[templatic_contentbox type=”normal” title=” St. Thomas Midget Cardinals – Chatham Tournament Champions 2015″] Back Row (left to right): Coach Troy Rick, Head Coach Derek Brooks Middle Row: Coach Chris Ross, Kyle Lovie, Travis French, Curtis Gremonprez, Matt Brooks, John Principe, Shawn Gold, Coach Shawn Phibbs Front Row: Ryan Esler, Colton Phibbs, Trevor Ross, Jake Rick, Tommy Ceolin, Jaret Wait, and Bat Boy G-Money Phibbs [/templatic_contentbox]
With opening day just around the corner for many LDBA teams, the summer tournament season will be a busy one locally as well. Many associations host Baseball Ontario sanctioned tournaments as a fundraiser for their organization. St. Thomas Minor Baseball, London Badgers Baseball, London West Tincaps, and London Tecumsehs will all be hosting events this summer.
The London Badgers tournament will host 155 teams this year over two weekends, and is arguably one of the largest tournaments in the area.
“There will be over 2,500 participants attending the tournament this year,” said Badger Tournament Chair Derek Brooks. “With the huge number of teams, tournament games will be played at 16 different fields.”
St. Thomas Minor Baseball, meanwhile, will be hosting the 11th Annual Cardinal Classic at the Doug Tarry Complex and Centennial Sports Club Minor Baseball Complex in St. Thomas with over 90 teams attending. The Cardinal Classic has grown from just 24 teams to now becoming one of the largest in Ontario.
“I think that teams continue to come to this tournament because of the facilities, it’s an early tournament and one of the biggest in the province,” said St. Thomas Minor Baseball Tournament Chair Stephen Miron. “Word of mouth has been a big contributor also, as many teams speak highly of the St. Thomas Cardinal Classic. I’ve been told by many that the reason they come back is that it’s one of the best run tournaments around, and that says something about the great volunteers we have in the organization to host this event ever year.”
The London West Tincaps host two tournaments every summer that have also become a destination for teams from across the province. The Bob Stark Rookie Ball Tournament has been a mainstay in area tournaments for over 20 years. This tournament was started by Mr. Bob Stark, who was a pioneer in the rookie ball division coaching for many, many years. The Rookie Ball “B” Provincial Championship trophy is also named after Mr. Stark.
In addition to the rookie ball tournament, The Tincaps also host a mosquito classic, which has over 20 teams taking part each season. Meanwhile, this year the Tincaps will also be hosting the Baseball Ontario Minor Mosquito A provincial championships on Labour Day weekend.
The London Tecumsehs have just started to host tournaments recently, and have listed this year both minor and major mosquito as well as minor and major peewee. The Tecumsehs organization is London’s newest completive baseball centre after a merger of the travel programs from Eager Beaver, Southwest London, and South London. Dorchester is hosting Rookie Ball Summer Slam in July, and Southwest London also hosts several rep and select tournaments throughout the summer months.
One thing that makes these tournaments possible is the tireless effort by the tournament committee. Efforts generally start early in the year to begin planning and organizing some of these first class events. Hundreds of dedicated volunteers in each organization commit to spending time at the parks for each association, taking care of minor field maintenance, pitch counting, scorekeeping, and just being the face of the organization. The feedback that most conveners receive is how well run the events are and how wonderful the fields are in London/St. Thomas. This area has some of the finest parks around, and many complexes that are very helpful to the operation of a tournament.
“We are so fortunate to have such a dedicated group of people that are willing to give back to their programs and help with our tournaments,” said Brooks. “Our parents, grandparents, and coaches work so hard to make these events possible.”
Miron adds: “I would like to tell you a set number of hours that are invested into the event, but I don’t keep track. It is a lot of hours. If I had to guess, I would say in the hundreds. From the startup, to answering endless
emails/phone calls, collecting payment, writing schedules and organizing on-site Convenors and setup … The planning process starts in November and runs straight through to the actual tournaments in May and June.
The tournament season will be capped off by the Baseball Canada 13u National Championships hosted by the London Badgers and the LDBA. This event will take place at Stronach Park from August 25-28 with 10 provincial teams competing in the prestigious event.
Story submitted by LDBA Baseball
