The 2021 Canada Games Baseball Program is inching closer to selecting the team that will represent Newfoundland and Labrador at the 2021 Canada Games in Ontario’s Niagara region from August 6th – 14th, 2021.

The next step in the three-year program will occur in September at three locations across the province when the coaching staff travels to the West Coast, Central and East Coast for its final open tryouts. The 2021 Canada Games Program is open to players born in 2004 and later, with limited roster space available for players born in 2003. Tryout information for each region is below: 

Western Regional

Saturday, September 12th

Jubilee Field, Corner Brook.

9:00 AM – 12:00 PM & 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM

Central Regional

Sunday, September 13th

Goodyear Avenue Field, Grand Falls-Windsor.

9:00 AM – 12:00PM & 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM.

Eastern Regional

Friday, September 25th

Jim Crosbie Field (Stoney Hill), CBS

7:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Saturday, September 26th

Jim Crosbie Field (Stoney Hill), CBS

9:00 AM – 12:00 PM & 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM

Sunday, September 27th

Jim Crosbie Field (Stoney Hill), CBS

9:00 AM – 12:00 PM

NOTE: The Sunday, September 27th session will only take place if necessary due to player interest in the Eastern region. Coaching staff will confirm necessity in advance of the date.

If you are an eligible player and are interested in trying out, please complete the online registration form found on the Baseball NL Website and send the $60 dollar registration fee to Team Manager Tony Janes – anthonyjanes4@gmail.com. Players must attend one of the three regional tryout sessions to be considered for selection. If you are unable to attend, please contact head coach Dave Coates at gsd.coates@gmail.com to discuss in further detail.

Tryouts will be held in accordance to the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Public Health Covid-19 guidelines at the time of the tryout.

Program Details

From this final tryout process, a short-list of players will be selected to train during the upcoming Fall and Winter months. These training sessions will be held both on a weekly individual regional level (Western, Central and Eastern locations) as well as a monthly team provincial level (Eastern location). In the spring of 2021, these players will also be committed to provincial and regional training as well as provincial and out-of-province competition sessions, as they compete for one of the final 18 age-eligible and two overage roster spots. The final roster will be selected in the April/May timeframe, and the 20 players selected to the final roster will participate in team provincial level training and competition, both in- and out-of-province, in preparation for the 2021 Canada Games.

As part of the preparation process, the short-listed players will also be expected to participate in team-regulated fitness, nutrition and mental training programs, as well as fund-raising events that will assist in offsetting training, competition and equipment costs for the program.

As 2020 has already shown, the world can change in a minute. And sadly, no one could predict how the Covid-19 pandemic would affect the baseball world this past summer. While the above generally outlines the final steps of the three-year 2021 Canada Games Program, there are finer details that are still being finalized within these steps as the program works through Covid-19. Unfortunately, the uncertainties and challenges are still present as the program moves forward towards the 2021 Canada Games, and this might mean that there may be more changes to come and program details may have to be adjusted along the way. However, the 2021 Canada Games coaching staff is committed in its preparation for the Ontario-based Canada Games next August.

With this in mind, the coaching staff encourages all eligible players with the interest and commitment to compete in the most prestigious youth amateur sporting event in Canada to come out and tryout.

The coaching staff for the 2021 Canada Games Program is David Coates of Conception Bay South, with assistant coaches Kevin Higgins of Gander and David McCarthy of Corner Brook. The Team Manager is Tony Janes of Mount Pearl.