Laying the foundations for the future of British Baseball
Fantastic progress in both funding applications and development delivery over the past few years are helping the British Baseball and British Softball communities come together to build great new facilities for the sports here in Britain.
Over the past few years, it has seemed, in British Baseball at least, that home could only be where the Herts is. Excuse the bastardised pun, but with most of the big baseball events being held at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead, Herts Baseball Club were beginning to have a monopoly on the top contests here in the UK.
And rightly so – their own developments have been second-to-none and this year they were able to completely enclose the two full-sized diamonds at their home ground and the facility is the best in the country for multi-competition events.
But now, the future is spreading around the region. Milton Keynes will see the development of a brand new baseball and softball complex, which will host the BSUK Academy (hopefully) in the future, while the facility at Farnham Park, near Slough, is almost finished already.
Building work only commenced towards the end of the season, as the rotten weather all summer prevented any ground from being broken, but a fence, dugouts and landscaped infield has already been completed and the winter will see the maturation of the grass in the outfield for a baseball and two softball diamonds.
All of a sudden, the sports here in the UK look a whole lot more professional. In contrast to looking out across endless numbers of football pitches at Hackney Marshes, perhaps the future will be chain link fences, backstops, mounds and, more importantly, people swatting fly balls into the outfield for hundreds of children to chase down.
And adults, too, but of course children are the future. Like garlic bread and cheesecake.
It remains to be seen if any one club might yet have single-access to the parks during the season, although it is more likely that softball leagues will be able to use the facilities, as discussions are still on-going. But hopefully these developments, alongside the individual club efforts from teams such as Herts, who have shown the importance of good facilities for growth of players and success on the field this season in particular, will spur others on to follow suit.
Last year, we were worried about whether Bootle Stadium would be torn down, bringing an end to the legacy of Liverpool Baseball Club at their Sefton home. With that now secure for the time being, it’s great that even more facilities are being built and hopefully we can inspire a generation to pick up a glove, throw a ball around or swing the ol’ club in more than just jest en route to creating a future for the sports here in Britain that few would have dreamed, let alone envisioned, only a decade or so ago.
- The Farnham Park facility has its own Facebook page www.facebook.com/FarnhamField and updates can be followed via the excellent pictures of progress that have been regularly uploaded during the build.