Hello everyone,

It is with great excitement that this morning, I am able to let you all know of the new pathway that will be launched this summer, specifically aimed at girls baseball.

It was important that I get the concept detail out to you so that you may use this in your recruitment activities leading into the new season.

I stress that there is much of the detail that needs to be locked down and as such information comes to hand, we will be passing this on to the junior club delegate database.

The program outline is as follows:

- All girls of league age 10 to 14 will be considered Youth Women.

- All girls will register and play with their local baseball club as usual.

- During November, all Youth Women registered on the BWA database will receive an email inviting them to be a part of the Youth Women's pathway.

- In December and into January, all participants will take part in a weekly development program as a group, with the sessions rotated around the metropolitan area. The program coordinator will be recruiting specialist high calibre coaches to provide the girls with top quality coaching.

- During this program, the facilitators will form tournament teams - some will be championship and some will be development - but every player will be allocated to a tournament team. It is envisaged metropolitan clubs will be allocated to teams based on location in a similar way to the LL charter system. There would be three YW "charters". Girls from Regional WA would be allocated to tournament teams at the discretion of the program coordinator.

- In late January, and in conjunction with the new Regional State Championship tournament to be held at Kalamunda, all tournament teams will compete for the inaugural Youth Women's State Championship or Youth Women's Development Shield.

- The Winner of the Youth Women's State Championship will become WA's representative at the Japan National Junior High School tournament in Hiratsuka City, Japan (in between Tokyo and Mt Fuji). The tournament will take place in July / August 2017. It is expected that the team travel and management overseas will be coordinated through the Aussie Hearts organisation.

Clearly there are many details still be determined (program coordinator, team coaches, costs associated with the state and overseas tournaments). However, the framework outlined here should be sufficient information for you to create excitement in the recruitment of new female players.

I would recommend ensuring all Youth Women are correct loaded onto the database by the end of October (remember to tick them as being 'FEMALE'), to ensure they get our email in November inviting them to take part.

You are free to spread the word and I hope this assists in your recruitment endeavours.

Regards,

David Hayes
Junior Baseball District Administrator
BASEBALL WA