The Minor Girls Fastball Association in Prince George wants more players to hit the field this season.
According to the group, overall numbers have remained stagnant in the past five years at 150.
While house leagues remain healthy for U-15 and younger age groups – it continues to be a struggle to get girls engaged in the U-17 and higher-level house leagues.
However, President Wayne McCullough told MyPGNow.com that one of the bright spots continues to be their high participation rates in rep and travel teams.
“For the first time since I have been president and that has been at least five years, we are looking at having three Thunderbird rep teams, the U17, U20, and U15. This is good because it does give our association more notoriety.”
“The hope is that this will engage more of our house players as they strive to be more a rep type player.”
McCullough added they look to carry on the momentum that was built at last year’s BC Summer Games.
“For a lot of these girls, it’s the chance to move on and play at a collegiate level where they are getting full or partial scholarships to continue their education and the BC games were a big step forward for us. There were a lot of people watching and I know that was a big stepping stone for us.”
Like a lot of summer sports in PG, a long winter often leads to a shorter season and less exposure for the local talent that sticks around.
“We do run winter development at UNBC and stuff like that to keep people’s interest piqued throughout our long winters here but I think that is a problem all summer sports have here as compared to down south.”
“Our season is so short and when you take a look at our colleagues down south they are already on the field and playing. I think that gets them more notice,” added McCullough.
He hopes to begin the fastball season in PG during the first week of May.
Across BC, a shade under 93 hundred players participated last season, a slight jump from their 9,146 mark in 2019.
According to Softball BC, U7 participation is up to 1,319 from 535 and U9 increased to 1,562 from 1,143.
In turn, there are fewer kids suiting up at the U17 and U19 levels post-pandemic.
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