MWDBA Nomination for President – PJ Patterson

PJ Patterson – Chairman MWDBA

It was sheer luck that 17 years ago I got involved with Baseball in the Manly District. My wife rang me having just come across a sign-up table for Forest Baseball Club at the Forest Way shops. She signed up my oldest son and the rest is history.

I quickly became involved in our wonderful community, serving first as a club coach with Forest Baseball Club (2005-present) then taking on the role of President at Forest Baseball Club in 2007; a role I proudly served in for 6 years. I quickly got involved in playing in the Minor League competitions (2006 to present) and have continued playing in both winter and summer ever since.

One of my favourite things is coaching at Representative level. I began my Junior Rep Coach career in 2009 and have been involved in the program ever since. My proudest moment so far was serving as Head Coach for the Manly Little League Major team that qualified for Nationals in 2019. At that tournament my youngest son hit a home run on my birthday, and we finished 5^th in the country!

I’ve always been drawn to leadership roles in my community and in business. As you will see from the list below, I have served and wish to continue serving for many years to come in leadership roles in baseball.

• President Forest Baseball Club 2006-2012 (6 years)
• President Manly Warringah Junior Baseball League 2014-2018 (4 years)
• Chairman Manly Warringah District Baseball Committee – 2015 – Present (7 years)
• Forest Baseball Club – Team Coach 2005-present (17 years)
• Manly Junior Representative Coach – 2009 – present

I am a business owner of over 20 years and operate a successful Financial Planning and Finance business based in Belrose.

I believe that now is the most critical moment in the history of the MWDBA. Under my leadership the board over the last 18 months has done tremendous work on Governance, Marketing, Infrastructure and Budgeting. Many hands have contributed to these endeavours, but I have shaped the direction of the issues and supported the work being done by our committees.

It is critical moving forward to have solid, experienced leadership driving an agenda that benefits everyone. Our association has many pressing issues to address and the top 3 for me are:

• Junior Baseball – the board must focus attention on what has become a pressing concern for the future of the association.
• Governance – the MWDBA Constitution is an outdated, poorly constructed document that must be modernized and evolved. The current model does not properly weight representation amongst our groups.
• Infrastructure – now that the threat of a high school being built at Aquatic reserve has been quashed, we can now focus on much needed improvements to that ground along with other facilities in our district.

I would love to continue to serve as the Chairman of the MWDBA and hope you will support me. Thank you.