GFI: It's travelling season

By Gerry Foster

Way back in 1959 the late Billy Grammer recorded his biggest hit, Gotta Travel On. The 2011 Grand Forks International Baseball tournament (GFI) is just around the corner, and many baseball players could well be singing this song as they prepare to travel to Grand Forks. It is quite fascinating to follow their stories.

 

We are very much a mobile generation and summer is the main season for packing up and taking off hither and yon. GFI ballplayers are different in that they are not on sightseeing trips nor family visits.

 

Moving around comes with their desire to continue playing a game they love and in many cases to extend their careers. Those in the latter group still have a dream to play professionally and the GFI is a place and event where they have yet another opportunity to hone their skills, grow as athletes and perhaps be noticed by a scout sitting in the stands evaluating talent.

 

In the 31-year history of this glorious tournament the numbers that have visited our community and area are  staggering. I looked at only two team rosters from 2010, Lewiston and Team Canada. Lewiston had 15 players from California, representing 14 cities; Team Canada listed 14 players from Ontario, representing 10 communities. And this was less than half their rosters. It is relevant that the B.C. government’s Hosting BC program recently gave $5,000 to the GFI organizing committee.

 

Consider this year’s event. It begins with a team from Australia travelling from the southern hemisphere to play at the GFI.

 

There’s Kevin Atkinson from Surrey, B.C. attended college for four years in New Mexico, played this year in France, came back to play for Canada last month at the World Baseball Challenge in Prince George and will be at the GFI with the Langley Blaze.

 

Another Surrey resident, Nick Senior, has played the last two seasons for the University of British Columbia (UBC) Thunderbirds. This summer he travelled to Saskatchewan to play for the Melville Millionaires in the very competitive Western Major Baseball League. Nick’s season just ended, he was named to the League All-Star team, and will quickly get back to Vancouver and join his UBC teammates as they prepare for another trip to Grand Forks as Team Canada.

 

Dane Donegan from Denver, Colorado completed High School with a grade point average of 4.1, and after doing a lot of research chose to begin his post-secondary education in Canada at UBC where he will also play for the T-Birds baseball team. Dane will be in Grand Forks, and so will his parents.

 

Taylor King is currently pitching for the Sioux City (Iowa) Explorers. Their season ends on Aug. 30 but Taylor has ‘gotta travel on’ for his next stop is Boundary Country.

 

And as this is being written, John Caputo from Toronto is in Moncton, NB, playing third base for Team Ontario at the Canada Cup. Soon afterwards, John will hop on a plane and fly to Vancouver; he is enrolled as a freshman at UBC, and his first game will be at beautiful James Donaldson Park.

 

These travel plans I have mentioned only scratch the surface. Many other baseball players are on the move, journeying to Grand Forks, and this community should be proud to host them for a week. So many athletes and their family members will discover Grand Forks and our area.

 

Sport tourism is now the fastest growing sector of the tourism industry. For three decades  thousands have travelled various routes to get to our scenic community to watch baseball. For those of us who live here, our privilege and unique opportunity is to welcome them while displaying warm hospitality.