Yasmine Gray Australian Baseball Federation Interview

Yasmine Gray Australian Baseball Federation Interview

The Australian Baseball Federation announced that it has appointed Yasmine Gray, the Director of top Brisbane public relations and marketing firm Gray Media Services, as Director of Marketing and Communications on its board with a view to further driving the sport of baseball towards being a leading activity for families across the nation.

With over 29 years of experience in PR and marketing, a strong background in sport and President of the Public Relations Institute of Australia Queensland, Mrs Gray's appointment comes at an interesting time as the fellow American sport of basketball is currently hitting on tough times in Australia.

President of the Australian Baseball Federation (ABF) Mr David Hynes says however that 'the time is right" for the ABF to push harder into the market place and to now become a greater part of the national sporting landscape and is confident that Ms Gray's appointment will help the ABF achieve its ambitious goals.

'Yasmine's professional background and experience with other sporting bodies will be of great benefit to the sport of baseball in Australia. Her extensive expertise in the fields of public relations and marketing, coupled with her willingness to make a contribution to the ABF and ABL, will ensure that the existing marketing and public relations performance of our sport will be enhanced considerably. Yasmine has a strong track record of achievement in all of her endeavours to date and we are confident that her appointment will prove to be of great value to the ABF, ABL and all of our key stakeholders."

Mrs Gray currently also plays a significant role in advising the Brisbane Broncos on specific marketing, public relations and communications projects and her company Gray Media Services also looks after the PR for a number of key football players such as Broncos Captain Sam Thaiday, the much talked about Rabbitoh Dave Taylor and Beau Robinson of the Queensland Reds, to name but a few.

The former highly accomplished journalist says she is looking forward to working with the ABF and to helping the sport grow right around the country.

'There is no question that this will be challenge," said Mrs Gray. 'There are many sports out there fighting to be heard but baseball already has a number of key advantages, not least of all it is a great sport for both males and females and has an excellent development pathway right from the early years at school through to the professional and national level.

'I believe the opportunities that lie ahead for baseball in Australia are enormous and I look forward to being able to use my experience in public relations and marketing to help the board achieve its goals. It is truly an honour to have been appointed to the board and I look forward to working closely with everyone involved in the ABF."

Mrs Gray says that among the many key targets she will be focusing on will be promoting the sport to more women and helping develop the Australian Baseball League which is Australia's premiere professional baseball competition, about to enter its third season of action in November 2012.

For more information about the ABF please go to the website here: www.baseball.com.au

Interview with Yasmine Gray

Question: Tell us about how you are working with the Australian Baseball Federation?

Yasmine Gray: The Australian Baseball Federation has been well established for a number of years but like a number of second or third tier sports in Australia it is very hard for them to find a voice as there are many sports that people play, that you never hear of in the mainstream media, even though they are very popular sports, in their own community.

Baseball has come of an age where it has realised that it's grown quite exponentially particularly in the last ten years, in Australia and if it's going to advance to the next level it needs a significant push for people to take notice of the sport. The Australian Baseball Federation appointed me recently because of my many years of experience in media and public relations marketing. The idea is that I will bring a fresh approach to the sport and how we promote the sport in Australia and we hope to get more people aware of what a fantastic sport it is.

Question: What is your goal for the Australian Baseball Federation?

Yasmine Gray: The main goal for the next two years is that we want Baseball to be reinstated as an Olympic sport. We are already heading in the right direction, for that as it was recently announced that Softball and Baseball are going to align forces in order to ensure that we do get the sports put back on the map, as an Olympic sport. We know that Australia having a team playing Baseball, on the world stage, will do a lot for the sport. That is a big goal of ours as a body and naturally we're working together with the international organisations to try and see that happen.

Our home level goal, on a national basis, is to see Baseball become a key alternative sport for families all around Australia. We are not trying to compete with the code of Football however we do think we can give Cricket a run for its money which is quite interesting because Cricket has realised that it has to have a change of direction as it is introducing a number of new elements to the sport.


Question: What are the advantages of Baseball?

Yasmine Gray: There is a number of advantages to Baseball; it is extremely family friendly as it is a compact sport and you get a lot of entertainment in a short space of time which leaves the viewer and participants very satisfied. Baseball is glamorous, fun, exciting and there is a lot to look at during a Baseball game which is what people want from a sport.

As a family if you have children or other family members playing sport it's important that they're safe as there are risks involved in contact sport but you'd like to know that your family isn't going to be brain dead or with a broken neck from their sport. Baseball is fast moving and has skill and if you haven't seen a game live, when you do, you'll be astounded by the skill that is involved and spectators will develop an appreciation of the sport.


Question: How can Australians get involved with Baseball?

Yasmine Gray: There are a number of ways in which Australians can become involved in Baseball. We have a program that starts right from school age and works its way up to the national peak. T-Ball Australia is being played, throughout the country, at schools which is a great introduction to Baseball however it is not Baseball in its pure form. T-Ball is a fantastic school version that allows children to get a good taste of Baseball, when boys and girls play equally, and develop skills and get an idea of what the game is about. T-Ball Australia is fully supported by the Government in Australia which gives an indication of the importance of this sport and how it is developing. The Australian Government has recognised that Baseball is a great sport for children in that it is an outdoor, team game that incorporates hand-eye coordination skills like running, jumping, catching and it is a great sport where children can develop a number of motor-skills and it's fun (which is really, really important).

We have a number of students who want to be involved through the pathway of T-Ball. From there, if you're really interested we have the Little League which links back to the international series which provides the opportunity to play in other countries. There aren't many sports in Australia that right from a young age (junior school) that you could represent your country and play sport, in another country.

Baseball is a very well established sport from America where assistance it strong; major league Baseball is encouraging enormously that Baseball is developed in Australia because we are surrounded by very strong Baseball countries such as Asian which is particularly strong. Right on our doorstep with have a lot of international competition which is fantastic for all.

The Australian Baseball League will be aspired to for players to represent their state at club level, around the country. There are a number of opportunities all the way through to the National Baseball Team. Interestingly enough, players that really do excel in Baseball, here in Australia, have a genuine career waiting for them; we have Australian players that are now demanding massive wages from the major Baseball teams in America and other countries such as Asia.

Not only is Baseball fun for families and kids it is a sport that everyone can be involved in because it is safe and very accessible as well as having a career path in which people can realistically aspire to be a professional.

Question: Why do you think Australians may have been unaware of Baseball?

Yasmine Gray: We have a track record of producing some of the best Baseball players, in the world right here in Australia and at the moment not many people realise that because there hasn't been the drive of promotions for Baseball, here in Australia. The first time that I saw Baseball I was completely hooked as it is a fantastic game to watch, live. Baseball was not part of my background or upbringing.


Question: What are your goals for 2013?

Yasmine Gray: Baseball is a third tier sport at the moment, in Australia and I'd like to see that in two years we'll definitely be a second tier sport.

We're doing a lot of ground work in preparation for a whole new attitude to how people watch Baseball in the country, how we promote Baseball and how we get families involved. There is a massive drive for next year and we'll be putting in a lot of effort including a number of announcements being rolled out from the beginning of 2013. People will be given more of an opportunity to experience Baseball and I believe it will become a major sport in Australia.


Interview by Brooke Hunter