FIBS President Andrea Marcon made it clear from the start of his CON-X 2024 address on Saturday, January 27, 2024 that the reform of sport was paramount. He said, “Change is an opportunity that we can, and must, make the most of. FIBS has put a considerable effort into giving you all the information and possibilities that will lighten the burden of the news that has arrived and what you have seen today. The opportunities are not only those of being able to sign players from other teams more easily because the constraint no longer exists, but also those of putting order in relationships with the people who make our clubs live, thus increasing their professionalism.”
President Marcon acknowledged the importance of hosting the 2024 Softball World Cup Finals in Italy as well as the inclusion of baseball and softball at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. “I have already had the opportunity to thank and to congratulate President Riccardo Fraccari and the WBSC for this result and for all the effort that the International Federation has made to obtain it. Now it's up to us as Italians to give everything to achieve that qualification for the Olympics Games, which remains the highest goal, the most beautiful dream, for all athletes."
To achieve this objective, President Marcon announced the start of Club Italia LA28. He described the group as “a path to identify, care for and develop the talent of men and women who will be called upon in four years to conquer the Olympic dream on the field. It will be a truly challenging journey and it will be the task of all of us: Federation, clubs, individuals, to walk with them and support them in synergy, communicate and coordinate to facilitate their work. President Marcon also mentioned his intentions to reopen the National Academy beginning next school year to create the best conditions for Olympic qualification.
President Marcon also hinted at a major project underway in the heart of Italy. He said, "We really worked a lot, finding very important friends and partners, who along the way began to involve others, making their name, their credibility to start the process that will lead to the birth of a sports complex of excellence for baseball and softball in Italy, precisely in Rome, which we will truly be able to call our home, a house open to all of Europe and beyond.” He publicly thanked Team Italy manager and National Baseball Hall of Famer Mike Piazza for spearheading this initiative. Then an emotional round of applause filled the Rimini amphitheater when he later paid tribute to the legacies of Dimes Gamberini and Nadia Conti, both of whom passed away recently.
President Marcon commented on the growth of the movement. He said, “We were 18,027, including 11,990 athletes, in 2020. As of December 31, 2023, the number of us has increased to 21,220, including 14,887 athletes. Our numbers are still small, but real and transparent, respecting what we put into practice day-by-day in our societies, numbers that will grow thanks to the seriousness of our projects, in schools, on the field, also in the alternative proposals that we can present, such as for example Baseball5, in which the World Federation is investing heavily and which is experiencing notable success in the scholastic world, but above all in the peaceful environment that we will be able to offer to our girls and boys, in the desire to learn to offer the best.”
At the conclusion of his speech, Marcon revealed his future intentions. He said, "The hope for those who will be at my desk after me is that they do not live, as happened to me, in the climate of continuous attempts at delegitimizing the November 2016 election results. I, together with the group of councilors elected with me, are in this role because I legitimately won the 2016 and 2020 elections and I strongly claim this. I also want to make a recommendation: stay close to the President and to those who work, without ulterior motives, with him. The prestige of an entire movement that fights tooth and nail every day is at stake. Expect answers to your questions from the President, that he is ready to accept changes in history, that he is at your side, even if not physically, when there is a need. But don't expect him to always say yes because whoever is in my role must think 360°, taking every single affiliated company and every single member into the same consideration. If you want to network, I will be with you also in the next four years."
CON-X 2024 PROGRAM
CON-X 2024 NEWS
Forza #Italia!
by Roberto Angotti
(Photo of FIBS President Andrea Marcon during his speech at CON-X 2024 by PhotoBass)
