The Spaniard’s Bay Recreation Commission is a volunteer organization dedicated to sport and other forms of recreation within our community. Our facilities include a 6000 sq. ft. recreation centre, baseball field, T-ball field, two outdoor basketball courts and a general playground area.
We offer two summer programs. Our Baseball program runs from mid-May to mid-September and is open to all children aged 6 – 18 years and divided into age groups as follows: Pre-Rookie (6-7), Rookie (8-9), Mosquito (10-11), Pee-Wee (12-13), Bantam (14-15) and Midget (16-18). We endeavour to send teams from Mosquito to Midget to the All-Newfoundland Tournament each year and have been successful in the past in winning medals, bronze to gold. Our teams proudly wear the name “Spaniard’s Bay Pirates” — a link to our past sports heritage.
The second program that we offer is a summer sports program for children aged 6 – 14 years. This lightly structured daytime program is open to children of our town for seven weeks during July and August. Registration fees applies to both programs.
We are always looking for additional help. We need more coaches, co-ordinators, umpires, etc. Working with kids is so rewarding and we invite you to come see for yourself. If you can help, we can certainly find a place for you on our team — just contact any member or leave your name and phone number at the Town Hall. It may also be convenient to e-mail me at pgbrazil99@hotmail.com We will be offering training sessions for any new coaches interested. Female coaches are certainly welcome. Please don’t delay…Get involved today!!!
Spaniards Bay Minor Baseball Association
2008 Annual Report
Another season has come and gone. It was a season of many pleasant surprises. It was accompanied with many successes, and a few new challenges.
This year we had our largest registration of players. A 35% increase from the previous year.
We were able to field teams in all 4 minor divisions. For the first time ever, we were able to send 2 mosquito teams, 1 each: pee wee, bantam and midget to provincial tournaments. 3 of these 5 teams competed in the double AA divisions. Of the 5 provincial teams competing, 3 made it to the championship game. 1 team winning gold and the other 2 winning silver medals.
We also had a pleasing spring training camp and a fun filled inter-town house league schedule, ending off with league championships.
Early in July we hosted and participated in the Avalon Region Summer Games Qualifier Tournament. A few weeks later, we co-operated with our neighboring club in Upper Island Cove, as they hosted the Provincial Bantam AA tournament, supplying field space, umpires and official score keepers.
All summer long we scheduled house league games and fun tournament for our players. This year we activated our Hit-Run & Throw competition for house league players, ages 5-12. It was an amazing success. The children thoroughly enjoyed it, most having competed in such a competition for the first time.
Two of our most enjoyable and memorable events this summer came then our midget team traveled to Dartmouth NS to represent the province at the Midget AA Atlantic Tournament. Also, our pee wee team traveled to Corner Brook to compete at the National Qualifier Tournament. Both teams were very competitive. This was the first time teams from Spaniards Bay have ever participated at these events.
This summer we were able to complete an upgrade to our T-Ball field. At the moment we are working with our MHA and minister of Culture, Recreation and Youth Mr. Clyde Jackman on building a new baseball field that would service the CBN area. This field would be a regional facility, serving all young adult and future junior and senior players in our area.
Our biggest challenge for next season is encouraging more parents to participate in coaching at the minor divisions. Many of our dads travel to Alberta etc. for employment; and the community is finding it difficult to encourage new volunteers to help run the program.
At this time I would like to thank our neighboring club, Upper Island Cove Bulldogs for their co-operation throughout the summer. To our many sponsors, thank you for all that you do to make the game fun and affordable. At this time we would like to thank the other clubs around the province who hosted tournaments where we attended. All teams came home with lots of memories and pictures of the great time they had. To all our volunteers, coaches, umpires and others, thank you for a marvelous season. To Ken Dawe and members of NABA. Thank you for your endless support and co-operation.