In 1974 “Teeball”, a modified game of Baseball, was introduced into Western Australia by Ken Somers in Woodlands.
In the 1976 -77 Season, Swan Districts entered one Team in the Under 10 WA Teeball Interdistrict Carnival.
The players that represented Swan Districts Teeball in its first game were Clayton Byrne, Bradley Byrne, Sean Fuller, Michael Ward, Chris Ward, Scott Williams, Michael Clements, Robert Bertram, Anthony Halk, Rodney Oaks, Brett Bergeson, Graham Weaver, Paul Scarfone, Michael Page and coached by Charlie Hodder.
The Swan Districts Teeball Association was formed during the 1977-78 Season and the Committee consisted of, Charlie Hodder (President), Keith Clements (Secretary) and Roni Clements (Treasurer). The Swan Districts Teeball Association was affiliated to the Swan Districts Baseball Club.
During the 1977-78 Season the SDTBA had 60 registered Players in 5 Teams competing in their own in- house Competition.
In the 1978-79 Season the number of registered Players had risen to 240 Players in 20 Teams.
By the 1983-84 Season there were 1000 Registered Teeball Players in the SDTBA. Teams represented Schools from West Midland, Midland, Upper Swan, Swan View, Koongamia, Darlington, Glen Forrest Mt Helena, Maida Vale, Kalamunda, Lesmurdie, Gooseberry Hill and Pickering Brook.
The strategy used by the SDTBA was to organise coaching sessions at each Primary School in the
Swan Districts area, then use the contacts made, to encourage parents from those areas to nominate Teams from those Schools into the SDTBA Competition.
Each Team nominated were supplied with an Equipment Bag containing 6 Gloves 6 Balls 2 Bats and 4 Bases so children could join the sport at a small cost.
The SDTBA organised a Sponsor for each Team ($150) for which 12 Shirts were Silk screened with the Sponsor’s Logo and supplied to each Player. Games were originally played at Brown Park in Swan View and then later moved to Paully Park in Midvale.
The SDTBA then as numbers increased, negotiated with the City of Swan and obtained Ray Marshall Park as their Head Quarters while the Shire of Kalamunda eventually allocated Maida Vale Oval for games played at their home ground.
In 1985 the SDTBA was divided into two sections:
(1) Swan Districts Teeball Association.
(2) Kalamunda & Districts Teeball Association.
The Kalamunda Club was headed by Graham Mews as President, and affiliated with the Swan Districts Teeball Association and the Swan Districts Junior Baseball Club.
During the 1997-98 Season, 2000 Children were playing Teeball in the SDBC area.
Swan Districts 750 Players Kalamunda 1000 Players Eastern Hills 250 Players
The teams were made up with Under 9 mixed, Under 12 Boys, and Under 13 Girls and graded into Divisions.
During this period 20,000 Children were playing Teeball in Western Australia.
A tribute in how well Teeball was accepted in the community was shown in that of the 120 Teams registered in the Swans area, all were sponsored by local businesses
Teeball was introduced by the Swan Districts Baseball Club as a Modified version of the Sport with the aim in introducing young Players to the game of Baseball in the Midland area.
Charlie Hodder a former State and Swan Districts Baseball Player was given the task of introducing Teeball into Schools by the Swan Districts Baseball Club in their allocated District.
Initially, the SDTBA only accepted boys into Teeball but soon discovered a huge interest from parents, to register girls into this now increasing popular game.
The SDTBA was one of the first Teeball Clubs in WA to accept girls into their Club Competition and it proved to be a successful initiative as not only did it increase numbers to the Sport, it meant parents were able to register both boys and girls from the same family in a sport where previously there had been little or no other sporting opportunities for girls. This resulted in many Mothers becoming involved in Coaching, Umpiring and Scoring that helped cover the increasing numbers of players and teams.
The success of Teeball as an introduction to Baseball, was clearly evident during the 1997-98 Season when the Swan Districts Junior Baseball Club had (15) Under 13 Peewee Teams, (5) under 15 teams and (3) Under 17 Teams, competing.
Every Baseball Club in Perth by 1985 had introduced Teeball into their District and many Associations were registering with WATBA from Country Area’s, nominating Teams to compete in the WATBA Interdistrict Carnivals.
Even today Teeball remains one the most successful of the Modified Sports available, in this age group, where both Boys and Girls can compete together equally, have fun, gain confidence and skills, in an exciting sport and where parents can be actively involved.
The success of Teeball in Western Australia is a tribute to the original work of Ken Somers and a band of Baseball parents that saw the potential in introducing a game that ALL children could compete and give Baseball a strong junior base.
Written by Charlie Hodder
The Swan Districts Tee Ball Association started in 1997
