Optimist Club Minor Softball League President, Rick Dore, sits in the clubhouse with the trophies handed out to teams of children every year. Softball games are just around the corner, starting in May. — photo Francis Racine
Almost time to batter up! member of the community who donates his or her precious time to the league. Some parents even step up and become umpires as well. There’s action in the Optimist Park nearly every night; Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday andThursday are all ball days.
FRANCIS RACINE francis.racine@eap.on.ca
“We have a canteen here in the clubhouse and it’s also run by volunteers,” said Dore. “All the proceeds we make from those sales go back to the softball league.” The Optimist Club has been in charge of the event since 2008, when they took the reins of the sponsorship from the Knights of Columbus. The task of presiding over such a successful league is quite a challenging one. Dore therefore surrounds himself with a team of hardworking volunteers. “Our vice-president is Chad Lalonde, our secretary and statistician is Melissa Russell and our umpire in chief is Sheldon Empey,” said Dore. “We also have countless volunteers and parents that help out.” Every coaching position is filled by a
Every year, hundreds of kids take part in the Optimist Club’s Minor Soft Ball League. Although snow was still flying down on Cornwall, league president Rick Dore was more than happy to meet and talk about softball with The Cornwall Journal in the Optimist’s clubhouse on April 6. “It’s a great league,” explained the man sitting at a table. “It’s all about the kids. We’re all volunteers.” Every season, members of the Optimist Club of Cornwall come together to organize the league that welcomes 16 teams.
In the hopes of encouraging players to give it all, the Optimist Club has decided to introduce a new trophy called the president’s cup. “I call it my Stanley Cup,” said a smiling Dore. “We’re going to award it to the team that has the most winning games, as an incentive for them to play hard.” Parents interested in signing their child up to play in the Optimist Club’s Softball League can contact Dore at 613-360-7116. “I’ll never stop a kid from playing,” he expressed. “Even if the parents are late in registering, I’ll still make sure their child is playing softball.”
The league has around 180 kids signed up this year. “We’d love to get 190 of them, but we have a healthy number this season.” In all, the organisation is home to four different divisions; mini mites for children aged 4-6, major mites, 7-10, peewee, 1-14, and the bantam for those aged from 15 to 18. “We’re pretty popular because we’re a mixed league,” the president said. “There are not a lot of leagues like that in the city.” The season starts in earlyMay and runs to the end of July, with the finals taking place on July 22-24.
Le Journal, Cornwall
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Le mercredi 13 avril 2016
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