Latest / WCBH / Sunday Sluggers: Baseball NT’s New 60-Minute Social League

Transcript

Sunday Sluggers: Baseball NT’s New 60-Minute Social League · WCBH

• 0:00
  Hey, it's Cam from WCBH. You get your strapping strap, the magic sponge doused,
• 0:04
  and the oranges cut children quartered as we talk to Kai Maronen from Baseball
• 0:08
  NT about Sunday Sluggers.
• 0:10
  Kai, welcome back to WCBH. Good to be here. Tell us about this new concept that
• 0:16
  you've got going, Sunday Sluggers.
• 0:19
  Yes, so very, very exciting times. We're announcing a brand new product in the
• 0:23
  baseball entree repertoire, if you will, called Sunday Sluggers.
• 0:27
  So Sunday Sluggers is going to be a social baseball competition based up in
• 0:32
  Darwin, kicking off in May just after the Mayday long weekend.
• 0:36
  And the concept for it sort of came around a bit from, I guess,
• 0:40
  probably the shortcomings of baseball.
• 0:42
  You know, I am biased, but I will admit when there is fault.
• 0:45
  But you know like baseball on on
• 0:48
  a top level is not very accessible and it's not very time conscious
• 0:51
  all right so normally you're fine with a lot of people
• 0:54
  they have to keep games go for two and a half three hours
• 0:57
  and there's quite a high sort of base level of
• 1:00
  skill required to be able to to come in and play so Sunday Sluggers is basically
• 1:05
  coming to try and and create a an event and an opportunity for people who might
• 1:12
  be interested in giving baseball a go in a very social and welcoming environment
• 1:15
  that only takes up 60 minutes of your time on a Sunday.
• 1:19
  Yeah. I'm getting a sense that there's a bit of a banana ball feel to it.
• 1:23
  How does the format work?
• 1:26
  So the format's super, super simple. So it's basically going to be a six-week
• 1:29
  competition, one-hour games, and we're really trying to capture the whole,
• 1:34
  I guess, Sunday session sort of vibe.
• 1:36
  So in terms of what the games actually look like, it's not traditional baseball
• 1:41
  in the sense of, you know, full level pitching on a full size diamond,
• 1:46
  it's going to be a smaller diamond.
• 1:48
  Bigger balls, big bats, all equipment's going to be supplied as well as a few
• 1:52
  rules to sort of keep the tryhards away for lack of a better word.
• 1:57
  So there's not going to be any stealing and there might be stuff like double
• 2:00
  points on home runs and we're also trying to keep the teams to mix teams so
• 2:05
  there will be a minimum female presence required on all the teams to keep it
• 2:09
  fun and welcoming for everyone yeah okay so you just mentioned a mixed team
• 2:13
  so it's really designed for people who who want to get out get active and enjoy
• 2:18
  the game of baseball is that right,
• 2:20
  Yeah, definitely. It's designed for everyone is the short term.
• 2:24
  So we're opening up to people age 14 and over.
• 2:28
  Families are more than welcome to come down and try. I think a lot of the inspiration
• 2:31
  around this event has actually been from families with our Little League T-ball
• 2:35
  programs where we've obviously had the two youngest kids in there having a go
• 2:39
  and our mum and dad are sort of looking to what their inlet to the sport is.
• 2:43
  So we're sort of hoping in sort of having this launching Sunday Sluggers as
• 2:48
  a base level event that we'll get new people involved in the game.
• 2:51
  And if they want to continue their journey, then obviously we have the Darwin
• 2:55
  Baseball League and the Darwin Women's Baseball League later in the year for
• 2:57
  them to take the next level afterwards. It's a bit of a bit of a segue.
• 3:01
  You mentioned that the gear is supplied. So you turn up.
• 3:05
  Do you need to join a club or are teams formed on the day? And what sort of
• 3:10
  atmosphere would you expect on game day?
• 3:14
  So in terms of registrations, we are going to be looking to take team registrations as a whole.
• 3:19
  So whether it's a workplace, a friend group, you know, just a couple of lads
• 3:23
  or ladettes to get together, that's sort of how it's going to work.
• 3:26
  But we'll be taking individual registrations as well as trying to find a team
• 3:31
  for everyone to get involved with.
• 3:33
  In terms of a game day, it's literally going to be just super low commitment.
• 3:37
  You know, rock up, everything's going to be there for you, everything you need.
• 3:40
  Play your game for an hour, have a good time. We'll have music going,
• 3:43
  we'll have the canteen at the baseball field going as well.
• 3:45
  So once you're done, you can kick back, have a few drinks, have a hot dog and
• 3:49
  just, you know, I think it all stems back to that word Sunday session, right?
• 3:52
  Just have a fun time playing baseball, trying something new and just getting out there.
• 3:59
  There's something iconic about a hot dog at the baseball. Is this all going
• 4:03
  to take place at Tracy Village?
• 4:06
  Yes, this is all going to kick off at Tracy Village. The plan is to hopefully
• 4:09
  have three or four mini diamonds going on the one main diamond at the same time.
• 4:14
  We're looking at the weekend after May Day. So I think the 8th of May we're looking to kick off.
• 4:19
  We will have more information coming out on Baseball NT social media as well
• 4:23
  over the coming weeks in terms of registrations and more specific details.
• 4:28
  So if you're keen to get involved, follow Baseball NT and shoot you a message,
• 4:33
  is that what people need to do?
• 4:35
  Yeah, absolutely. Follow BaseballNT. If we have any corporate or workplace teams
• 4:39
  out there that are looking to get involved, whether it's from a partnership
• 4:41
  perspective or just to enter a team, shoot us an email at admin at baseballnt.com.au.
• 4:48
  What about the kit in terms of the uniforms, like the Darwin Women's Baseball
• 4:52
  League from last season?
• 4:53
  I was so impressed with the kits that were provided there.
• 4:56
  Is that sort of thing going to happen in the Sunday Sluggers or it's a bit more
• 5:00
  casual? It's rock up with the corporate t-shirt on and go from there.
• 5:06
  Well, we're actually going to take a very interesting approach to uniforms this year, Cam.
• 5:11
  So obviously, baseball does have a quite defined uniform.
• 5:15
  We're looking to shake it up. So each of the six weeks of the Sunday Sluggers,
• 5:19
  we're actually going to have a different theme for each of the rounds.
• 5:22
  So whether that's a no more round, we might do an orange round,
• 5:25
  we might do a pink round, we might even do a 70s retro round.
• 5:29
  We're going to encourage each of the teams to sort of come up with their own
• 5:33
  uniform ideas. And then, you know, there might even be an extra run-on offer
• 5:37
  given out by the umpires for whichever team, whatever team or whichever day
• 5:42
  has the best uniform in their judgment.
• 5:44
  So just again, just some fun, silly ideas to get people involved.
• 5:50
  And I guess just be creative around this space and try to put on the best experience we can possible.
• 5:55
  We've been talking with Kai Maronen from Baseball NT. This, Kai,
• 5:59
  this sounds like a whole lot of fun and a great way to get out there,
• 6:02
  get active and enjoy the game of baseball.
• 6:05
  And as you said, a good segue into the seasons later on in the year.
• 6:10
  Kai, thanks so much once again for joining us on WCBH.
• 6:13
  No worries, Ken, any time.