While the weather outside may not feel like baseball season is upon us, but in just a few short months girls and women across the province will be making their way onto the green grass and freshly groomed shale to begin their 2015 season!
For those who don't know me, my name is Tara Sliwkanich and I am the Director of the Girls/Women's Baseball Program with Baseball Alberta. I started playing baseball at the age of 9 with the boys in Fort Saskatchewan where I played on the Mosquito AA Red Sox team and continued to play AA baseball in Fort Saskatchewan until I was 21 years old, as usually the only girl on my team and sometimes in the whole league. I now play on the Women's Midget AA team with a whole team of female players and we compete in the predominantly boys' league. When I was 12, I played my first year for the Alberta PeeWee Girls Baseball Team and continued to play on the Alberta Bantam Girls and Senior Women's team's that compete at the National Championships each year. In 2009, I made the Women's National Baseball Team for the first time and subsequently made the team in 2011, 2012 (World Cup of Women's Baseball in Edmonton), and 2013.
The Alberta Girls’/Women’s Baseball Program
The
Alberta Girls’/Women’s Baseball Program is dedicated to developing and
advancing baseball for female athletes at all levels. The
program will be recognized for its endorsement of female participation
and excellence in baseball, and for the provision of superior programs,
resources, and instruction to foster success. It
is the mission of the female program to teach and inspire female
athletes through developmental experiences to be life-long learners and
participants in the sport of baseball. The Alberta Girls’/Women’s Baseball Program is a cooperative effort of Baseball Alberta and Little League Alberta. Members
of both organizations form a Provincial committee to further expand the
opportunities for female participation in the sport of baseball in our
province.
The
Alberta Girls’/Women’s Program commits itself to providing superior
programs for its athletes by developing goals, strategies, and specific
tasks which:
- Promote and encourage female participation and involvement in baseball as coaches, competitors, administrators and/or umpires.
- Target increased participation and athlete development at the grassroots level.
- Offer development camps to enhance the technical, tactical, emotional, physical, and psychological development of the athletes.
- Maintain and improve the flow of female athletes into Team Alberta high performance programs, including athlete identification and development.
- Set policy, procedure, and criteria for coaching staff selection.
- Set policy for athlete recruitment, eligibility, and selection.
Work hard, follow your dreams, have fun, and have a great season!
Yours in baseball,
Tara Sliwkanich
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