ISF Announces “Transition Commission” to Support National Softball Federations’ Final Split from Baseball
ISF President – ‘National softball federations deserve as much support as we can provide to ensure they achieve sustainable independence’
Plant City, Florida (USA); 26th November 2008: The International Softball Federation (ISF) has today announced the creation of a Transition Commission to help accelerate national softball federations’ independence from other sports including baseball.
While the ISF has always been completely independent, the aim is for all 127 national softball federations to be independent from any other sport by 2010.
The pace of independence is accelerating with less than 25% of federations still combined with baseball or other sports. The updated ISF Code restricts membership to softball-only organizations.
This is seen as a crucial action in softball’s campaign to be reinstated onto the Olympic Programme in 2016 after such a hugely successful Beijing Olympic Games this summer.
ISF President Don Porter said: “National softball federations deserve as much support as we can provide to ensure that they achieve sustainable independence. The Transition Commission will help national federations by providing commercial, administrative, and operational expertise.
“Softball is a fabulous sport in its own right and it is vital that federations have complete autonomy as soon as possible to ensure that they can implement the softball initiatives we are putting in place.
“This move further confirms our commitment to modernizing softball, a commitment we have pledged continuously to the International Olympic Committee. We are committed to extending the reach of softball to new audiences and build upon the fantastic progress we have made over the past two years.”
Legislation enacted at the ISF Congress decreed that ISF members (national federations) may not be constitutionally linked to a national federation of any other sport. Today’s announcement of the Transition Commission is the next step following the ISF’s statement late last month on the timeline set for complete separation, with a program offering assistance to help national softball federations achieve compliance within two years.
These moves confirm the growing reputation of softball as a stand-alone sport of great stature across the globe. They will also help eradicate any confusion in the Olympic Movement; it will clarify once and for all that softball is a fully independent international sport federation with independent national federations.
The ISF believes these plans are vital to the future development and growth of softball for adult women and men, youth development, and other disciplines of the sport, including Wheelchair, Beach, and Arena (indoor) Softball.
Softball was first featured in the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996 and this year’s competition in Beijing, which was won by Japan, was hugely successful with a total attendance close to 180,000 and a continuation of the sport’s excellent record of no positive drug tests in major competitions.
Further details on the Olympic reinstatement campaign are available in the OTHER DOCUMENTS section of www.BackSoftball.com.
For more information please contact ISF Director of Communications Bruce Wawrzyniak at brucew@internationalsoftball.com, +1 813 864 0100 or +1 813 453 8762
Plant City, Florida (USA); 26th November 2008: The International Softball Federation (ISF) has today announced the creation of a Transition Commission to help accelerate national softball federations’ independence from other sports including baseball.
While the ISF has always been completely independent, the aim is for all 127 national softball federations to be independent from any other sport by 2010.
The pace of independence is accelerating with less than 25% of federations still combined with baseball or other sports. The updated ISF Code restricts membership to softball-only organizations.
This is seen as a crucial action in softball’s campaign to be reinstated onto the Olympic Programme in 2016 after such a hugely successful Beijing Olympic Games this summer.
ISF President Don Porter said: “National softball federations deserve as much support as we can provide to ensure that they achieve sustainable independence. The Transition Commission will help national federations by providing commercial, administrative, and operational expertise.
“Softball is a fabulous sport in its own right and it is vital that federations have complete autonomy as soon as possible to ensure that they can implement the softball initiatives we are putting in place.
“This move further confirms our commitment to modernizing softball, a commitment we have pledged continuously to the International Olympic Committee. We are committed to extending the reach of softball to new audiences and build upon the fantastic progress we have made over the past two years.”
Legislation enacted at the ISF Congress decreed that ISF members (national federations) may not be constitutionally linked to a national federation of any other sport. Today’s announcement of the Transition Commission is the next step following the ISF’s statement late last month on the timeline set for complete separation, with a program offering assistance to help national softball federations achieve compliance within two years.
These moves confirm the growing reputation of softball as a stand-alone sport of great stature across the globe. They will also help eradicate any confusion in the Olympic Movement; it will clarify once and for all that softball is a fully independent international sport federation with independent national federations.
The ISF believes these plans are vital to the future development and growth of softball for adult women and men, youth development, and other disciplines of the sport, including Wheelchair, Beach, and Arena (indoor) Softball.
Softball was first featured in the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996 and this year’s competition in Beijing, which was won by Japan, was hugely successful with a total attendance close to 180,000 and a continuation of the sport’s excellent record of no positive drug tests in major competitions.
Further details on the Olympic reinstatement campaign are available in the OTHER DOCUMENTS section of www.BackSoftball.com.
For more information please contact ISF Director of Communications Bruce Wawrzyniak at brucew@internationalsoftball.com, +1 813 864 0100 or +1 813 453 8762