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President for the Altona Angels, Derek Sawatzky, says this is a big year for the programs and he may be more excited than the kids are to get the season going.
"Lately with the weather the way it's been, we start itching to get outside and get the ball games going here," Sawatzky says with a smile. "We've been doing lots of prep work ahead of the season and it's been going really well."
Sawatzky says they have worked hard to be able to offer programs at all ages as well as a competitive option where there is some travel involved. "We have a learn to play program, it's U7 and U9, so kids kind of early elementary, those practices and games happen in the school yards in Altona. Our travel ball starts at U11 and goes all the way up to the U17/19. When we are traveling, different age groups travel different distances. We begin with more local, Winkler or Morden, Carman, that sort of stuff. Then we branch out to Portage La Prairie and places further to the west from there. We'll go all the way to Glenboro and that's part of our larger league, the Tiger Hills Softball League."
Another great thing about the Altona Angels Sawatzky says, is that they make sure that kids of all skill levels can play, learn and fall in love with the game. "This is A-Level ball, we feel its important that there is community ball options for all kids at all skill levels. So, there's a huge range of skill sets that we bring and we look to build the hitting, the running, the throwing, developing those skill starting at U7 and growing them through the U11 programs and beyond."
When talking about the community support, Sawatzky can't help but burst with pride when mentioning how great it's been. "It's been excellent, this year we have 112 athletes throughout those levels I mentioned earlier. We've got lots of involvement, lots of coaches and a unique thing is, we're seeing more non-parent coaches getting involved over the past couple of seasons. It's very exciting to see community members stepping up and wanting to invest in our athletes.
On top of heaping praise on the community for being so generous with their time, Sawatzky says they've also backed the program financially. "I also cannot say enough about how the community has rallied around our fundraiser. We've raised just over $70,000 toward our $200,000 goal, to be able to support and build our vision for what softball diamond should look like in our community moving forward. That's been exceptional and anyone looking for more information can go to Altona Girls Minor Softball Association, click on our 'Dollars For Diamonds' campaign. We're planning another 50/50, it was online last year, it was very successful and we want to do that again this year. Again, we have adult and youth age umpires that we couldn't run the programs without. Anyone looking to get involved that way, clinics are available."
Sawatzky encourages all in the community to jump on board. "Anyone interested should check it out and we're always looking for people to get involved, through coaching, support, umpiring or any way. It's been so great, we've had an overwhelming amount of support this year and it's been fantastic."