The Coho Kings travelled to Kitsilano for the April 28-29 weekend to play in the annual Men’s Fastpitch Icebreaker. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and the team was able to get in only one game. Bill Stockwell got the start for the Coho Kings against the Surrey Rebels. Hits were tough to come by for the Coho Kings and eventually the game and tournament were called due to the rain.
This gave the team lots of time to discuss the upcoming Sunshine Coast Men’s Fastpitch season, which starts the first week in June – the hot topic, of course, being the banning of the league from Hackett Park by current Mayor Bruce Milne and parks manager Perry Schmitt.
Their reasoning for the ban is the danger to the public from foul balls being hit during games.
This seems to be a strange reason as in the league’s history there have been no pedestrians hit, while there have been a few cases of vehicles being hit.
During the discussion, the players looked out at all four fields at Connaught Park in Kitsilano, which just have a backstop and, instead of fencing down the baselines, are bordered by sidewalks busy with pedestrians.
The players from the city were as dumbstruck as our local team was about the Hackett ban. Connaught Park is considerably busier with pedestrians and traffic, and has residential housing and school facilities on all sides of the ball field, yet the issue of removing baseball from the park has never been mentioned. It is common for people to walk by and stop to watch a bit of the game and ask what the score is. It seems that in the city, people have a better understanding that the park is a place where sports take place and that the park can be a vibrant part of the community.
In today’s Sechelt, sports – and in this case fastpitch – seem to be seen as a nuisance, something that should be out of sight and out of mind. Hackett Park was initially built for the primary purpose of being a fastpitch park, and the Sunshine Coast Fastpitch League is the oldest running league in B.C.
Change is inevitable, but change should be for the positive and taking away events and activities that bring a community together is not in the best interests of the town’s people.
