Christine Kay
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (July 15/02) - Erle Deschene manages the Tulugak Bar in Iqaluit, but what he's really got on his mind is softball.

He's been playing for the last 15 years and has loved every minute of it. As president of the Iqaluit Baseball Association, he is trying to send a team, the first co-ed team to ever represent Nunavut, to the slo-pitch nationals in Saskatoon this August.

News/North: Where are you from?

Erle Deschene: I've been here almost two-and-a-half years. It's awesome. I lived in Northern Saskatchewan before. The only difference between here and there is that there's trees there.

N/N: What brought you to Nunavut?

ED: I was looking for employment and the Frobisher Inn was advertising for a beverage manager. That's how I got up here. Managing the Tulugak Bar is great and I really like the people. I've worked in the business for almost 15 years.

N/N: How did you get involved in slo-pitch?

ED: I've been involved in slo- pitch since '85 or '86. It's just something I enjoy playing and organizing. I joined a league back home when I was 18 years old and I've travelled pretty much all across Canada playing. It's in my blood. I play on the bar team now, Tulugak Flyers.

N/N: So you came up here and just joined the team?

ED: When I moved up here I went to a slo-pitch meeting. It would have been in the middle of June and everyone on the executive quit. So there were eight or nine of us and everybody kind of looked at each other and said 'well, I guess there's no league'.

They started folding up their books to go home and I said, I'll look after the league. I looked after a league back home that had 52 teams in it and this one here had eight. How hard could it be? They voted me in as president and this will be my third year.

N/N: How many people are now part of the league?

ED: We have approximately 350 people in our league that make 12 or 13 teams. We find that one diamond just isn't big enough, plus the ladies would like to have their own women's league and the men would like to have a men's league. So there's definitely need for another diamond.

N/N: The idea of a beer garden as a fundraiser (for slo-pitch) was turned down by city council last year. What happened to change the decision?

ED: They wouldn't approve of a beer garden. I think last year it was just ... I'm not sure maybe I caught town council off guard. They just didn't feel it was right. But since I had applied last year, there's been lots of other events that have taken place. For example, the Arctic Winter Games.

N/N: How are you going to make sure the league keeps this privilege?

ED: Drinking up here is an issue and I think city council's views on it would be people coming out here and just drinking their faces off with no control. That's not what I'm about. I do care about what happens and I'm trying to raise money to send a team down South and to build a second ball diamond, but it has to be done professionally. It's very true a guy could just go in there and the place could run absolutely wild. It does have to be controlled.

N/N: So will you kick people out if they get too drunk?

ED: I don't want to say we kick anyone out, but we cut them off and tell them they can't have any more to drink. We'll let them stay but if I catch them sneaking a drink they'll be asked to leave or if they are fairly drunk. We're trying to run a four or five limit per person and that's enough.

N/N: Is there anything else the league is raising money for?

ED: This year we had a few tournaments and we had a national qualifying tournament that would see the winning team advance to nationals. This August, it's in Saskatoon, Sask. We'll be the first co-ed team to represent Nunavut.

N/N: Which team did you pick?

ED: I basically took a player or two players from each team, pretty much. That's how the team was formed. There's a few other players who have paid (a certain) amount of dollars from every paycheque for the last seven or eight months so they could go.

N/N:: Who's helping you run the show at the beer garden?

ED: The people on the ball team that's going down South are the one's who are looking after it, but I do have a few of my staff from the bar who are experienced and know who could drink what so that helps. I want to run a professional event and prove to city council that this particular group, the slo-pitch league, can run a responsible and professional beer garden.

N/N: Did all the rain during the beer garden put a smaller number to the amount you hoped to raise?

ED: It sure did. The weekend before, we had a beer garden too and it pretty much got rained out. We'll probably come out of it with about $2,000 or $3,000, but it's an awful lot of work for such little money. This weekend, I mean today it's been beautiful and yesterday it was cloudy and it was raining. Lots of people drove out here and then left. Nobody really stopped. I stayed open until 11 p.m. like I said I would. The two ball teams were out there playing ball in the rain so I figured if they can play ball in the rain, I can run the beer garden. When they were done, they came over and had a beer with maybe a hamburger and some fries.

N/N: How much do you hope to make in total and how much does the league need just for the trip to Saskatoon?

ED: We're hoping to come out of it with $15,000 or $20,000. To travel down South for Nationals, we're looking at about $1,500 to $1,800 per player and there's about 14 players going. We going to do a 50/50 draw and we were thinking about doing a bingo. The big killer is the flight. One of the airlines has offered us a pretty good discount.

N/N: Do you think softball plays a big part of people's social life in Nunavut during the summer months?

ED: I think it does. It gets everybody out of their house. It gets everybody away from work for a couple months.

You know we only get a couple months of nice weather up here so we have to take advantage of it. Being that there's no real golf course up here, the next best thing is slow pitch.

N/N: Do you plan on keeping your position as president of the league for a while?

ED: Well, we'll see what happens. It has it's moments, but in general everyone's kind of good. It's tiring and I'm a little burnt out. With my wife due on the 10th of July, it's been real busy. I'll keep plugging away at it and struggling with it.

N/N: What's your fondest memory of the sport itself?

ED: My favourite softball moment would be the first time I went to nationals. It would have been in 1991 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. That's where you separate the men from the boys and the women from the girls. It's really competitive ball. I was really surprised.

N/N: Is there anything else you'd like to add?

ED: I'd really like to thank city council, the liquor licensing board and the people for allowing us to hold this event with a beer garden. I'm not good with words. I'm at a loss for words. Just a big thanks for allowing us the opportunity.