Re-establishing Olympic Games Programme status will further strengthen softball’s global reputation for building peace through sport in conflict zones, according to a strong BackSoftball team attending the IOC’s International Forum on Sport, Peace and Development.
ISF President Don Porter leads the ISF delegation to the Forum, which is being attended by IOC President Dr. Jacques Rogge and UN Special Adviser Wilfried Lemke and will involve discussions on sport’s ability to contribute to peace and development, particularly among the young.
During the Forum, members of the BackSoftball Task Force met at the ISF office here in Lausanne, which was opened earlier this year to act as a base for the growth of the sport in Europe, to discuss the ISF’s major role in helping to promote peace through sport.
A team of coaches recently attended the Generations For Peace Camp ‘09 in Abu Dhabi, where youth workers from troubled communities learned how to use softball, among other sports, to promote peace and understanding within young people in their homelands. Many of the camp delegates, from countries such as Iraq, Somalia, Sri Lanka, and Sudan, are finding that softball was an ideal sport for team-building, gender inclusivity, and mutual respect among young people in conflict.
The ISF, along with the International University Sports Federation (FISU) and their African affiliate (the African Student Sports Union), also recently announced a $100,000 softball development fund for boys and girls in Africa, which will not only help the sport develop across the continent, but also further strengthen the BackSoftball campaign’s focus on youth, one of the core Olympic values.
Softball has an exemplary anti-doping record in top level competition, simple rules, and is cheap to play, making it hugely popular with young people around the world, including Muslim women who would otherwise be unable to participate in team sports.
ISF President Don Porter said, “Softball has always been a vehicle for creating sustainable change in society. The growth of the sport over the past few years has enabled us to use the sport to help communities develop around the world.”
Softball was first featured in the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996 and last year’s competition in Beijing was very successful with a total attendance close to 180,000 and a continuation of the sport’s excellent record of no positive doping tests in women’s international softball since testing began in 1982.
A final decision on which sports will be added to the current roster of 26 at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games will be made at the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen in October this year.
