There’s one obvious thing that stands out when looking at the schedule for the 2010 Canadian senior men’s fast pitch championship underway in Charlottetown.
That being a lack of teams entered in the tournament from west of Ontario.
But that doesn’t mean provinces like British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are not being represented.
“All players from the current Canadian national team are here,” said Trent Birt, chair of the tournament’s host committee.
“We certainly have (western Canadian talent) dispersed among eastern teams for sure.”
The lack of teams west of Ontario is mainly due to the costs involved in sending teams to the Island.
Birt said it is something his committee has been dealing with since last September, but he added all of Canada is represented.
“At the end of the day our product on the field will (result in) one of the best tournaments ever.”
One of those western Canadian players at the tournament is Charlottetown Fawcetts pitcher Trevor Ethier, a national team member.
Ethier, a Saskatoon native, has seven years experience on the national fastball team and said he was contacted in 2009 to play with the Fawcetts.
“Our province doesn’t have a team coming and (Charlottetown) contacted me at the end of last year and we came to an agreement,” Ethier said. “There’s a lot of western players here. It just makes the teams here that much stronger.”
Ethier agreed with Birt that finances play a big role in sending teams to tournaments like this one.
Ethier said it’s a huge commitment for players to get time off work and plan to take time away from their lives to travel long distances for these kinds of tournaments, which is a shame.
“It’s sad when you don’t have four provinces with teams.”
This marks the first time he has been in Charlottetown and he has enjoyed every minute of it so far.
“It’s a great town, fantastic people and great facilities. Just (first) class.”
As for his team’s chances of winning, Ethier is confident the Fawcetts have a shot.
“I think we have a very good chance. We’ve just gotta work hard and get ourselves in position to get that opportunity.”
