Sport
1 March, 2024
Pitching for more players
MORE opportunities are in store in 2024 for young baseballers in Far North Queensland as the latest round of the Emerging Athlete Program (EAP) is heading to Cairns this weekend for its first session of the year to create more professional pathways for junior athletes into baseball.
Ahead of the beginning of the season in April, the first EAP session of the year for Cairns’ baseball clubs is kicking off this March 3, at Bear Park in Brinsmead, to develop basic skills for young baseball players ages 10-18 and introduce them into more opportunities within the game.
After a successful season of baseball for the junior baseball clubs, the Cairns CubS, the Reds and the Cairns Dodgers, Anthony Van Fleet, regional director of coaching for NQ Baseball, said he hoped to see more juniors joining the EAP.
“The program will have 10 sessions throughout the year. EAP is developed by Baseball Queensland in Brisbane and we deliver it locally for our juniors to develop and hopefully represent the north in state finals and further in the future,” he said.
“We have no participant limit, the more players the merrier, as long as you’re part of a baseball club and you’re between ages 10-18, no minimum skillset is required.
“We use our early sessions to develop baseline skills and over the 8-10 weeks of the program we work on the specific skillset for the new athletes, and for those who have been in baseball for a number of years, working towards a higher level.”
Mr Van Fleet said programs like EAP were critical in regional areas like the Far North to provide better outcomes for athletes looking at a future in baseball.
“EAP is very important because regional baseball has a lot of challenges being a niche sport and being far from Brisbane, so it gives our players a connection to that higher skill and better coaching so that we develop as a region but also they get more opportunities at a higher level of baseball,” he said. “This is a great opportunity to build their skills, whether you’re a new player or an experienced one and make connections with Baseball Queensland and other development programs to aim for higher baseball goals and develop more opportunities, so try out.”
Cairns Junior Baseball League are still holding ‘come and try’ sessions for those interested in trying out ahead of the beginning of the season in April 20, for more information visit their Facebook page
