The
Canada Cup is an annual international women's
softballSoftball is a team sport popular especially in the United States. It is a direct descendant of baseball. Some key differences between softball and baseball are that softballs are larger than baseballs, and pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand. Softball was invented by George Hancock...
tournament held at the Softball City Complex in
South SurreySouth Surrey is a town centre of Surrey, British Columbia. It borders on the city of White Rock, and at 10,535 people, South Surrey has the largest concentration of persons over the age of 60 of all Surrey's town centres...
,
British ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . In 1871, it became the sixth province of Canada.The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the 15th largest metropolitan region in Canada...
.
Format
Following an announcement on June 13, 1991 by the
International Softball Federationthumb|Map of member states.|400px|rightThe International Softball Federation is the international governing body for the sport of softball. The ISF is a non-profit corporation recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the General Association of International Sports Federations .The...
that women's fastpitch was being made a full-medal sport at the
1996 Summer OlympicsThe 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....
in
AtlantaAtlanta is the capital and most populous city in the state of Georgia, as well as the urban core of one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the United States....
, the Canada Cup was created to provide the
Canadian national softball team|- align=center bgcolor=white valign=middle |bgcolor=white| 5th || 1996 Atlanta|- align=center bgcolor=white valign=middle |bgcolor=white| 8th || 2000 Sydney|- align=center bgcolor=white valign=middle |bgcolor=white| 5th || 2004 Athens...
with a world calibre team competition in order to help prepare for Olympic qualifying.
Over the years, the Canada Cup has evolved into one of the most prestigious international softball tournaments. Today, the competition is split among four separate tournaments:
- Canada Cup: Showcase event, featuring the top women's teams globally
- Canada Cup Futures: featuring about 30 of the top U19 teams globally
- Canada Cup Showcase: featuring top U16 teams
- Canada Cup Special O: a mixed Special Olympics
Special Olympics is an international organization created to two years, alternating between Summer and Winter Games. There are also local, national and regional competitons in over 150 countries worldwide.-History:...
Division
Although a number of US and Japanese club teams have competed in the Canada Cup, the showcase event has evolved primarily into a national team competition between the following countries:
This tournament enjoys strong local support with hundreds of community volunteers. Each team is assigned a bat girl from one of the local teams plus a family support liaison from the community. Another unusual part of this tournament is the concurrent co-ed Slow-Pitch
Friendship Division tournament for developmentally disabled adults which is run at the same site as the premier International Women's Fastpitch tournament. You can watch both at the same time.
Tournament History
| Year |
Champions |
Runners-up |
Attendance |
|
| Redding Rebels |
|
43,968 |
|
| Redding Rebels |
|
56,829 |
|
| California Commotion |
|
70,108 |
|
| |
|
79,136 |
|
| |
|
95,869 |
|
| (Gold) |
| 100,419 |
|
| |
| 109,814 |
|
| (Red) |
| 110,346 |
|
| (World) |
| 122,504 |
|
| (Elite) |
| 113,916 |
|
| |
| 91,201 |
|
| |
| 105,856 |
|
| |
| 112,676 |
|
| |
| 119,301 |
|
| |
| 102,647 |
|
| |
| |