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The official opening of the 2009 season took place on the 25th of April at the field in the 73rd school. Mr. Evtim Evtimov mayor of Triaditsa municipality was special guest of the occasion and made the first pitch of the season.
The President of the BSF Mr. Youri Alakalay greeted all teams and wished them success in the new season. He also expressed his gratitude to Mr. Evtimov for his continuous support for the softball development not only on the territory of Triaditsa municipality but all around Sofia.
Athlete Ambassador of the ISF Gergana Handjiyska presented special t-shirts with the BackSoftball logo to Mr. Evtimov and to Mrs. Teodora Ruicheva a PE teacher in the 73rd school and main facilitator of the softball school program in the 73rd school.
Only one of the 3 scheduled games for the day took place due to the rain. The team Of Angels Dupnitsa defeated the Athletics Sofia by 5 to 2 runs. Angels took the lead after a homerun by their pitcher Yanita Milenkova. Athletics managed to score one point back and then even the score after another homer run by Slavyana Antova, who is coming from Dupnitsa herself, but now playing for the Athletics. Angels took the lead again after a two run double by Ralitsa Georgieva and did not miss the lead till the end of the game. The pitcher Yanita Milenkova made 7 strike outs.
 
 
 
 
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The annual general meeting of the BSF took place on the 28th of March. The clubs of Akademiks, Athletic, Buffaloes, Devils and Angels were present, the clubs of Lions-NSA and Junak were absent.
The General meeting agreed to a new format of the Championship in which the games will be played every 2 weeks. The scheme remains unchanged – single round robin, followed by play-offs and finals.
The Championship is scheduled to start on the 25th of April.
The year 2009 promises to be a very difficult one. Soon after the general meeting the situation with the financing from the state has become clear.
We regret to announce that our budget was cut with 2/3 compared to the year 2008. This is the first time in the history of the Federation when the financing is so low. In the conditions of the coming financial crisis and the forth coming international competitions the expectations are that the year will finish with a negative balance.
BSF was forced to withdraw from the European Cadet Championship, where we have a good team and had chance for good placing.
The European championship for women is next on the agenda and our president Mr. Youri Alkalay is doing anything possible to provide the necessary funds.
The participation in some minor local international tournaments is also in question. Our teams have always had good results on these tournaments and they were used for preparation of the national teams. The board is forced to ask the athletes to partially finance their participation.
We remind you that the Youth and Sport Agency decided to prioritize the financing solely of the Olympic sports. For all non Olympic sports only funds for equipment and junior championship are granted.
Although softball is an Olympic sport it was not included by the agency in that category. The reasoning is that softball is not in the program of the 2012 Olympic games in London.
Even though softball is now competing with 6 other sports to be reinstated in the program for 2016 and the ISF is listed among the IOC members as well as in the Olympic sports register, this was not enough to convince the Youth and Sports agency.
As it was announced 2 out of the 7 sports will be reinstated in the Olympic program for 2016. Softball is the only women’s team sport amongst them. The International Softball Federation is conducting an intensive campaign to reinstate softball. This campaign involves many well known athletes, administrators and sports people.
All 7 sports will make their final presentations in front of the IOC executive board in the month of June. The BSF is delighted to inform you that Gergana Handjiyska as athlete-ambassador of the ISF is invited to be part of this presentation, which will be held on the 15th of June in Lausanne, Switzerland.
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Gergana Handjiyska
Athlete Ambassador for ISF
Secretary General of BSF
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Dear Softball Friends,
As most of you know, I have been chosen as Athlete Ambassador for the ISF to help the BackSoftball campaign, aiming to reinstate softball back in the program of the Summer Olympic Games.
In this new role I will do my best to help the campaign.
In connection with this I am asking for your help. Please read the BackSoftball flyer in order to understand how you can help us.
Thank you in advance on my behalf as well as on behalf of the world softball community!
I sincerely believe that if we join our efforts we will have a positive outcome!
Regards, Gerry
Do you want to help to the BackSoftball campaign?
 Please read our flyer |
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The International Softball Federation has opened a satellite office in the Olympic capital Lausanne. The official opening ceremony was in the office itself in the International Sports Palace home of lots of sports federations and other sport entities.
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Taking part in a ceremonial ribbon cutting for the launch of the ISF’s European office are, from left to right, 2008 Olympic softballer Saskia Kosterink (Netherlands), ISF President Don Porter, and softball athlete-ambassador Gergana Handjiyska (Bulgaria) (Photo by David Pretre) |
Delegates from the ESF Congress and officials from the European Olympic Committees Executive Board are among several attendees of the reception at the Beau-Rivage Hotel. (Photo by David Pretre) |
The opening was followed by a reception at the Beau-Rivage Hotel where President Porter addressed representatives of the European Olympic Committee as well as members of the European Softball Federation. |
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The XXXIV ESF Congress took place in Lausanne, Switzerland on the 7th of February. 26 Federations were present on the congress which main agenda point was the election of new Executive Council. The BSF President Youri Alkalay decided not to run for Vice President again due to personal engagements such as his lovely 3 kids and wife J.
The new President of the ESF is Mr. Andre van Overbeek from The Netherlands with First Vice President Mr. Tototni Sanna from Italy and Vice presidents:
- Chiqui Vasques – Spain
- Slava Smagin – Russia
- Gabriel Waage – Czech Republic
- Ami Baran – Israel
- Michael Schmidt - Austria
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From left to right: Michael Schmidt (AUT), Francesca Fabretto (Assistant to Secretary General, ITA), Gabriel Waage (CZE), Ami Baran (ISR), Patrice Bienfait (Secretary General, FRA), Andre van Overbeek (President, NED), Eddy Van Straelen (Treasurer, BEL), Slava Smagin (RUS), Chiqui Vazquez (ESP) and Giovanni Sanna (First Vice President, ITA) |
The chair of the Municipality Council Yavor Todorov presents Dupnitsa’s bid |
The congress approved the candidature of Dupnitsa for 2 european competitions in August - The European Cup Women B will take place from the 17th to the 22nd of August where Bulgaria will be represented by last year’s champions Akademiks Sofia and the European Cup Coed Slowpitch will take place from the 25th till the 29th of August where our country will be represented by the mixed team Balkan Stars, which also took pŕđň in the last year’s competition.
The preparations in Dupnitsa have already started with the active participation of Dupnitsa Municipality as well as the host club BSC Devils and the BSF. |
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The ISF athlete ambassadors’ meeting took place at the beginning of January. Twelve athletes from around the world were chosen to attend the meeting, as well as the two-time Olympic gold medalist (USA Softball, 1996 & 2000) Michele Smith who was serving as the Chair for the newly formed group. BackSoftball Task Force Co-Chairs Donna de Varona (two-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming) and Dale McMann (ISF VP/North America, from Canada) were actively involved in the proceedings as well.
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The ten softball players from the Athlete Ambassadors meeting pose in front of the BackSoftball display. |
During the seminar the athletes passed a special media training from Jon Tibbs from „Jon Tibbs and associates” who are helping to the BackSoftball campaign. |
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Gergana Handjiyska was appointed by the ISF as one of the 12 Athlete-Ambassadors who will work to reinstate softball in the Olympic program in 2016.
The 12 athletes represent the 5 continents: Africa, America, Asia, Oceania and Europe and 8 of them have participated in the Olympic games. They were chosen amongst nominations from all ISF member countries /127/.
The year-long national team player and 6-times champion of Bulgaria with the Akademiks /the first Bulgarian club, established in 1988/, Gergana is also the Secretary General of the BSF.
The American Michelle Smith – 2 times Olympic gold medalist will chair the group of athletes which includes:
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- Alison Bradley (Canada)
- Gergana Handjiyska (Bulgaria)
- Daniela Castelani (Italy)
- Danielle Stewart (Australia)
- Jessica Mendoza (USA)
- Zhou Yi (China)
- Sibylle Züercher (Switzerland)
- Luciola Figueroa (Puerto Rico)
- Lynn Alexander (South Africa)
- Rubilena Rojas (Venezuela)
- Saskia Kosterink (Netherlands)
- Ming-Hui Chueh (Chinese Taipei)
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The ambassadors will visit the ISF Headquarters in Florida for an instructional seminar. They will represent the ISF during multinational sports events. |
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