In January 2022, Baseball Québec announced the birth of the Baseball Canada Academy (ABC) – Women’s section. A year later, two new women’s leagues were created, including the Canada East League, to add to the players’ experience. A few months later, Baseball Quebec was right.
“We’re in our third year of the Academy and things are going very well,” says Patricia Landry, coordinator at the ABC and the women’s high performance structure (U16), in addition to being a coach in the Canada East League. The first year was a pre-cohort, in the form of a pilot project. We had 12 players! The following year, we had 21 players, while this season, we had 33 players. Next season, we should increase to 38. There is a lot of interest in girls between 15 and 23 years old at the moment for the Academy, but also for baseball in general. With Baseball Quebec, we see that registrations increase each year. »
“We have seven girls from outside Quebec who arrived in April. They come to train with us until the selections for the World Cup and the Canadian Championships. We integrate them into the group. Here, we train all year round and travel outside to participate in some tournaments. There is no province that offers an Academy like ours and that offers elite leagues so that is the reason why girls from outside come here, to Trois-Rivières. »
Two women’s leagues
In addition to training all year round, the 33 girls at the Academy are divided into two leagues that the Academy oversees. To these 33 players are added the girls from outside who join the Academy when their school year ends in the spring.
“We are responsible for two leagues. We have a U16 league (14 to 16 years old) where we have formed four teams, as well as the Canada East Senior Elite League where we also have four teams, which we have separated by region, she explains. Things are going very well there too, enough that we added a team to the Canada East League this year. At the moment, our pool of players is not large enough so we do not cover all regions. Our long-term goal would be to resemble the Quebec Junior Elite Baseball League (LBJEQ) with complete teams by region. Even in our U16 league, we see 13-year-old girls arriving and the caliber is already very high. »
Remember that it is under the leadership and supervision of the ABC that these talented young players benefit from a schedule combining matches and optimal training, in a 100% girls context, to perfect their skills and continue their development. Last year, around ten girls from the Academy even found themselves on the national team.
“I’ll be honest, it’s beyond what I had imagined until now. The caliber of play is really very good and from year to year, we see a difference. I hope that we continue and that we can expand the league to allow even more girls to participate in the Academy and our leagues,” concludes the coordinator.
Honors week for Patricia Landry
Patricia Landry recently experienced a lot of emotions as she first celebrated her certification as a Women’s Space – Leadership and Espace DG, at the end of 16 weeks of training, before winning the National-International Prize at the Women’s Gala. ‘influence.
This is great recognition for someone who has long been involved in the world of women’s baseball.
“It was a great evening and I won the honor to boot. It was also a great meeting between several people from the sporting world so it was fun. Just being nominated still made me proud, with women who also had years of experience involved. The finality is pleasant,” she testified.
Earlier in the week, the native of -Saint-Étienne-des-Grès had received a certificate, accompanied by 16 other general directors, who formed the first cohort of the Sports DG’s Essentials Course.
2024-06-10 16:39:50
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