Thursday, June 3, 2010

Brandon Minor Baseball a Hit

Minor baseball in Brandon is a growing attraction to kids of all ages, and thanks to the hard work by Faron Asham, it should continue to grab interest.

Asham is the President of the Brandon Minor Baseball League and he and his wife, Deborah Asham, fill many of the other roles needed to keep the league active.

“We have over 400 kids aged 8-18 this year,” said Faron Asham, “And over half of our

membership is in the 8-10 division, giving us a strong young foundation to work with over the next few years.”

The BMBL acquired Simplot Park six years ago, and although it requires a lot of upkeep, Asham thinks it is worth it.

“It requires maintenance and upkeep from before the season starts until about August,” said

Asham, “but it’s entirely worth it. This facility allows us to have more teams in for tournaments. We even had a 30 team tournament once, and although that was pushing it a bit, we are still the only facility to be able to accommodate that many games.”

There are two students who are paid for their help maintaining the fields, but everything else is in the hands of volunteers.

“It’s not cheap to run this place, it costs us nearly $60 000 a year just to operate,” said Asham, “Most of the player fees go right towards that, and any extra we save and try to use for improvements.”

Asham hopes to add a few more upgrades to the field this year, including some professional-

calibre bullpens at 4 of the diamonds, as well as sod for the peewee infields. He also says they would love for a major sponsor to help them out with a sprinkler system, although that may be a little far-off.

Simplot Park and the BMBL are hosting a few big tournaments this summer like the Peewee National Tournament, a very prestigious 10 team tourney that they had to bid for, as well as the ‘Hit, Run, Throw’ competition, a provincial contest

for athletes to display their skills in the aforementioned categories. The top three athletes will be invited to Winnipeg for the next round of competition by CanWest Global, and they will receive tickets to a Goldeyes game.

The BMBL has helped kids grow in the sport of baseball, and boasts sending lots of

athletes to the Manitoba Youth Team, the highest level of competition in the province, as well as sending kids on to play in the Manitoba Senior Baseball League with teams like the Clover Leafs and Marlins.

“Baseball is a great sport, and I love seeing kids get into it at such a young age and stick around until they are adults playing at a higher level,” said Asham, “I love being a part of it.”



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