Development from an early age is key to survival and sustaining any sporting activity. These are the words of Western Cape baseball coach at junior level, Nelson Maphika, who recently won gold at the national championships held in Bothasig this month.
After two years of shutdown thanks to Covid-19, baseball has returned in a big way, with the Western Cape dominating the South African national championships held in Bothasig this month – and getting ready for bigger things.
“We have only been back in the last three months and had little time to reignite baseball on national level,” noted South African Baseball Union (SABU) president Marc Moreau, “and the tournament was well organised and teams competing were very competitive.”
The SABU games took place from Saturday 26 March to Sunday 3 April, and culminated with the Cape Town Baseball Federation (CTBF) senior side defending their SA trophy with a 11-1 scoreline against Gauteng.
But the Cape sides didn’t stop there – they also took gold in the under-10, 12, 15 and 18 sections.
“As a coach words can not describe how I feel about winning gold at the National baseball championship this year after so many years of trying,” said Western Cape baseball coach at junior level, Nelson Maphika.
Maphika has been in charge of the under-12 side since 2016 and since then has been working towards the gold medal at national level.
“All these years I have been coming back home with bronze and silver medals – and now, finally, I got my hands on that gold medal and a trophy.”
The national games medals were a pinnacle of Maphika’s work in the baseball community (thus far), and he couldn’t be happier about playing a role in the advancement of the game.
“I am really glad that I am involved in this grassroots effort, and for being given the opportunity to work with these kids. It really gives me joy to see them growing and becoming night balls and giving back to other kids as well,” said Maphika.
This work is essential for the future of SA baseball.
“Development from an early age is key to survival and sustaining any sporting activity. Neglecting the juniors in any sporting field will not yield any positive results for the senior side.”
He also added a bronze to his gold as a guest player for Eden district, where he was happy to bring some much-needed experience to the side as it helps with the development of the sport of baseball in general.
“We (guest players) have helped instill hope, light and belief in Eden district after we managed to win silver,” he said. “I think we really made a huge difference.”
Baseball For All: Developing South Africa’s Next Stars
Maphika’s involvement in both the Western Province and Eden is part of a bigger plan of spreading the game as possible to everyone involved as they can.
South African baseball may owe its origins to US gold miners in the Witwatersrand, but Cape Town has long been the hub of baseball in the country: Cape Town Baseball Federation has only lost one match in the past 10 years in the seniors division, and the Cape side makes up up to 80% of the national team.
But while Capetonians may be happy with that, it doesn’t do justice to the future of the game, as the competition hardly expands to other parts of the country.
Cape senior captain Jonathan Phillips, who also captains the national team, is proud of his team’s performance. However, as a staunch baseballer who wants the game to develop to the highest level in the country, he says he wants to see the Cape side given a run for their money.
“It’s a great feeling (winning all the trophies on offer), it’s very good for Cape Town baseball and it shows that we are doing the right things, but it’s not good for baseball as a whole in the country as we can’t just have one district dominating. We need to make sure the whole country is moving in the right direction.”
This was echoed by the South African Baseball Union President Marc Moreau, who said the sport can never grow to its full potential with one district being overly dominant to others.
That is what Moreau wants to change about the game and why players like Maphika play as guests to other districts – and why this year SABU chose to include a women’s team in the games as well.
“This year’s national games proved to be very successful. We are very happy about the proceedings and we added the women’s team to this year’s games,” said Moreau. “Next year will be even bigger as we work towards adding as many teams as we possibly can.”
South African baseball will be competing in international events this year that include world cups in under-12s, under-18 and under-23s. Cape Town will be expected to have many representatives in the teams as a result of their dominance at national level.
The senior side will also be making a lot of international trips starting with the World Baseball Classics qualifiers later in the year.
“It’s fantastic for us to develop the game and spread it out as much as we can,” said Moreau. “Our objective is to take baseball to the people.”
Author: Jalamba kaTshezi
Edited by Nicklaus Kruger
