An all-star international BackSoftball team, including Olympians from three continents, arrived in Lausanne, Switzerland Friday to prepare for a key International Olympic Committee (IOC) presentation for softball’s return to the 2016 Summer Games.
The team will undergo “rigorous” preparations for Monday’s presentation to the IOC Executive Board said a press release, when they plan to convey, among other highlights, the development of softball across the globe including initiatives to promote the sport in under-developed and troubled communities.
USA Olympic softball gold medallist Michele Smith, a member of the bid team, said “the Olympic Games has been the pinnacle of competition for hundreds of softball players across the world and the competition in Beijing last summer was one of the highlights of the Games – and it was doping-free once again.
“But softball goes far beyond that. The ISF has done so much to promote the sport and it now touches the lives of people young and old across the world, and because it’s easy to learn and inexpensive to play, it’s making a real impact”.
Task Force Co-Chair Donna de Varona in Lausanne said, “the ISF leadership and our global BackSoftball Ambassadors are prepared and excited to pitch softball to the members of the IOC Executive Board. This is softball’s last and most important official presentation before the decision will be made as to whether or not softball returns to the Olympic program in 2016. Our team is confident that softball exemplifies the best qualities of the Olympic movement. It is inclusive, global, adaptable, and lends itself to a multitude of initiatives seeking to teach important sports, health, and peace making lessons.
“The fact that the ISF has an office here in Lausanne demonstrates softball’s growing popularity and commitment to those softball players and leaders worldwide who are eager to rejoin the Olympic movement. I am convinced that the BackSoftball team can fully communicate the tremendous virtues the sport promotes”.
