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LAUSANNE,
Switzerland -- WBSC, the world's governing body for baseball and softball,
will be promoting the celebration of World
Softball Day 2014 all around the globe and among its 141
National Federation members on Friday, June 13th.
The
creation of World Softball Day was inspired by Olympic Day, which is
celebrated annually on June 23rd, and the June 13th announcement by the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1991 that women's softball was to
be, for the first time in history, included on the Olympic programme, with
its debut performance at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, USA.
For
World Softball Day 2014, WBSC will be encouraging all its national
federations and individuals of all ages, abilities and backgrounds to
participate in softball activity as part of a global initiative to put
softball at the service of society to promote heath, physical activity,
social integration and international spirit, as well as to inspire future
generations of boys and girls to seek excellence and become empowered through
sport, and through softball.
"World
Softball Day will be a time of celebration to promote the idea that anybody
in the world can become active in sport," said WBSC Secretary General
Ms. Beng Choo Low, "and that softball can serve as an attractive option
for sport because it can be enjoyed almost anywhere and by children as
young as two years of age to those beyond their eighties."
WBSC
officials indicate that the World Softball Day 2014 has been set up to "boost
awareness" -- particularly during the Olympic Agenda 2020 review on
the formation of the Olympic Programme -- that softball, along with
baseball, serves as a common bond for millions of people from diverse
ethnic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds in more the 140 nations around
the world -- and especially young people and females -- to participate in
sport and to make sport increasingly relevant to them.
"With
World Softball Day 2014, WBSC will continue building baseball/softball's
position together as one of the world's leading and most inclusive,
gender-balanced global sports," added WBSC Executive Vice-President
Dale McMann.
The
newly elected WBSC officials have already confirmed they will study the
potential implementation dates of a World
Baseball Day and a World
Baseball Softball Day.
Social
Media Drive
Those
taking part in World Softball Day around the globe will be encouraged not
only to celebrate softball on June 13th but also to share their experience
with the world via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter using the official
hashtag #WorldSoftballDay.
The
WBSC Twitter account -- @WBSC_co -- will be
actively retweeting the "best of" World Softball Day quotes,
posts, images throughout the day. The WBSC Facebook page will
be sharing posts for further engagement.
"World
Softball Day will keep our sport evolving and strengthen the connection
with millions of young people everywhere and with today's youth culture,
which is increasingly mobile and digital," said Low and McMann.
The announcement of World
Softball Day 2014 comes only days after WBSC officials hailed the birth of
the Francophone
Association of Baseball Softball, which targets growth in a
network of 77 French-speaking territories and nearly 900 million people
worldwide, and which media experts feel will serve "to boost [WBSC's] Olympic
Bid".
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