Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport

Question: Discuss about the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. Answer: Introduction: Australian Baseball Federation (ABF) is responsible for governing all the national activities related to baseball in Australia. Baseball is popular in mainland territories and states but it lack the craziness of the people regarding other leading sports like cricket (Antolihao, 2012). For that reason, majority of the school kids are guided towards other sports rather than baseball. ABF has focused on enhancing the acceptance and popularity of the baseball in all parts of Australia. ABF has tried to present the baseball game in a more glamorous way so that more number of kids joined the game. ABF is primarily looking to target the grass root level of the Australian economy in order to produce more world class players. For that reason, ABF has tried to represent the baseball game in an attractive way. ABF has announced 25% stakeholders along with the Major League Baseball for enhancing the interest of Australian people (Kawai Nichol, 2014). ABF also had played a critical role in starting Australian Baseball League in November, 2010. ABF has made 7 territory and state member associations for covering all areas in Australian market (Baseball.com.au, 2017). ABF also has focused on enhancing the present infrastructure in a major way. ABF also has played critical role in ensuring sponsorship and other activities in an effective manner. For that reason, ABF seeks to leverage the sports image, brands and assets to maintain economic growth and benefit in a major way. ABF also has taken initiatives for developing clear brand image for both national women and men team. For that rea son, it has focused on stakeholder engagement, financial management and governance for maximizing the impact on the Australian market. It has also focused on including top baseball player across the world within the major league for grabbing the attention of the Australian people. Presently, ABF has around 60,000 members who are looking to increase the present condition of baseball game (Murray et al., 2016). Success factors: From the beginning, ABF has initiated innovative strategies for enhancing the popularity in Australia. ABF has tried to initiate visionary leadership for empowering members to take progressive effort to the success of baseball (Burton, 2017). ABF mission statement focuses on positioning the baseball in the non-traditional market of Australia. For that reason, people, leadership, integrity, cooperation and partnership is regarded as the prime success factors for ABF in enhancing the popularity level of baseball. ABF has consciously tried to maintain transparency in all the initiated strategies for developing a cost effective operational process. Enhancing the facilities and infrastructure in Australia is another prime factor that contributed hugely to the success of baseball. ABF has influenced political and commercial level (Federal, State and Local) to fulfil long-term facility needs in a major way (Dabscheck, 2012). It has allowed ABF to increase the total number of players partici pated in the professional league. ABF marketing strategies have also focused on developing long-term marketing strategies for position baseball uniquely in the Australian market. Potential issues, challenges or concerns for Australian Baseball Federation: It can be assessed that effective fulfilment of all the aims and objectives of ABF require huge amount of investment, which cannot be complete with the external government support. However, Australian government has focused on providing necessary financial supports to ABF for accomplishing all the goals in an effective manner. Still, increasing cost and requirement has created challenges for ABF to gather required amount of funding for fulfilling business objectives (Nichol, 2016). For that reason, it has induced ABF to focus more on enhancing the participation rate in a major way. In addition, baseball league of Australia also has faced ethical challenges regarding the misbehaviour of the athletes for fulfilling all the business responsibilities. As a result, ABF has emphasized on developing effective coaching and training session for avoiding such incidents in an effective manner. It has enhanced the required cost for fulfilling all the activities associated with the business proce ss. In addition, ABF is looking to increase the reach of marketing activities in the global platform for representing Australian baseball league as the prime sporting event (Stewart et al., 2012). As a result, it has also increased the cost associated with the marketing activities that ABF needs to gather for fulfilling business activities. Features of the sports environment and its influence on operating environment: As mentioned earlier, baseball is not as popular as other sports in Australia. For that reason, majority of the children tends to focus on other sports like cricket or football rather than baseball. It has influenced ABF to face immense competition in enhancing the popularity level of baseball (Lathlean et al., 2017). As a result, ABF has to invest huge amount in the marketing activities for grabbing the attention of global and domestic people in a major way. On the other hand, ABF has also faced huge amount of challenges in influencing older people to become the member, as they would not ABF to relate themselves in different type of marketing activities. Moreover, several other sports are also trying to increase its popularity in the Australian market, which increased the difficulties for ABF in moving towards sustainable changes aspect (Stewart et al., 2012). It has influenced ABF to develop commercial partnerships with different corporate franchise for gathering required fund (Ena d, 2014). It has encouraged ABF to develop strong media and PR relationship for fulfilling all requirements of the operational process. Conclusion: From the above discussion, it can be assessed that ABF has ABF to grab the attention of the people of Australia in a major way. It has targeted from the grass root level to enhance the overall condition of the baseball in Australia. ABF has also played critical role in performing different types of marketing activities for creating desired amount of impact on the market. The territory wise segregation has also helped ABF to cover each segment of Australian market, which has increased the membership participation rate in a major way. References: Antolihao, L. (2012). From baseball colony to basketball republic: post-colonial transition and the making of a national sport in the Philippines.Sport in Society,15(10), 1396-1412. Baseball.com.au. (2017).Baseball.com.au. Retrieved 5 April 2017, from https://baseball.com.au Burton, R. (2017). Baseballs Curious Journey.Baseball Beyond Our Borders: An International Pastime, 285. Dabscheck, B. (2012). A primer on Australian player associations.The Economic and Labour Relations Review,23(3), 61-70. Enad, J. (2014). Increasing incidence of hamstring injuries in Major League Baseball pitchers: original research article.International SportMed Journal,15(3), 225-230. Kawai, K., Nichol, M. (2014). Labor in Nippon Professional Baseball and the Future of Player Transfers to Major League Baseball.Marq. Sports L. 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