Editorial -- staff

World Class Competition

Jan. 1, 2001 – Senior Softball-USA editorial

The Senior Softball World Championships became the first true International Championships this year when it was played in a foreign country - Canada. Not only was it the first time a Senior Softball championship was played outside the United States, but a Canadian team made history when the Richmond (Vancouver) Olde Boys beat the Oklahoma 60s, 26-4, to become the first team outside the United States to win a World Championships.

This year, the Senior Softball World Championships are being held in Las Vegas and already eight teams have committed from Canada, three from Japan and one from Germany. One of the teams coming from Japan is a women's team - another first for the sport.

The international interest in senior softball didn't happen overnight. Senior Softball-USA, the organization that administers Senior Softball World Championships, has been participating in Senior Softball events all over the world for the past 13 years and has established some very close relationships while working with other countries in developing their senior softball program.

In fact, two other international softball organizations - in Japan and Europe - asked Senior Softball-USA to take the lead role in administering the International Senior Softball Federation (ISSF). The purpose of the International Federation is to exchange senior softball teams and promote the sport internationally.

As part of this arrangement, Senior Softball-USA will be fielding international squads to represent America in Japan and Europe in 2001.

But players and their wives don't have to travel out of the country to participate in exciting new Senior Softball events. Senior Softball-USA is introducing the East / West National Championships and the United States National Championships - in addition to the popular World Championships. If a team is "lucky enough" to win all three events, they will be awarded a jacket that will identify them as the winners of the Triple Grand Slam.

The Eastern National Championships (in Glen Burnie, Maryland) and the Western National Championships (in Sunnyvale, California) offer league teams an opportunity to win a national Championships without traveling across - or out of - the country. And the US Nationals will be held in Las Vegas during the World Championships so that teams can easily participate in both the Nationals and the Worlds.

Season 2001 offers excitement at home and abroad.