Boss hoping for softball park go ahead

Southland Softball Association boss Craig Soper said Invercargill would quickly become the home of New Zealand softball and the World Championship would likely come to the city if his $3.5m Surrey Park development idea got the greenlight.

Soper is one of the most successful entrepreneurs to come out of Southland which included him setting up computer company Compudigm International Ltd in 1997.

When Soper retired at 31 in 2000 the company's value had increased to $75m.

The passionate softballer returned to his home province in 2009 and stepped in as the Southland Softball Association general manager.

A year into his role, Soper is proposing a Surrey Park development which he says would result in Invercargill leading the way – not only in New Zealand softball circles – but in the world, as far as training and playing complex goes.

The Southland Softball Association has had plans drawn up which would see the current Surrey Park complex get a dramatic overhaul.

Included in the plans is a two-storey clubroom and indoor training building.

The indoor training complex would include batting and pitching cages. Soper's background in computer software has prompted him to investigate adding state-of-the-art analysis technology to the batting cages which would allow players to breakdown their swings and pitches.

"If this went a head we'd have a lot of players base themselves down here and the Black Sox and White Sox would visit regularly."

"We would tender for the next world series as well," Soper told The Southland Times yesterday.

The next stage in the development plan is to pitch the case to the funders, most notably the Invercargill Licensing Trust and the Community Trust of Southland.

Southland Softball needs to drum up $3.5m to ensure the start-of-the-art softball complex went ahead, the ILT and Community Trust would have to pick up the bulk of that tab.

Soper believes the $3.5m investment would have positive spin-offs for Southland.

The obvious benefit is the potential to grow the sport of softball and upskill current players into elite players.

Soper said the complex would also attract a host of visitors to the province through training camps and national and international tournaments which would have economic spin-offs.

The Southland Softball boss sighted the building of the ILT Velodrome in 2005 as a key example around what benefits can come from building a sporting complex that no other city in New Zealand has.

"Softball has been a good partner in the sporting community. We gave up our land to Stadium Southland for very little compensation because we wanted to be a good neighbour and could see the value to the local community.

"We also have had land taken off us for the Velodrome.

We've been squeezed in the past and hope our goodwill will also be recognised when we apply for our funding," Soper said.

- © Fairfax NZ News