Oyen definitely a baseball town (cont.)
organization held a fundraising dinner at the end of January in hopes of bringing in up to $30,000. They also hold raffles and companies contribute by buying advertising space on the baseball diamond fence.
While those funds go directly to the Badlands Baseball Academy, there's a whole other stream of cash that makes its way directly into the community. Economic spin-offs from the baseball academy include increased business for gas stations and grocery stores.
Doug Jones, the mayor of Oyen and founder of the baseball academy, said while Oyen realizes a financial boost by being home to the Badgers, there are additional benefits.
"The families of these boys come and stay in hotels and watch the games. Sports tourism is really what it is," Jones said. "But having these boys also provides opportunities for our students in diversity of classes and gives the school another teacher."
The whole community has pitched in to help the Badlands Baseball Academy be
successful and sustainable. The Prairie Rose School Division, where 15 to 18 per cent of the high school's student population are members of the academy, provides office space for the organization in South Central High School and handles payroll and some other financial services.
Jones is no longer on the board of the Badlands Baseball Academy. Now in addition to his duties as mayor of Oyen, his time is spent helping bring a Western Major Baseball League team to Brooks, the same league as the Medicine Hat Mavericks. The Brooks Bombers are joining the league this spring, along with a team from Fort McMurray, for a total of six Alberta teams and six from Saskatchewan. The Bombers home games will be held at the $3.35 million Quad ball diamond complex, which was completed in 2014.
"We've got a couple of guys that are going to sign with us who were formerly Badgers players and a couple of affiliate players who are high school students from Brooks," Jones said.
About half of the players on the Brooks line up are from the United States.■
Photos courtesy Badlands Baseball Academy.
Youth come to Oyen to work on becoming an elite player through the training offered at the Badlands Baseball Academy. The boys are billeted by local families and although their stay in Oyen may be temporary, they become true members of the community.
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