Welcome to British Columbia, Canada

The 3rd World Vintage Softball Carnivals are now well into planning and following plenty of votes from teams that have taken part previously and who intend to take part in the future, the decision has been taken that the 3rd Carnival will be played in British Columbia, Canada.

The City of Surrey, part of metropolitan Vancouver will be the host city and already members of the local softball fraternity have shown considerable enthusiasm in preparing to be part of the Carnival which has been split so that:

The World Vintage Softball Carnival-Fastpitch will be played Sunday, 15 May to Saturday 21 May, 2011
The World Vintage Softball Carnival-Slowpitch will be played Sunday, 8 May to Saturday 14 May, 2011

The City of Surrey is a real softball centre and the Carnivals will be played on leading facilities at Cloverdale Park and at Softball City which regularly hosts national and international Tournaments including the Canada Cup. Both facilities will be staging Carnival games with our teams having access to all the amenities at both complexes.

We are fortunate to have the co-operation and enthusiastic support of Jim Ullock, President of Cloverdale Minor Softball League who will be one of the host associations. Jim will be Carnival Local Liaison and is already planning venues, timetables and facilities that will far exceed anything we have experienced previously. Joining Jim in his role will be Rick Benson, who is District Minor Co-ordinator of District 7 of Softball British Columbia. Rick has already been active seeking out and recommending usage of facilities and services in the district.

"We are determined to make sure that nothing goes wrong and that all our visitors have an exceptional softball experience on great diamonds with excellent facilities and welcoming host teams" said Jim. "Local teams are queuing up to take part and to be involved. Going to be a great couple of weeks."

So have a browse through this newsletter and give some thought to joining us at the 3rd World Vintage Softball Carnival. If you are a team that has been to Rotorua and/or Hawaii for either or both of the 1st two Carnivals, your entry fee is waived and you will be entered in the Returning Team Draw for a team prize to be claimed while you are in Surrey, BC. If you are a new team entering a Vintage Softball Carnival for the 1st time you will be in the draw for the Newbies Team Draw for a team prize to be claimed while you are at the Carnival.

Venues
Program
Not the Masters
Packages
Entries Received Already and What to do next
Read more on Vintage Softball Websites

No matter which you are we look forward to seeing you in beautiful British Columbia in May, 2011.

Dianne McDermott
Vintage Softball Office
Level 1, 250 Mahurangi East Rd
PO Box 78, Snells Beach 0942, New Zealand
Telephone: (+64) 9 425 5294
Facsimile: (+64) 9 425 6956
Email: dianne@vintagesoftball.com
Website: www.vintagesoftball.com

VENUES

We are assured of excellent venues for the games including Softball City and Cloverdale Park.

Softball City is a premier Sports and Entertainment complex in the City of Surrey consisting of four championship standard diamonds and a 120 seat fully licensed restaurant with a 200 seat outdoor patio. The patio provides a great vantage point to relax and watch the games taking place. Teams will be guaranteed a number of games at Softball City. The facilities are outstanding as befits the complex that hosts the Canada Cup.

View Larger Map

Cloverdale Park features 5 grass diamonds (all with seating), concessions providing food and refreshments, washrooms and is regularly used by Cloverdale Minor Softball Association providing quality softball for the youth of the area. Members of Softball British Columbia, the Association are well involved with the organisation of the Carnival and are looking forward to showing off their facilities and their hospitality.

Should there be a requirement for additional diamonds the delightful Royal Kwantlen Park will be made available. The Park is a 28 acre complex of walking trails, forest land, gardens and home to 6 diamonds (4 grass and 2 all-weather) of excellent standard. The Royal Kwantlen Park will be a perfect back-up facility for the two main grounds should it be required.

PROGRAM

The weeks activities for both Fastpitch and Slowpitch will include 8 games of softball per team, an Opening Party at either Softball City (weather permitting) or Pacific Inn in White Rock (in the event of inclement conditions), a Closing Dinner and Awards evening at Pacific Inn. There will be a rest day during the week with the chance to do sight-seeing in the region including the opportunity to explore nearby Vancouver.

Full details of the program, dates and times are available here for Vintage Fastpitch and Vintage Slowpitch.

NOT THE MASTERS

Vintage Softball is most definitely NOT the Masters and IS most definitely about fun and friendship on and off the Diamond. All games will be competitive and all teams want to win but there are no major prizes for triumphant teams just the pleasure of playing against teams of like standard from various parts of the softball world. Teams will be graded into age groups and into self-assessed playing standards.

Teams can enter as 35 years up or 50 years up and as semi-competitive or social.
A small range of trophies, presentations and prizes will be awarded:

Every registered participant receives a Carnival Medallion at the commencement of the Carnival.
The team with the most wins in each Category will receive a team trophy and certificates for each registered player-
- Womens 35 up - Semi Competitive
- Womens 35 up - Social
- Womens 50 up - Semi Competitive
- Womens 50 up - Social
- Mens 35 up - Semi Competitive
- Mens 35 up – Social
- Womens 50 up - Semi Competitive
- Womens 50 up - Social
- Co-ed (Slowpitch)-Semi Competitive
- Co-ed (Slowpitch)-Social
Fun Team of the Carnival-Trophy
Hard Case Team of the Carnival-Trophy
Friendliest Team of Carnival-Trophy
Personality of the Carnival-Trophy
Most Gracious Losers-Trophy
Carnival MVP Womens-Trophy
Carnival MVP Mens-Trophy

The awards will be decided by a panel of local Association Officials and volunteers and will be adjudicated in the true spirit of Vintage Softball.

The Carnival is designed to maximise the enjoyment of all participants and the rules and playing conditions reflect the spirit of Vintage Softball and the wish to ensure that all taking part experience a fantastic celebration of the great game of softball. Check out the rules by following the links to Vintage Fastpitch or Vintage Slowpitch.

PACKAGES

A wide range of accommodation packages are available to visiting teams with prices starting at CAN$1,055 per person. Accommodation is available at various Carnival hotels and motels on the basis of double, triple and quad share; some offer breakfasts; some have kitchen facilities and some are very pleasant hotel rooms.

Full details of all the accommodation options are available
on the Packages page of the two websites. To get details of what is available follow the link to Vintage Fastpitch or Vintage Slowpitch.

Some of the hotels on the list have limited availability so it will be a case of ‘First come, first served’. Where teams do not manage to get their first choice we will arrange similar accommodation at the same prices (where available). All the accommodation is ideal for our purposes and will be of good quality and reasonably close to facilities.

The packages include the following:

Six nights accommodation in the category of accommodation selected and available.
Transfers from the airport, rail station or bus depot to your accommodation on a team basis-1 transfer per team.
Opening Party-3 hours of free bar for beer, wine and soft drinks (cash bar for spirits), substantial finger foods and local entertainment.
Transfer to and from the Opening Party.
Transfers to and from the fields on the playing days of the Carnival.
Eight games of softball-2 games per day for each team (balls supplied).
Finale Dinner and Party-4 and a half hours free refreshments included-beer, wine and soft drinks (cash bar for spirits), 3 course dinner, entertainment and presentation of awards.
Transfers to and from your accommodation to the Finale Dinner.
Transfers to the airport or rail station for your departure on a team basis-1 transfer per team.
Welcome pack including a Carnival Handbook, local maps and directories and information on the City of Surrey.
Souvenir gift pack including a Carnival cap, participation medallion, Carnival badge and local gifts.
Local taxes on accommodation, transfers and softball fixtures.

Home team packages and non-accommodation packages are being prepared and will be available in subsequent newsletters.

ENTRIES RECEIVED ALREADY and WHAT TO DO NEXT

Before we have issued our 1st newsletter entries have already been received from:

Ramblers, Queensland, Australia	Mens Fastpitch
Ladner Masters, British Columbia, Canada	Mens Fastpitch (2 teams)
Rossini Masters, City of Surrey, Canada	Mens Fastpitch
Ramblers, Queensland, Australia	Womens Fastpitch (to be confirmed)

We have plenty of promises of entries to come from Fastpitch and Slowpitch teams who took part in the 2 previous World Vintage Softball and enquiries from new teams wishing to become part of the Vintage Softball Movement.

We are limited as to the numbers we can accept and can only host a maximum of 40 teams for each of Fastpitch and Slowpitch spread between Men and Womens (Fastpitch) and Mens and Womens and Co-ed (Slowpitch).

Register your entry now and be sure of your place at the 3rd World Vintage Softball Carnival in Canada in 2011. A range of Early Bird Entry rewards and prizes are being prepared and will be revealed in our next newsletter.

Entry fee is Can$300 except for those teams that attended either the 1st Vintage Softball Carnival in Rotorua in 2007 or the 2nd Vintage Softball Carnival in Hawaii in 2009. These are our Foundation Teams and we are looking forward to welcoming back those that are making the trip to be part of the Carnival.

Why not enter now or at least register your interest by linking to Vintage Fastpitch or Vintage Slowpitch websites and completing the Online Entry or Online Registration of Interest. Manual entry forms can also be downloaded from the respective sites.