BackSoftball Campaign -
Softball Canada Homepage
Welcome to the section of Softball Canada’s website completely dedicated to the BackSoftball Campaign – the International Softball Federation’s (ISF) initiative to have the sport of softball re-instated to the Olympic Programme. This section will provide you with various resources and ideas on what Softball Canada and its Provincial and Territorial Associations will be doing to help the ISF reach its goals. Softball Canada strongly encourages everyone to join the International Softball Federation’s efforts to get Women’s Fast Pitch Softball reinstated in October 2009 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the 2016 Summer Games.
BACKSOFTBALL OFFICIAL WEBSITE: WWW.BACKSOFTBALL.COM
Softball’s History at the Olympic Games
1991 – IOC adds softball to the programme of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta
1996 – Canada finished 5th in Atlanta with Round Robin record of 3-4
2000 – Canada finished 8th in Sydney with a Round Robin record of 1-6
2004 – Canada finished 5th in Athens with a Round Robin record of 3-4
2005 – The IOC announces the exclusion of softball from the 2012 Olympic Games in London
2007 – At a press conference in the Netherlands, the ISF brands their campaign for reinstatement to the 2016 Olympic Games as BackSoftball, with its own logo and website
2008 – Canada finished 4th in Beijing with a Round Robin record of 3-4; lost 5-3 in semi-final game
What is the International Softball Campaign doing to promote BackSoftball?
Following the announcement that softball had been excluded from the 2012 Olympic programme in 2005, the ISF announced that June 13th of each year would be recognized as “World Softball Day” to commemorate the date that softball was added to the Olympic programme in 1991.
In June of 2007, the ISF officially launched the BackSoftball campaign, unveiling a logo, launching a website and releasing a 10-point Blueprint of initiatives to help grow the sport. The intent of the campaign is to show the IOC that softball is a global sport and that it provides opportunities to all, including women and children, to participate in sport. The 10-point Blueprint identifies the ISF’s objectives leading up to the 2009 IOC vote which will determine which sports will be added to the 2016 Olympic programme.
(Click the logo to view the ISF’s 10-point Blueprint)
To support the BackSoftball Campaign, the ISF formed a BackSoftball Task Force consisting of various IOC and National Olympic Committee members, members from the media and the corporate sector, government officials and athletes. The ISF also created an Athlete Ambassadors program to get world-class softball players further involved with the campaign.
Other initiatives launched by the ISF include:
- BackSoftball and ISF Facebook pages
- A YouTube channel dedicated to International Softball
- A partnership with Sportingo
- A 16-and-under World Cup Softball Event in Prague
- A National Federation Independence Movement
- A Photography Contest
What is Softball Canada doing to promote BackSoftball?
At the Annual General Meeting in Fredericton, New Brunswick in November 2008, Softball Canada announced its own Blueprint of initiatives it will undertake to help the ISF reach its BackSoftball goals. Provincial and Territorial representatives discussed their own ideas of what they could do to promote the campaign and those ideas will be explored for the 2009 season.
(Click the logo to view Softball Canada’s Blueprint)
What can I do to help get softball back into the Olympics?
- Visit www.BackSoftball.com. Read the press release and ten-point
blueprint so you’re well versed on the matter.
- Contact the media to have them give more attention to this issue
- Speak out on the matter with a posting in the “Support Olympic Softball”
category on the official ISF website’s Message Board
- Contact people that you know in other countries and encourage them to
get involved so that softball can show its universality and not be labeled
as “just a U.S. sport”
- Wear Back Softball merchandise to draw more attention to the campaign
- Attend international softball events or watch them on TV or online (a
calendar of such tournaments can be found in the Events section of
www.internationalsoftball.com)
- Visit Back Softball’s (and the ISF’s) page on Facebook and, while there,
click on ‘Become a Fan’ (registration is free at www.facebook.com)
- Watch videos at www.youtube.com/ISFsoftball to help demonstrate the
interest in and demand for interacting with the sport
- Make a donation to the reinstatement campaign, either via the YouTube
channel or the Back Softball homepage
- Tell others – friends, family, co-workers, neighbors – about the current
situation with Olympic Softball, and get them to act on the above steps.
(NOTE: The ISF has determined that petitions are not appropriate for this campaign. Also, contact should not be made with IOC Members and the Olympic family.)