TOURNAMENT INFORMATION

The Tournament

The Canadian Little League Championship in 2012 will be taking place in Edmonton, Alberta during the month of August with seven days of competition. This tournament is for boys and girls who are of league age of 11 or 12 years. The Canadian region is split into five main regions and each conducts a tournament involving all District champions from that area. The winners of these regional tournaments proceed o the Canadian Championship. The five regions are: - British Columbia - Prairies (Alberta and Saskatchewan) - Ontario - Quebec - Maritime provinces To allow for local flavour, a team from the host District is given automatic entry to the Championship to round out the tournament by having six teams participating. A separate tournament will be held locally to determine the team that will earn this privilege. This will be a great opportunity in having a warm-up tournament leading up to the Canadian Championships. This tournament is held in a round robin format with each team playing all other teams during the week. The top four teams move into elimination play with the two teams moving on from elimination meeting in the final game. The winner of the championship then represents Canada at the Little League World Series held in Williamsport, Pennsylvania immediately following the Canadian Championship. The event consists of not only baseball games. For many, if not all of the players, this tournament is and will remain the highpoint of their sporting lives and therefore it is our responsibility to make it memorable for them. Only one team can win but the others should take away memories of the City of Edmonton and the Province of Alberta and this experience that will last a lifetime. Many activities are being arranged for the teams and their supporters; however this will not be a inexpensive endeavor. The last time that Alberta District #2 hosted this prestigious tournament was in 1989 and the budget at that time was slightly in excess of $100,000. We know that current economic conditions make acquiring sponsorship a difficult task; however we also know that with hard work and perseverance, we will be successful. We are also looking to the Edmonton area media to help us get the message out that the Championships are coming - your contribution in letting Edmonton know about this tournament would be most gratefully appreciated. The Organization   Little League Baseball is a non-profit organization that “promotes, develops, supervises and voluntarily assists in all lawful ways the interests of those who participate in Little League Baseball”. It is an international organization with membership of more than 15,000 chartered leagues. To better serve the program these leagues are geographically grouped together into Districts, these Districts are themselves are grouped in Regions and these Regions report directly to Little league Headquarters in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Little League Canada is one such Region and Alberta District #2 is one such District. Currently District #2 is made up of four individual leagues, all situated in the City of Edmonton; namely Community Park, Confederation Park, East Park and Mill Woods. This District organization is responsible for, among other things, conducting the annual tournaments of the District and, as required, the tournaments of the Region. Alberta District #2 tournament bid was accepted and it was awarded the 2012 Little League Canadian Championship.   What are we working on right now? We are currently working getting all the components together for the tournament - we have moved from years away to weeks away from the opening game! We are still working on our budget requirements; We have secured working partnerships with the City of Edmonton Parks & Recreation and the diamond is almost ready for the tournament; and The Sawridge Hotel is the official Host Hotel and has been deemed the tournament headquarters. We are always looking at sponsorship and fundraising and there are a number of initiatives on the go there. What could make this championship different? Edmonton is known as the City of Champions and people within Little League around Canada remember fondly the time they spent here in 1989. You know that if you go to a small town in Alberta you will receive a warm welcome, and we want to ensure that everyone involved in the 2012 Championship in Edmonton will come away with the same warm welcome. This is what makes Edmonton and Edmontonians special and, we feel, will make this championship different – we are aiming for small town involvement in a large city environment. The focus of this championship will be the players and ensuring that they fondly remember their experience. What could we use right now in terms of help? Right now we are looking for people who can help us out by: a. Serving on one of the many committees that have or will be created from now until openeing day; b. Partnering with us financially. Of course there would be associated benefits including advertising & promotion at the tournament for our partners; and c. Just getting the word out that we are ready to play ball in August! Is this the first time this tournament has been held in Edmonton? This is not the first time that this tournament has been held in Edmonton; it is in fact the third. The first was in 1972 and that tournament was won by Windsor South Little League from Ontario. The second was in 1989 which was won by High Park Little League out of Toronto. Edmonton fell just short in the 1989 tournament when Confederation Park Little League from our city lost in the championship final.