We are excited to have teamed up with Pilates For Sports to offer all players, families and friends, the chance to stay involved with the club, to keep fit and be part of a free 28 day Core Strength Challenge.
Pilates For Sports delivers online customised Pilates programs for athletes of all levels, which you can do from home or any location with an internet connection. The program you receive will help strengthen your core, develop strong muscles around the joints, reduce pain and improve your posture, so that you can be your best in sport and in life. With a choice of Baseball, 15 other sports and Pilates For Life, there is something for everyone.
Each person who joins the challenge, automatically goes into the draw to win a $50 gift voucher from Rebel Sport.
The Essendon Baseball Club Challenge starts on Monday 11th October, so make sure you sign up via the QR code, or use the link below. There is no cost for this challenge.
The club is calling for nominations for consideration of being inducted into the clubs Hall Of Fame.
The Essendon Baseball Club Hall of Fame seeks to recognise and enshrine players and senior coaches who have made a significant contribution to the Club since inception in 1893.
The Hall of Fame recognises and promotes the outstanding achievements of an illustrious group of Essendon’s most respected and celebrated past players and senior coaches
You can find full details of the process and the criteria at the link below for such selections.
Over the coming weeks and leading up to the season we will be posting a number of videos to get you ready and excited to get back on the field.
The first video is a message from our Mens Head Coach – Peter Giles.
Essendon Baseball Club members & supporters, we have exciting news!
The time has finally come to announce our new Essendon Baseball Club uniforms, and players and supporters clothing merchandise, just in time for the Summer season!
Please take a moment to browse the new items in our shop.
Thank you to everyone who has been involved in this sizeable project – I hope you’ll agree that the result has been worth all the effort put into the process. It’s all coming together! #ebclove
Australia needs 31,000 donations every week. That’s why EBC is proudly joining the ‘Local Sporting Clubs Blood Challenge’ for Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, from 1 July to 30 September 2021.
Although we’re in lockdown, donating blood remains one of the reasons to leave your home. We encourage all our members and families to join our Lifeblood Team and donate as many times as possible before 30 September.
We have made 3 donations since the start of July, so let’s get going! By donating plasma, as well as whole blood, we can donate more regularly over the next few months. Plasma can be used for 18 different life-changing products.
Click on the link to find out about becoming a donor or to make an appointment and when you sign up don’t forget to let them know you want to be part of Essendon Baseball Club’s Lifeblood Team.
At EBC, we provide you with a pathway to be the best possible athlete you can be. With our coaching principles and off-field mantra of EBC love, we strive to ensure that you feel like part of a baseball family.
Women’s Baseball 2020 Come & Try Day
We also strive to provide a community for you, your parents and your supporters. With warm and inviting club rooms, barista-made coffee, gym and fitness sessions, mental well-being classes and social activities all through the summer.
To All Members of EBC as Addressed (All Juniors, Senior Men & Women, Masters, Volunteers & Committee )
The announcement has been made generally heralding a return to baseball training on 1 November for metro Melbourne, although it appears the 25km travel radius for all Victorian’s may affect those that travel further than that to get to our Club. (which will hopefully be lifted prior to the anticipated start as otherwise, the competition could not operate I would envisage).
Subject to the consideration given to the travel restrictions and any other adjustments to ensure that we have 4 weeks training, BV is planning a return to competition in the first weekend of December, however, there was room in today’s announcement that should the numbers of active cases that we are currently registering remain low, these timelines may be bought forwards, BV and ourselves will plan for both outcomes.
Once the Government gives the green light to start, it will undoubtedly come with a lot of conditions, some we are starting to address, others we will not know until that time. We will also need to be given permission by MVCC prior to any training starting at Boeing Reserve.
So, at the moment we are getting closer and we hope to have all back and in training very soon.
Something important I need you all to do in the meantime.
Before ANYONE can start training you MUST have completed the online “Return to Activity” registration. This is a slightly condensed version of the normal BV online registration. You will be presented with some options, all players select BV player or for all volunteers select the appropriate option. This needs to be done not just by players but all volunteers.
It is a Government requirement and it will be enforced by Baseball Victoria.
Existing members, you will need to use your normal registration ID and password.
New members, you will need to create an account to be able to complete the registration.
There is Zero cost involved. It is just one of the major hoops we have to jump through.
We would appreciate it if you could please do this registration ASAP, the sooner you do this it will be appreciated by us as once we receive them we will be able to confirm teams we will be able to enter.
If you will be bringing any new players along, you will need to advise them to do this before doing so. Please ask them to click the button above to complete the online “Return to Activity” registration.
For those looking to purchase uniform items we have our online shop.
In the meantime, Club Coach Russ Spear has today made a new update video heralding our upcoming return.
New Club Items
The club will be placing orders for Gaitors or also known as Neck masks This is just one of the three different options we are offering.
Wearing of masks will still be required for a fair while yet. Be it playing or sport or just whilst being in public generally. Players both locally and overseas have favoured wearing the Gaitors as opposed to normal face masks.
Due to the lag time in receiving them we will have a cut off date of 30th Oct.
Payment will be required via Direct Deposit. In the description line enter Surname X 2 Masks. So I will use the example of “Abels x 2 Masks” We will then match up to order forms. We have created an online google docs form with all the details. (Thanks to Luke Abels and Leah Trebilcock) The form has our Bank details. Make note of them and make your payment following hitting the submit button. Cost price is $25 for a single item. If you order 2 or more they will be $20 each The online order form is https://forms.gle/jBRjsiaJE8te9hRp6
When future generations look back over the history of the Club, they will look at 1965 as being a successful year. After all, in that year we won our fourth State Premiership, defeating Melbourne 7-1 in the Grand Final, but a closer examination of the ‘entire’ Club’s performances that year, reveal that 1965 was indeed a banner year in the Club’s history.
The best and fairest winner in the first nine that year was Ken Morrison, one of the greatest players ever to pull on an Essendon uniform. After his retirement as a player, Ken continued to serve the Club for many years as a Committeeman and was made a Life Member of the Section in 1989. (He even made a contribution to the Club as a ‘Sire’, with his son Bruce being a long serving member of the first nine, a Club Champion and now a Life Member.)
The second nine best and fairest winner that year was a 17 year old named Robert Rowan. The seconds was merely a stepping stone for Rowan on the way to Club, State and National honours that would bring great credit to both Robert personally and to Essendon. One of the best pitchers in the history of Victorian Baseball, Robert appeared on countless State and National Teams, coached the first nine into third place in 1976 and is presently involved as a pitching coach with the Club.
The third nine best and fairest award went to a 15 year old Garry Bitmead, the current Club Coach and a Life Member of the Baseball Section. Bitmead, (a modern day ‘Doc’ Smith) seems to spend his entire life at the Club. He has been an outstanding performer on the field throughout a distinguished playing career and is virtually single handedly responsible for the development of many of the outstanding junior players to emerge in the Club over the past ten years.
The under 16 side of 1965 included a skinny kid catching with an unusual name – John (no, that’s not the unusual part!) Gavienas. Gavienas was selected in the State Under 16 Team that year and went on to play Claxton Shield ball, coached our Club for number of years, won the Club Championship and was made a Life Member in 1989. We know him now as John Pate, and his involvement in the Club continues today through his two sons, Damian and Jayson.
When the trophies were being handed out to the respective winners at the 1965 Presentation Night, I wonder if anyone present suspected that four of the recipients would still be having a profound influence on the Club nearly 50 years later.
Given the latest Victorian Government announcements regarding the spike in COVID-19 numbers and postcode lockdowns, the Essendon Baseball Club have made the difficult, but responsible decision to pause existing Junior and Senior winter training at Boeing Reserve, and to no longer enter teams in the upcoming MWBL season.
This decision has been made based on the following:
A large number of our members live in the suburbs that will be locked down from midnight tonight.
Members who reside in the listed postcodes will be unable to attend training and this would have seriously impacted our ability to field teams.
At all times the safety of our members is our priority, and it is felt that we had a duty of care to suspend training and participation in competition as we could not realistically guarantee coach and player safety.
The increase in COVID-19 cases is of overall concern to the community and other local organisations such as the EDFL have also cancelled their seasons for these reasons.
Training, Juniors & Seniors, has been underway over the last few weeks and we know that our families will be disappointed, however, we anticipate that we would have your understanding and support for this decision. Once we have the go ahead, we will ensure that training will re-commence and we will focus on working towards a healthy summer and future seasons.
If you have any queries or concerns please contact Julie Jones (Seniors) on 0408170695 or Kay Ferguson (Juniors) on 0419337949.
