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B.C. coach shares softball skills Clinic held for more than a dozen youth at diamond
Shawn Giilck
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, July 11, 2013
INUVIK
More than a dozen Inuvik youngsters responded to the time-honoured call of "play ball" on July 7.
Jill Sask of Surrey, B.C., a former national softball player, was one of the coaches giving instruction during a clinic at the baseball diamond on July 7. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo
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They flocked to the baseball diamond for a clinic to teach and refine the fundamentals of softball led by visiting coach Jill Sask.
Sask, a former national-team calibre player who has now switched to coaching, is a member of Softball BC.
Sask and local organizers Bonnie Ross and Les skinner said the clinic was part of the Learn to Play program.
"It's for the kids to have fun and to encourage them to keep active," Sask said.
"There's been a major decline in softball registration nationally over the last 20 years," she added. "We're hoping to reverse that."
She attributed much of that decline to softball's elimination as an Olympic sport.
Participating in the Olympics gave the sport a huge amount of exposure, Sask said, and appealed to athletes who wanted a chance to compete at the international level.
Ross and Skinner were instrumental in bringing the clinic to Inuvik. A series of such events will be held around the NWT, Skinner said, but this was the first.
"This is something that Softball NWT has planned," Skinner said. "It's all about learning to play and learning to pitch for the kids. It looks like there's a fairly wide age range, maybe from (age) five to about 14."
Baseball, in its various forms, is likely the most popular summer sport in Inuvik, Skinner said.
Adults tend to play slo-pitch while the kids are directed toward softball.
"Softball is played with a larger ball and the diamond is not as big," he said. "Fastball is big in Canada, and certainly in the North here. My perspective is that if you know how to play fastball, you can play slo-pitch, but I don't think you can play fastball if you've only played slo-pitch. So we're going to start with the kids and learn the basics. So if it's fastball primarily being played here when they're adults, they'll be ready."
Skinner said slo-pitch is popular because it's more of a hitter's game than one for pitchers. That's also what makes it wildly entertaining to watch, if you want to see a lot of runs scored and plenty of fielding plays.
Ross said Nick Saturnino used to run the program while she assisted. She's taken over from him now and continues the legacy.
"These people are showing them the basics a lot better than what we could," she said.
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