7/25/2008 - MABS Presents Seven Year Development Plan

MABS President, Mario Debono met with representatives from all the baseball teams at the Maritime Antonine Hotel in Mellieha to discuss the strategy MABS will be putting into place between now and 2015. Debono said the emphases will be on increasing participation at all levels and sectors of MABS, but particular emphases will be given to the youths and coaches. By 2015 MABS wants to have in place a solid base of 6 teams in the National League supported by 360 members from the current 120 members. MABS will also be working to increase the numbers of umpires and scorekeepers, and particular emphases will be given to developing non playing officials. With this in mind MABS already appointed Charles Attard to be responsible for the scorers work group and will also act as the MABS Scorer representative to the Confederation of European Baseball. The next steps will be to to appiont the Umpires representative and re-establish the Coaches Committee to help further strengthen the administrative structure within MABS. A number of incentives for players, umpires and scorers where announced with more details to follow.

Debono emphasised on the need for all the teams to continue strengthening their administrative structure and that MABS would also be helping them in this regards by taking on a central role in administration. A marketing plan is also being developed and should be put into place by the end of summer. In an effort to help with this the Marketing Committee will be re-organsied and the possibility of new appointments within the committee will be considered in the coming days. The youth sector would be further strengthened by the fact that MABS will be Chartering with Little League Baseball and that all activities will be conducted under the guidance of the Little League structure. Details of sponsorship intiatives where also mentioned and Debono said this would help the teams directly by giving them the opportunity to generate revenue. A number of those present gave their opinions on how the league and MABS could progress and a few players that could not attend also sent emails with their suggestions and opinion. Debono ended the meeting by congratulating National Team Manager Ray Bartolo and the national team for the results achieved in Antwerp, and in particular Clint Grima who won the Award for Most Stolen Bases.