NEWS photo Cindy Goodman ATHLETICS SHORT-STOP Don Stephens puts everything Into a hit last Sunday at the William Lucas Centre in North Vancouver. Softball leagues typically are set up through age categories, with boys, gizis, and seniors having their own leagues. es in full s © ing Over 5,000 people are hitting local diamonds to play North America’s fastest-growing AS THE Lower Mainland’s infamous wet season draws to a close, softball leagues across the North Shore are swinging into full gear. By Kevin Gillies Contributing Writer Softball is the fastest-growing participation sport in North America, and likely the largest on the North Shore. The game transcends all aspects of society, with leagues being run by church organizations, large corporations, and, perhaps more visibly, public recreation commis- sions. According to Tom Walker, the community services coordinator for the North Vancouver recre- ation commission (NVRC), more than 5,000 people participate in the North Shore’s public softball leagues annually. That number does not include church or cor- porate leagues. Softball leagues typically are set up through age categories, with boys, girls, and seniors having their own leagues. : Leagues vary in format or makeup with teams ranging from all-men or all-women fast-pitch, to slo-pitch teams that are equally composed of men and women. The sport, extremely popular with adults between the ages of 20 and 50, has found support from the local business community. Many of the mixed-adult teams turn to their favorite pubs or res- taurants for sponsorship or finan- cial support. Pubs such as Jack Lonsdale’s, the Queen’s Cross, the Rusty Gull, the Raven, and the Lynnwood have supported a number of softball teams each year. ; But relationships between pubs or restaurants and softball teams are symbiotic in nature according NEWS photo Mike Wakefield VETERAN WEST Vancouver Rover Betty Manning shows great form while her teammates gather around. The Rovers compete in the Seniors Slo Pitch Softbail League of the Lower Mainland. participation sport 44 We've always turned people away because we've never had the park availability to expand the league. 99 — N. Shore Pub Slowpitch league president Dave Izatt to Jack Lonsdale’s manager Lee Donnelly. *‘Jack’s sponsors 14 softball teams along with its hockey, soc- cer and football teams,’? Donnely said. ‘‘A big pari of the game is the socializing afterwards. The talk about the great catch or the diving play is a big part of soft- ball. Teams sit around talking about the game for longer than it actually takes to play the game,”’ he added. While teams are helped with uniforms, league fees or equip- ment, the pubs get clientele and advertising (on T-shirts). Softball has grown so much on the North Shore that the availability of fields has dwindled at.an equally fast rate. NVRC field sports ad- ministrator Donna Martin said the North Shore has ‘‘topped out.”’ According to Martin there will be no more new softbali leagues started until new fields are devel- oped or current facilities are upgraded to deal with the sport’s growth rate. . Martin demonstrated how facil- ities cannot meet the demand by pointing to the fact that many public leagues now use elementary school fields. The problem is that current economic times have local governing bodies cutting back on yearly budgets. The shortfall of fields has some leagues looking at alternatives that guarantee fields for them to play on. North Shore Pub Slowpitch League president Dave Izatt said he approached North Vancouver District 44 school board and the recreation commission about put- ing backstops in at the William Lucas Centre (formerly Hamilton Secondary). Because schools don’t generally carry baseball programs, many of their fields aren’t equipped to handle softball games. - The pub league put in the backstops and fixed up the field at their own expense, and, in turn,. the league has it for weekend play. A second league, the North Vancouver Slowpitch League, contributed towards the field’s maintenance costs. They use the field during the week. “We've always carried around 12 teams and we've always turned people away because we’ve never had the park availability to ex- pand the league,” Izatt said. ‘‘There’s not enough hours in the day and not enough days in the’ year to accommodate everyone, but this year, with us having this field Saturdays and Sundays, we could afford to expand.”’ Because softball is a relatively inexpensive social sport, one could expect that its rapid growth on the. North Shore will continue. With ball players growing up and having children, a day at the park is quickly becoming a family affair. ; And with youth leagues taking on the younger players, and adults playing to an older age, the de- mand on playing fields is going to increase, “There is definitely a demand for more,’ Izatt added. “‘It’s only going to get bigger and bigger.” 55+ having a bail! The secret about staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age. — Lucille Ball. By A.P. McCredie Sports Reporter IF LUCY had ever sat in the bleachers and watched the West Vancouver Rovers in ac- tion, she might have added play baseball to her advice. Made up of men and women aged 55 and older, the senior slo-pitch team was formed in 1989 when John Lucas and Bill Broughton put out the call at the West Vancouver seniors’ centre for ball players. Since that time, the team and six other Lower Mainland squads compete throughout the spring and summer in the Seniors’ Slo-Pitch Softball League. “The usual perception of seniors is they live pretty sedate lives,’’ said Rovers’ coach Bill Howard. ‘But the games we play are very competitive and energetic.’” Howard, the coach since 1991, added that the real value of competing in the league is the camaraderie and friendship formed through playing soft- ball. Last September several players from the Rovers — in- cluding Howard — joined seniors from other Lower Mainland teams to compete in the B.C. Seniors Games in Dawson Creek. The team won a bronze medal at the games — quite an accomplishment con- sidering they had little practice time as a team leading up to the competition. This season the West Van- couver seniors’ centre is fielding two teams — Mustang I and Mustang I} — in the league. Howard points to the strong interest on the North Shore by seniors as proof posi- tive that seniors are living ac- live, healthy lifestyles.