Baseball Quebec (BQ) is living very well with the decision of a member of its board of directors to have enrolled their children in the Okotoks Academy instead of betting on the development structure of Quebec.
An outfielder in the Los Angeles Dodgers (1989 to 1991) and Expos (1993 and 1994) organizations, Marc Griffin has been a member of the BQ board of directors for 12 years, most notably as vice president in recent years.
His three sons wore the colors of Okotoks Academy Dawgs in Alberta and two are still there.
Four years ago, his eldest son, Henri, wanted to join the ranks of the Canadian Baseball Academy (ABC) in hopes of gaining the attention of an American university, but was not accepted.
“Henri was cut by ABC and that forced us to find a plan B that would allow him to achieve his goal of playing in the United States,” says Griffin. Okotoks folks approached us during a cockfighting tournament in Ontario. Henri was also aware of my background when I went to Vancouver with Denis Boucher at age 17 to join the National Baseball Institute (NBI), which is the ancestor of the ABC. I played two years in British Columbia before making the jump to the pros. »
“Plan B has become quite a unique lifetime experience,” added Griffin, who remains involved with the Boucherville Governors AA program through the summer season as technical director. If Henri had been accepted by ABC, that would have changed things quite a bit. »
Griffin’s oldest son finished his career with the Dawgs and has been playing with Bossier Parish, a Louisiana JuCo, since September.
green light from the president
When the two parties reached an agreement, Griffin contacted the president and general manager of Baseball Quebec to inform them of the situation.
“I spoke with my president and with Maxime [Lamarche] of our family decision and told them I would understand if they felt uncomfortable, explains the baseball analyst at RDS. I also saw benefits in finding out what was being done elsewhere and thus being able to make improvements to the CBA program. »
The president of BQ Marc Vadboncoeur assures that he lives the situation very well and that internally there is no discontent.
“We have 35,000 members and no one has approached me to discuss the situation,” he says. I am a pragmatic manager and ethics is very important. If there was a conflict of interest, there would be no privilege, regardless of the person involved. Marc does not recruit for Okotoks. »
“Marc’s contribution is extremely important in pursuing Vadboncoeur, particularly for the elite and in our efforts to find quality infrastructure for ABC players. »
The brothers follow each other
Once Henri headed for Okotoks, a town of just under 30,000 people an hour south of Calgary, his brothers wanted to take the same route.
“There was no doubt for Léo that he would play somewhere other than Okotoks, said the father who lives six months a year in Alberta. The youngest, Edmond, started with the under-13 team in 2021. It is a six-year project for the family and then we will return to Montreal. »
nothing to envy
With the exception of the infrastructure, which is by no means comparable, Quebec need not be embarrassed by comparisons with the Okotoks Academy, says Griffin.
“Education is not lacking in Quebec. The quality of the coaches is second to none. The ABC does a lot with little and could do much more with infrastructure worthy of the best players in Quebec. »
