It’s official!! The documents are signed and USSSA now officially owns an NPF Franchise - The USSSA Florida Pride! A lot of people may not have realized that due to the urgency in which USSSA arrived into the NPF in 2009, the completed process of buying the Team was postponed until after the season was over. USSSA agreed to take on the Team in a Management capacity for the NPF through the 2009 season – a move to which they committed a significant amount of time, money, and resources, just several weeks before the beginning of the season.
This is a great moment for Professional Fastpitch. Don’t let it get by you too quick. As the known “Powers That Be” in the world of softball (organizations who have gained a great deal from the sport’s development), continue to attempt to hinder the progress of the professional game, an unexpected hero stepped out of the shadows – Mr. Don Dedonatis and his amateur sports association. The fact that the USSSA is the largest amateur sports association in the world, and the fact that DeDonatis has been the catalyst behind their climb to the top, should put a smile on your face if you’re pulling for this League to make it on a large scale. We just added a clean-up hitter to our Team. One of those clean-up hitters that can change the game, practically, from the point his name is announced.
What Don DeDonatis sees, is the possibilities of the sport at the professional level. Halfway through a meeting last spring, when we were trying desperately to fix a crisis of a bad sell gone worse, Don Dedonatis got excited. He got excited because he smelled potential – potential to make a difference for women in this sport at the highest level, and consequently the potential to do much more in the development of girls in youth fastpitch softball. And that is why you should have the smile on your face. History shows this guy is a winner. History shows that he swings a good bat.
So, it’s with this addition, to an ownership group that has strengthened itself tremendously in the last 18 months that the NPF takes a giant step forward. And it is this addition that should resonate with the softball community that longs to see the game continue to be played at its highest level. This is a visionary and an entire Association that has stepped up with voice and support for professional fastpitch softball. Surprisingly, it is not one of the associations that have gained the most on the backs of elite female softball players. Those two are still frantically busy trying to stay in the way of the professional game development….But that’s another blog for another day.
Right now, it’s time to celebrate a very positive addition to the National Pro Fastpitch League. As a fan of this sport, I am grateful to Don Dedonatis and his top Executives Jim Swint and Dan Brown, for signing up – for seeing that the world is not flat, and that fastpitch softball is poised to be the most successful professional women’s team sport option.
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