On behalf of the committee and myself I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone connected with the Cheltenham Rustlers Baseball Club a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Prosperous, and Safe New Year.

We can look forward to 2023 with great excitement after what has been a very positive and enjoyable first half of the season. We can be proud of our efforts to get a Women’s team up and running again, and it was fantastic to see their support cheering our Senior Men’s First team at the last game before the Christmas / New Year break.

Our Senior Men’s teams continue to push strongly for promotion back to Division one with both our First and Second teams heading their respective logs and our Third and Master’s teams one win away from the top four in their respective logs.

Our Junior’s continue their rebuild after the unfortunate disruption of COVID. Our U18 side is currently in the top 4 and our U14 side is 1 win away from the top 4. Our U12 and Intermediate sides continue to gain invaluable experience and it is noticeable the impressive improvements made from the start of the season to now. Our T-Ball program continues to develop the next wave of Cheltenham Rustler stars.

Looking forward and into 2023, our priorities remain to earn our way back to Division 1 and to continue to develop our Women’s and junior’s programs. The KHR Restructuring Proposal has been endorsed by Council and the detailed work has commenced to prioritise the work and funding. The first phase of the KHR restructure will initially focus on the hockey facilities, and subject to budget, be followed by phase two which includes an artificial baseball in-field and baseball lighting amongst other developments. It really is an exciting time to be a Rustler.

On behalf of all Rustlers, I would like to thank the summer committee for all the visible and “behind the scenes” work they do to ensure the smooth running of the club. An extra special thanks to Joey Tucker for the work he has done rebuilding the Junior’s program, John Ferguson and Peter Leslie for their work in maintaining and continually improving our grounds, John Ferguson for his liaison with the Kingston council and general club council, Peter Leslie for voluntarily umpiring our ladies team, Kathy Daniels for expertly running the canteen week in and week out, Darren Hiddleston for his work draining our fields post the heavy rain and of course Michelle Ogilvie, Sue Leslie and Denise Healy for getting our Women’s program off the ground.

And lastly, a big thanks to our sponsors who continue to support us year in and year out.

To you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Prosperous, and Safe New Year. We hope to welcome you back in January, well rested and raring to go!

Yours in Sport,
Regards Gordon Tribe
President – Cheltenham Baseball Club – Summer