Vale Ted Sands

Ted and his wife Ruby Sands (dec) who was inducted in to the Baseball Qld Hall of Fame in 2007 for her service as a junior and senior scorer and for helping to start Mt Gravatt Eagles Baseball Club both dedicated many years of service to Baseball at a state and local level.

Ted became president of Mt Gravatt Eagles in 1963 and held this position along with club groundsman for more than 20 years. Ted oversaw and worked tirelessly on the Eagles field move from Mt Gravatt Showgrounds to it’s current location in Mackenzie.

He also served as Chairman of the Queensland Baseball Judiciary for 20 years and; 

• President of the Brisbane Baseball Association for 2 years
• President of the Junior Baseball Association for 2 years
• Managed U’17 & U’18 Qld Teams on interstate trips to Perth W.A and Adelaide S.A 

His Funeral Service is being held in the East Chapel, Mt Thompson Memorial Gardens (329 Nursery Road, Holland Park Q 4121) 1:30pm, Thursday 9th August

Bat Rule Reminder

As a reminder to anyone considering buying a new bat in the near future please be aware that Baseball Australia have indicated any resultant USA Bat regulation compliance implementation would commence in Australia as of 1 September 2019. So if you are thinking of buying a new bat this is the time frame for the introduction of new USA Bat regulations you need to consider.

While the current bat rules remain in place through to 1 September 2019, bats that meet the current standards (BBCOR) will continue to be approved for use as will any bat that meets the new USABat standard. Bats that meet the new USABat standard will feature one of the logos listed below.

USABat is set to replace the BBCOR (Batted Ball Coefficient of Restitution) and BPF (Bat Performance Factor) as the standard required for bats approved for play in Little League.

Little League and USA Baseball have announced they intend to comply with the new USABat standard from 2018, making all current bats (BBCOR, BPF etc) potentially void in league play in the USA after December 31, 2017.

Early indications here in Australia are that suppliers will need until at least the 2018-19 Summer season to get the new bats to our marketplace, limiting our ability to comply with Little League and other International bodies until the 2018-19 summer season at the earliest.

So while the USA will roll out the new USABat standard in the U.S. from 1 January 2018 it will take some time before Australian bat rules can be changed to comply.

While the teams that win through to the respective 2018 Little League, Junior League and Senior League World Series will need to comply with the new USABat Rules during 2018 World Series Tournament play, they can rest a little easier knowing they will be supplied with equipment on arrival at their respective World Series events.

So the standards to be applied from 1 September 2019 will be:

Senior League (U16) and above – BBCOR remains the standard (No change).

Intermediate League and Junior League – Can use either USA Bats or BBCOR bats.

Little League and below – USA Bats.

For more information from BA please follow this link:

https://assets.sportstg.com/assets/console/document/documents/C85C2F37-5056-BD36-A39599AB5DE8BF0F.pdf 

Get Started Vouchers now available

Round 12 of Get Started Vouchers avialable Wednesday 25 July 2018.

The program provides eligible Queensland children and young people aged 5 to 17 (inclusive) who can least afford to join a sport or recreation club with a voucher valued up to $150 for membership and/or registration fees. Round 12 will close when all available vouchers are issued. If the voucher allocation is not reached, the round will close on 28 September 2018.

Over 4300 clubs have registered for the program. Clubs can apply for registration for Get Started Vouchers at any time. Registration is valid for the entire program period so there is no need to register for each round.

Check out some of our great videos on the Get Started Vouchers program.  These are available via their website:

• Their How to apply video assist families with information on child eligibility and applying for a voucher
• Their Clubs video provides information on club eligibility and redeeming vouchers.
• Their video on how referral agents can help families with applying for a voucher.

For more information on:

• Redeeming vouchers – follow the screen shots in our club trouble shooting manual.
• Club changes   – clubs can see how they are displayed on our club locator. For any changes please submit the club change request form.
• Dates/details of rounds – see our club fact sheet
• FAQ’s – answers to common questions about the program

You may also want to ‘like’ the Queensland Sport and Recreation Facebook page to keep up to date. We also have some great posts you can share with your affiliated clubs and associations.

More information about the program is available at www.qld.gov.au/recreation/sports/funding/getinthegame/getstarted.