President’s Message, Winter 2018

I’m writing this well rested from the extra hour of sleep last night with the time change. I hope everyone has adjusted to this fall weather and is looking forward to their fall and winter sports. Indoor ball will start this week and this year we have a full slate of 4 teams with some on a waiting list. I look forward to playing and to the camaraderie after the game back at the DH.

This past summer Slo-Pitch season was a success. We had 15 teams in all, one more than last year, and we hope everyone enjoyed the season and looks forward to coming back again next year. The season was longer than we had planned for because of the very wet September and with all the rain-outs we had to play into the first week of October.  A number of players were committed to family vacations or a fall sport and were not able to play in the last games of the playoffs. This was unfortunate and the Executive will be looking at changing the schedule to make sure that our season ends (with possible rain-outs allowed for) the last or second to last week in September. Congratulations to the winning teams in the playoffs, the Musketeers in Green, Rockers in Blue and the Dinosaurs in Red.

The WECSSO Slo-Pitch Annual banquet was well attended this year. Special thanks to Jack Bump, our Social Director, for organizing the event. Winning teams in each division were given a travel bag with our logo, champions and year on it. This is the second year we have given away the travel bags they were well received by the members. Next year we will probably change things up for something different.  Thanks to all members who were able to provide a door prize. Again this year we had over 50 prizes to give out. Door prizes were donated by;

Beau’s Auto Everything, Essex (Dan Gelinas)
Shirley and Dave Chapman
Riverside Floor Hockey ( Ron Ottogalli)
Tom Goebel
South Point Ford (Jerry Meloche)
Dale Renaud
Windsor Spitfires (Len Dupuis)
Steve Travis
Mary Ann Adlam
Gord Wright
Dale and Delores Atkinson
WECSSO
(apologies if I missed anyone)

The Annual General Meeting, was held on Monday October 30th. It was well announced in advance about the importance of this meeting and yet we only had 39 members out of 225 show up.  I thank those members who came out to the meeting and for their interest and support of the executive. There would be no league if not for the dedicated members that have served on the both the WECSSO and Slo-Pitch executives over the years. What can we, the executive, do to get more of you to attend the AGM and be more involved? Let us know. When I first joined the league in 2003, there was ample support for the executive at the AGMs with 75 – 90 members attending. What has changed???

At the meeting, 2 motions were carried to consolidate both the WECSSO and Slo-Pitch Executives into one new executive of 12 directors and the Past President. Nominations and elections were held and the new Board of Directors has met to determine who will hold the various positions of responsibility.

Special thanks to the following members who served on the either the WECSSO or Slo-Pitch executive last year and are not returning on the executive this coming year.  Their service to the WECSSO Organization is very much appreciated and when you next see them, be sure to thank them.

Ken Dafoe     Phil Ochs     Don Diubaldo     Mike Patterson
Len Dupuis     Jack Westlake     Gary Galli

Each year, members receive a team partnership card from National Sports. We receive 5% of all purchases back to our league. This year our members purchased $2,200 in sports equipment and we received back $110.00. This $110.00 was given out as 11 door prizes to members attending our AGM. AGAIN, next Spring, hold off purchasing new equipment until you receive your partnership card.

Enjoy your fall and winter seasons. Have a safe and wonderful holiday season as well.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Winter 2014

BrianFall is upon us and winter is just around the corner. I hope everyone is still active in one sport or another. I’m looking forward to Winter Indoor Baseball which has just started at the Novelletto Centre. With some of the players going south in January there will be open spaces. Come on out and join us. Contact Ron Ottogalli.

I thought this past season with summer Slo-Pitch was a success. Our new Commissioner, Rick Anderson, and his Slo-Pitch Committee did an excellent job this year. It took us a while to get used to the pitching screens but most members adjusted well and we will continue with their use. The Slo-Pitch executive will be busy this winter organizing for next year.
We did experience some problems with fielding teams, (especially in the Red and Green Divisions), as a number of players due to health or injuries had to quit playing. We had 16 teams this year, (5 Red, 6 Blue and 5 Green.) At present, we are projecting only 14 teams next year, (down from 18 teams a few years ago), as both Red and Green will probably be down to 4 teams each. We need some new players. As a result a Motion was passed at the WECSSO Annual Meeting to lower the age of involvement in the Slo-Pitch Division of WECSSO to age 50. We’re hoping to get more players that work shifts and are able to play in the morning.
I’d like to thank all the members who supported Megan and Matt this year at the concession, especially with their loss because of the concession fire. On behalf of the members, the WECSSO Executive and the Slo-pitch Committee presented Matt and Megan with a donation of $2000 to help offset some of their losses. They were also given a gift certificate to Babies ‘R Us and funds from a 50/50 draw – special thanks to Maggie Miall and Bernie Decaire.

We had a beautiful day at our 18th Annual Memorial Day of Remembrance. Gord Gunnel and Bob Parent presented an excellent program to honour eight members that had passed away in the past year. Special thanks to Carolyn Campbell and Deacon Rick Heath, one of our members, for taking part in the service. It would be nice to see more members out at this event. A memorial brick is laid for each member in our own special reserved area which is right by the Udine Fountain at the corner of Riverside Drive and Ouellette Ave.
Since that service, four more members, Bill Vankoughnett, Dave Bohonko, John Parr and Ron Villeneuve have passed away. They will be honoured at next year’s service.

The WECSSO Slo-Pitch Annual Banquet was well attended this year. A special surprise presentation was made to Bob Parent. He was presented with a Tiger jersey and a beautiful Tiger jacket for his 22 years of service with WECSSO. Bob will continue to serve as Past President and co-chairman of the Remembrance Committee.

A word about the Annual Meeting this past October 21st: We had 50 members, if that, in attendance. I thank those who were able to attend but we need to see more of you at this once a year meeting. WECSSO is SLO-PITCH BASEBALL. Without a WECSSO Executive to organize, recruit, fund-raise and direct the membership there is no Slo-Pitch Baseball.

This executive along with the Slo-Pitch Committee provides an excellent program we all love, but it needs some leadership to continue to do so. We had 5 members up for re-election. Tom Bois, Ken Dafoe, and Sylvia Schultz, were willing to stand for re-election. Bob Parent and Bill Scheuerman, (both after many years of service), were stepping down leaving 2 vacancies on the executive. Nominations were open to the floor but no one was willing to stand for the 2 open positions. If this continues, where does that leave us?
The WECSSO executive is responsible for membership/recruitment, fundraising, support of the Goodfellows Paper Drive, Youth and Child Sponsorship and support of both the summer and winter indoor slo-pitch. The executive meets 4 – 5 times a year. If you feel you are able give some time and want to serve on this executive, please email or call me or any one of the executive members. Along with Tom, Ken and Sylvia, you have, Jim Bridge, Phil Ochs, Ron Ottogalli, Lido Sandre and myself as your 2015 WECSSO Executive.
ALONE WE CAN DO SO LITTLE, TOGETHER WE CAN DO SO MUCH – Helen Keller

Summer 2013

I would like to start by thanking all those who have taken leadership positions in the WECSSO organization for their endless help and dedication in creating an enjoyable atmosphere for us seniors to play in a sporting activity. Many meetings have taken place by the Slow Pitch Executive in order to maintain and improve the league. The main topic this spring was to recruit more ballplayers in order to have six teams in each division. An advertising campaign was held this spring that encompassed advertising in every paper in Essex County and Windsor area. We have yet to determine if it was a success, in order to do that we are asking all the new ball players how they found out about our league, so all you new players will be asked how you found out about our league. Please cooperate with the request so we can evaluate the advertising blitz. Indoor Slow Pitch had a tremendous season with the updated facility at the Novelletto center. The players played under almost identical facilities as an outdoor park, the lighting has improved along with the size of the playing field. The only problem with the better playing conditions is the cost of playing. The cost of playing is being raised so the Indoor group is looking at a way to adjust the payment scale for the players and the Organization.

The Pickle Ball group is expanding at a tremendous rate as the sport is growing in all age groups. Our senior group is the reason the sport is becoming so popular by the organizing of the league at the Riverside Minor Baseball facility. They have two levels of play so everyone who wishes to play will have an opportunity to do so. The advanced level made us proud by winning so many medals at the latest competition in London. It is great when a new Pickle Ball player approaches me and lets me know how much they are enjoying the sport. The Pickle Ball executive need to be thanked for their dedication and for the contribution they are making for Senior Sports.

Along with the excitement of playing and enjoying sports comes the sadness when some of our members pass away. We are experiencing this year an increase in the number of members who have passed away. The number at this time is 8. The list is on the Website for your information. We are trying to organize an honour group to attend funerals and honour our deceased members with an honour guard. We tried it at a couple of funeral events and it went over very well. The family and friends of the deceased thanked us for the show of kindness and thoughtfulness. In order to do this for our members we need to set up a committee to look after it, so please let me know if you are interested.

On a last note; WECSSO has purchase a trailer to store our equipment at the park and during the off season. It is a used trailer but should be adequate for our circumstances. This will allow managers to store their equipment at the park and not have to carry them with them. We need help in making it adequate for our purposes so if anyone of you are able to help let me know and maybe we can have it at the park sooner than later.

“A LOT OF TIMES PEOPLE LOOK AT THE NEGATIVE SIDE OF WHAT THEY FEEL THEY CAN’T DO. WE SHOULD ALWAYS LOOK AT THE POSITIVE SIDE OF WHAT WE CAN DO.”

 

Fall 2012

As we wind down our summer activities we look back and see if the season was successful. I believe the Slow Pitch league was very successful in having a minimal number of issues that arose. The weather was a little uncooperative in having 36 rainouts. There is one thing I would like to mention is the storing of our Slow Pitch equipment during the off season and during the ball season it has been suggested that we purchase a small cube trailer and leave it at the park, the managers would not have to store it in their vehicles. We do have permission to park the trailer at the rear of the pavilion. If anyone knows of a used trailer that we could purchase please let me know. At the present time Bernie Decaire is our First Aid person. Bernie cannot be at all the games during the season; so if there is someone who would like to work with Bernie in this important activity please let me know. If some of you are wondering we are remaining at the Ciociaro Club for the 2013 season.

The Pickle Ball group are continually adding members; the Pickle Ball game is expanding all over the city with great interest. Our own senior Pickle Ball players made us proud with all the medals won at the past Ontario tournaments. Congratulations to all the participants.

We experienced and will experience in the future deaths among our fellow members we started something that I and many other members think is very thoughtful and meaningful. A number of ballplayers assembled to form an honour guard at the burial service for Bob Wilhelm; it was well received by the family and friends of Bob. Bernie Decaire was instrumental  in organizing the event. If anyone is interested in helping Bernie in this very fulfilling endeavour please let us know, we would like to do this for all of our deceased WECSSO members.

At our annual WECSSO meeting held at the Serbian Center Two amendments where brought forward; one was defeated and the other carried. The one that was carried will see a change on how we select the Slo Pitch Executive. It will be by vote and not by being appointed. It will be similar to the method we use for the WECSSO Executive. We will accept nominations and if the individual is willing to run for the executive they will be placed on the ballot. There will be 10 people elected; 5 will be elected for 2 years and 5 elected for 1 year. In the future our vote will be held at our annual WECSSO meeting held in October but for this upcoming year WECSSO Slo Pitch membership is having a meeting in order to elect a Slo Pitch executive for the upcoming year. It is very important that we have a good attendance to show support for the individuals who are willing to accept the responsibilities of the program, (they are available from our Secretary Ron Ottogalli or Myself.) Our present Slo Pitch executive who were appointed; have done an exceptional job in organizing, improving and operating the program and I am hoping that they will submit their name to run for the Slo Pitch executive. Until you hear from me in the next newsletter.

“Instead of giving yourself reasons why you can’t, give yourself reasons why you can.”