This month marks 30 years of service to international softball for Australia's Margo Koskelainen.

CELEBRATING SOFTBALL
2009-05-06

Despite the hectic period that the BackSoftball campaign is in as well as the preparations for the many upcoming competitions, the sport is pausing long enough to give itself and some key individuals their just due.

Recently the Bahamas Softball Federation hosted the induction ceremony for four individuals elected to the International Softball Federation Hall of Fame at the last ISF Congress. In the ballroom at the government house, Candice DeGregory Culmer (player), Richard Johnson (player), Austin Knowles (meritorious service), and Godfrey Gully Pinder (coach) were all inducted by ISF Secretary General Andy Loechner. Among others in attendance were Minister of Youth Sports & Culture Hon. Desmond Bannister and His Excellency Arthur D. Hanna, Governor General, Commonwealth of the Bahamas.

This Saturday in New Brunswick (Canada) there will be a tribute to recognize ISF Director of Umpires Bob Stanton. A large turnout is expected for that ceremony.

One of Mr. Stanton’s colleagues is recognized this month for a most significant achievement. Now that the calendar has turned to May, ISF Special Projects Umpire Coordinator Margo Koskelainen (Australia) is officially marking 30 years of service to international softball.

Elected to the ISF Hall of Fame in 2003, she first obtained her certification as an ISF umpire in 1979. In the years since then, she has served the game both on and off the field, and continues to be just as active, having not only been at the ISF headquarters this past February for a regional umpire coordinators meeting, but also serving as the Assistant Umpire-In-Chief last August at the Olympic softball competition in Beijing. She was also a key contributor to a Female Umpires Forum that the ISF staged.

Looking ahead, next month World Softball Day will again be celebrated. On June 13 the sport will be celebrated around the globe for the fifth consecutive year to coincide with the date in 1991 when the International Olympic Committee announced that women’s fast pitch softball would be added to the Summer Olympics, beginning with the Games in Atlanta in 1996. This year’s worldwide celebration is expected to take on a BackSoftball theme, as the Olympic reinstatement campaign heads into its final months.

New individuals will be in the spotlight later this year when the latest class of ISF Hall of Famers is elected at the XXIV Congress in Venezuela.