Baseball New Zealand
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Baseball New Zealand, formerly known as the New Zealand Baseball Federation, is the governing body of the sport of baseball in New Zealand.
Baseball New Zealand is run by a board that consists (primarily) of the presidents of the various clubs. Noel Davies was elected president in 2006 for a two year term.
Its members are the local clubs, currently located in Northland, Auckland, Manawatu and Canterbury. National championships at multiple age levels are held in January, with national teams playing in the Oceania/Asia region through the year.
Baseball New Zealand awards one club the right to host the National Club Championships each year.
The current club-based Little League affiliation will be replaced by a national structure in the next 12-18 months. This will see a more rigorous national championship tournament.
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[edit] History
Albert Spalding's team of All-Stars in 1888 is the first known baseball game played in New Zealand. Since that time, various local competitions have existed, but it wasn't until 1989 that the New Zealand Baseball Association was formed, consisting of teams in the Auckland area. It would be 14 more years before baseball would venture out of Auckland with the creation of the Canterbury Baseball Club in 2003. 2006 saw the Northland Baseball Club and the Manawatu Baseball Club form.
[edit] Annual events
[edit] National Championships
Held in January each year, Baseball New Zealand grants hosting rights to a club, which is then responsible for all organisation and fund-raising of the event. Baseball New Zealand will pay for trophies.
[edit] BCO RTC
New Zealand hosted the Baseball Confederation of Oceania (BCO) Regional Training Centre (RTC) in 2006 & 2007. This is a 10 day academy run by the BCO development officer, Ray Brown, and other coaches from overseas catering to 14 to 18 year olds that want to improve their skills.
[edit] MLBAAP
Highly-talented players may get the opportunity to attend the Major League Baseball Australia Academy Program, held every winter (July/August) in Queensland. Past attendees from New Zealand include Scott Campbell, Joshua Batchelor and Daniel Devonshire.
[edit] Organisation
[edit] Executive & Board
The executive consists of the President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary. Additionally there are three board members.
The current committee is
- President - Noel Davies
- Vice President - David Ballinger
- Treasurer - Lisa Avery
- Secretary - Debbie Campbell
- Board Member - John Fellet
- Board Member - Vaughn Wyber
- Board Member - Melody Callahan
[edit] Professional staff
One full-time, paid development officer is employed to provide long-term direction for the development of baseball. The position is currently held by Greg Wolfe.
[edit] Annual General Meeting
Generally held in June, executive and board members are elected for two year terms at the AGM. The AGM is always held in Auckland.
[edit] Clubs
There are seven recognized clubs - Howick-Pakuranga, Bayside-Westhaven, Central City, West City, Northland, Canterbury and Manawatu. Cola Yeh runs his own teams outside the purview of Baseball New Zealand. The Auckland-based clubs work together under the umbrella of the Auckland Baseball Association.
The clubs run their own competitions with little input from Baseball New Zealand. The New Zealand development officer attends the Auckland Baseball Association meetings and provides additional structure and input.
[edit] Howick-Pakuranga
The Howick-Pakuranga club is located in Pakuranga opposite the rugby club at Lloyd Elsmore Park.
[edit] Bayside-Westhaven
Bayside Westhaven has been going for a number of years and fields teams from peewee (T ball) up through to a seniors team.
As well as being part of the Auckland Baseball Association and Baseball New Zealand, Bayside Westhaven is also affiliated with the Little League Organisation World.
The season runs from November through to March with a break over Christmas. Home fields are at Crossfield Reserve, Crossfield Road in Glendowie, Auckland
[edit] West City
[edit] Canterbury
The Canterbury Baseball Club was founded in 2003 by David Ballinger and is located at Avonhead Park, on the western edge of Christchurch. Members compete from age 5 (T-Ball) up to 50+ (Seniors).
All games are currently intra-club, with representative teams for each age group selected to compete in nationals each December.
[edit] Northland
Northland challenged Bayside-Westhaven for the right to go to the regional qualifier for the LLWS. Bayside successfully survived the challenge, prevailing 15-0 with a combined one hitter in the first game and 17-2 in the second.
[edit] Manawatu
[edit] Central City
The Central City Baseball Club was formed in 2007 in order to bring youth baseball to the central Auckland area. Affiliated with the Auckland Baseball Association and Baseball New Zealand, the club attracted many top players, many of whom represented New Zealand in the Little League World Series in 2006 and 2007. In its first season, Central City fielded the undefeated Auckland Baseball championship U12 team, the Rangers, coached by Mike Rielly and Chris Simmons. Which they lost because bayside westhaven destroyted them 24-0 so bayside get to go to llws not the cantfields
Central City was founded by President Joel Canfield, VP Rob Gadbaw, Treasurer Simon Kelly and Secretary Lisa Canfield, with Carolyn and Andrew Clerk serving on committee. In 2008, the club received a charter from Little League International and faced Bayside in the first-ever New Zealand Little League challenge tournament for rights to field a team to the LL World Series in Hong Kong.
[edit] Competitions
[edit] Domestic competitions
The Auckland Baseball Association runs a junior competition each summer, with under 10, under 13, under 15 and under 19 leagues.
The senior competition is more informal, with two Baseball New Zealand-recognised clubs, Howick-Pakuranga and West City, competing against other teams under the banner of Cola Yeh baseball.
Canterbury runs an internal competition, with under 13, under 15 and senior age levels.
Northland runs an internal competition for under 13s.
The Manawatu club started in March 2007 and has yet to run a competition.
[edit] National Championships
The first true national championships occurred in January 2006, when four age levels held competition: Senior, Under 19, Under 15 & Under 13. Prior years' tournaments were one-off or friendly competitions or only included teams from Auckland. The Howick-Pakuranga club will host the 2008 tournament from 10-12 January 2008.
[edit] 2008 National Championships
Two new under 16 teams saw that age group grow to five teams, while the under 13s and seniors remained at three teams each.
The Howick-Pakuranga seniors defeated West City 4-3 in the final. Both teams finished 3-2, while Canterbury finished 1-3.
Bayside-Westhaven Under 16s defeated Howick-Pakuranga 6-5 in their final.
Bayside-Westhaven Under 13s defeated Central City 3-1 in their final.
[edit] 2007 National Championships
The first baseball tournament held outside of Auckland, the 2007 national championships saw nine teams from four clubs compete in Canterbury.
In the senior level, West City won the title, defeating Canterbury 12-11. Howick-Pakuranga finished 1-1, but failed to reach the finals on IBAF tiebreakers.
At the under 15 level, Howick-Pakuranga claimed the title over Bayside-Westhaven in extra innings, while Canterbury finished third.
At the under 13 level, Bayside-Westhaven swept away Howick-Pakuranga, with Canterbury again finishing third.
Howick-Pakuranga was the only club capable of fielding an under 19 team, so there was no tournament.
[edit] 2006 National Championships
The first national championship tournament with teams from outside of Auckland saw all four age levels contested by 10 teams from four different clubs.
West City defeated Canterbury 5-4 in 10 innings in the championship game to cap an undefeated tournament. Howick-Pakuranga came in third.
The Howick-Pakuranga under 18s defeated Canterbury two games to one.
The Bayside-Westhaven & Howick-Pakuranga under 15s were awarded a co-championship.
The Bayside-Westhaven under 13s defeated the Canterbury under 13s in the championship game after all three teams finished 1-1.
[edit] International competition
[edit] Olympic qualification
New Zealand was invited to challenge Australia for the right to compete in the 2008 Olympic qualifying tournament, but pulled out three weeks before the tournament.
[edit] Australian Provincial Championship
A senior team competes in the Australian Provincial Championships most years. In 2007, New Zealand finished fifth out of seven teams.
[edit] Little League World Series
The Bayside-Westhaven club has regularly sent a team to compete in the Oceania Little League World Series Qualifying tournament. 2006 & 2007 saw their first and second victories, earning them 3rd place in the Pacific region each year. As Bayside-Westhaven was the only chartered Little League club in New Zealand, they automatically qualified in past years. In 2008, Central City challenged Bayside to determine which club would send a team to the 2008 Oceania Little League World Series Qualifying tournament. Bayside won the three game series, two games to one.
[edit] IBAF Oceania Qualifiers
An Under 15 team competed against Australia and New Caledonia for the right to represent Oceania in the 2007 IBAF ‘AA’ World Championships to be held in Venezuela later in 2007. New Zealand won all of their games against New Caledonia and lost all of their games against Australia.
[edit] Players of note
[edit] Current professional players
Scott Campbell, the first New Zealander selected in the Major League Baseball amateur draft, currently plays in the Toronto Blue Jays' organization. He spent 2007 at their High A club, the Lansing Lugnuts after spending 2006 with the short-season Auburn Doubledays.
Campbell was named to the 2006 New York Pennsylvania (NYP) League Mid-Season All-Star team. He finished in the top 10 for both batting average and on-base percentage.
[edit] Current collegiate players
[edit] Current NZ prospects
Daniel Devonshire is one of New Zealand's brightest prospects. He has caught the eye of Major League scouts and is aiming to go to the USA in future years to play college baseball and try to make his way to the major leagues.
[edit] Former professional players
Travis Wilson was signed by the Atlanta Braves after being spotted as part of the world champion Black Sox. Wilson spent eight years signed to the club, though never making The Show and spending most of his time at the Triple-A level. He returned to New Zealand to continue his softball career in 2005, and also performs coaching duties for the Black Caps (the New Zealand cricket team).
