle Vernon and, most importantly the barman, Jon Haywood, and, therefore, a late start.  However, yours truly arrived to open the doors, courtesy of 9^th Bracknell Scouts, and with some help from early arrivals, put out the tables and chairs for all.  Once the Drink, snacks, and questions were in place, the evening went along swimmingly, with no controversies, except for Paul’s taste in Jokes and Celebrities!

I was very please with our turn-out, which numbered around 40 all told.  No report from treasurer Jon of how much we made, but it all counts and so thank you to everyone who contributed, either through quiz entrance fees, or across the ‘bar’. Represented on the evening were Blazers II, Tornadoes, Broncos and Coach-pitch.  I know it pales beside going to watch an Eddie Murphy blockbuster (does anyone remember the last one by the way?) but beats Casualty any day!

Special thanks to Paul for being MC for the evening, Michelle for adjudicating (thank heavens for spell-check), Andy for arranging the PA, and Jon behind the bar.

Leaders from round one to the end were "Miley's Quiz Night Ninjas" who walked away with the first prize of ... nothing!  Seriously, some choccies have since found their way to the winners if team captain Miles doesn't eat them all first.  Close 2nd were "The Five C's" and closer 3rd "Old Enough to Know Better II".  4th were "Burnwell", 5th "Broncos", 6th "The Fan-Tangoes" and the Wooden Spoon went to "Our Mum Made Us Do This".

Well Done Quiz Winners

"Miley's Quiz Night Ninjas"

Great Britain Squad News ... After participating in the second placed finish at the Cadet European Championships Qualifier in Turkey, Bracknell's Connor Vernon, Damian Van Niekerk, Zack Chambers, Jordan Edmonds and Andrew Kiddie, and Cailean Madden, who will play for the Tornadoes for the rest of the season, played with the Great Britain Cadet Squad at the London Tournament at the weekend. 

Bracknell's Mike Trask, Max Flasjner, Gordon Shephard and Jamie Ford finished runners-up in the tournament with the GB Juniors ahead of their trip to the Junior European Championships Qualifier in Eskilstuna, Sweden at the end of July.  Ed Wilmott and Matt Bray will also travel.

TEEBALL finished on Friday 11th.  Britney was the hit of the evening, smashing a Grand Slam Home Run and a double, taking a brilliant catch at 2nd base and using her head to keep the ball in front of her ... literally!  Well done everyone.  The end-of-season TEEBALL JAMBOREE on Saturday 19th July went well.  About a dozen teeballers played and were then joined by some parents at which point the players focus increased dramatically!

TEEBALL

NOW FINISHED

BRONCO TEAM BEATS PONY TEAM SHOCK ... The Broncos challenged the Ponies to a game of wiffle-ball on Tuesday evening (15th) at the end of practise and proceeded to systematically disassemble the squad of ex-National champions.  Amidst some highly controversial (but correct, obviously) umpiring calls by Coach Vernon the Broncos played solid baseball and emerged 4-3 winners without needing to bat in the bottom of the last inning.  The Pony team promised to gain their revenge in the next wiffle-ball meeting and, actually, they did, 2-1, the next week.

BRONCOS BEAT PONIES

Bracknell Pony v Team Ireland

Saturday 21st June

Coach Education Course

Bracknell's Coach Education Course has been completed as all candidates aged 16 and over faced an assessment on 26th June.  No-one failed the assessment although there may have been some referrals.  Candidates will be granted either a Level 1 Assistant Coach Award or a Foundation Award.

A Level 2 Baseball Coach Award is planned for later in the year.

Further details of BSUKs Coach Education Programme, including the syllabus for the course that will be conducted, can be found at ... http://www.britishbaseball.org/downloads/CoachEducationProgramme_2008.pdf

Interested candidates should, in the first instance, e-mail info@bracknellbaseballclub.co.uk

Coach Education Course

2nd, 9th, 16th June

Evaluation w/c 23rd June

(for Level 1)

BSUK Ball Camp -  BSUK held two free camps at Westmorland Park over the Half Term holiday on Tuesday 27th and on Wednesday 28th May. 

BSUK Ball Camps

Tues 27th May, 10am - 1pm

Weds 28th May, 10am - 1pm

Easter Youth Camp

28 boys and girls aged 7-12 attended the Easter Camp between Wednesday 9th and Friday 11th this week.  BaseballSoftballUK Coaches-in-Residence Stan Doney and Liam Carroll were joined on all three days by Pony players Joe Jones and Adam Huxley and, taking a day off work each, by Bracknell coaches Rob Rance, Mark Salter and Paul Vernon, and Pony players Connor Vernon and Andrew Kennewell.  The young players all received an attendance certificate after a strenuous and competitive three days of drills and games.  The club would like to express its thanks to all the coaches in attendance, especially Liam and Stan, of BaseballSoftballUK, and Joe and Adam, who were brilliant with the children, as well as the mums, dads, nans and other family who brought the children each day.  For more pictures click here.

Midweek practises to begin ...

Bronco and Pony - Tuesday 1st April - 6pm

Pony and Adult - Thursday 3rd April - 6pm

Bronco - Friday 4th April - 6pm

Final Four Movie CDs (playable on a PC) are still available for £2 each.  Please e-mail info@bracknellbaseballclub.co.uk

British Academy Junior Squad News ... Michael Trask, Max Flajsner and Matt Bray, young players on Bracknell's National League Blazers team are in Arizona at the moment with the British Baseball Academy Junior Squad as part of the selection process for the Great Britain European Championship Qualifier Squad.  Head Coach Liam Carroll, who was a Bracknell youth and adult player in the late 1990s and early 2000's, will be making his final selection for the Qualifier squad on his return from Arizona.  Click here and here for articles on the British Baseball Federation web-site.

British Academy Cadet Squad News ... Connor Vernon, Adam Huxley and Damian Van Niekerk, of Bracknell's Pony and Adult 2nd squads, have been selected to play on a British Academy Cadet Squad playing in the European Qualifier for the PONY Colt World Series in Prague at the end of April.  The tournament is acting as a warm-up for the Cadet European Qualifier which will take place in Turkey at the end of June.  The Colt tournament web-site, which will include play-by-play coverage, can be found by clicking here.

Eight players, several of them new, attended our Adult Come-and-Try-It session on Sunday 9th March.  Anyone who is interested in playing but couldn't make the session can still contact us on info@bracknellbaseballclub.co.uk.  Midweek practise sessions begin on Thursday 3rd April at 6pm.  For address, maps and directions click here.

Presentation Evening 2007 ... A successful Presentation Evening was attended by about 30 people on Saturday evening, 12th January. 

A quiz designed by Jean "Magnusson" Remillard was well received, as was bingo with our caller Andy "Legs Eleven" Rose. 

Paul "Tarantino" Vernon's movie of photos of the Final Four, complete with musical backing track (copies available at £2 a piece, e-mail Paul) followed the presentation of a photo of the Bronco Championship team to Richard Roll, the Westmorland park Caretaker / Groundsman, who popped the photo up onto the wall quicker than "Handy Andy"! 

Food was prepared and delivered by our own "Jamie and Nigellas", Rob, Tracey, Janice and Michelle, who also sold tickets for the raffle which saw a dozen prizes picked up by various lucky winners.

Click the pictures of the fun for larger versions:

Of course the main part of the evening consisted of the presentation of participation certificates to Pony and Bronco players and the Vernon Award was presented to:

Andy reports that, once everything had been totted up we raised well over £100.  Thanks to everyone who attended for their support.

The Club intends to develop its programmes for 2008 after the success of teeball in 2007 

For 2008 we will run teeball for children in years 3 and 4 and a new coach pitch programme for children in years 5 and 6. 

Our Bronco travelling team will continue to develop into a team for predominantly year 7 and 8 children but some year 6 players will also play based on their level of development. 

Our Pony travelling team will be predominantly for players in years 9 and 10. 

Whilst year 11 players are eligible to play Pony we hope to base our "adult" 2nd team on players of this age.

At the AGM in November the following committee members were elected unopposed. 

Mark Salter will continue as President.  Paul Vernon will rejoin the committee as Vice-President, taking on responsibility for setting up our web-site again.  Jonathan Haywood took on the Treasurer's role, Michelle Vernon the Secretary's.  Andy Rose will represent the youth section, Rob Rance the adult section and Jean Remillard rejoins the committee as Member at Large.