Born in the UK and raised in Venezuela, Luis Arrevillagas is a passionate and dedicated advocate for grassroots softball in the UK, particularly through his leadership within the Manchester Softball League.
He’s also an assistant coach for the Great Britain slow-pitch softball team, who are the current European champions. As part of our Club Spotlight series, Luis describes the exciting and inclusive setup in Manchester…
Family-friendly and inclusive
I’ve been playing in the Manchester Softball League for the last 15 years and in December 2024 I became the league head. It’s an adult league, but it’s aged 14+. My daughter just turned 14 in February, so she joined the league this year. That’s one of the beautiful things about the sport, it’s one of the most inclusive sports I’ve seen. I play tennis, I play football, I’ve played other sports, but nothing compares to this one in terms of inclusivity.
I’m going to be playing with my daughter on the same team. I’m 51, she’s 14, and we’re literally going to be playing at the same level. She’s got the same chances of getting on base or scoring as I do. I might be a bit better because I’ve played longer, but obviously I’m not getting any younger. She’s got the speed, I’ve got the experience. My son also plays, he’s 16. There are a lot of families that play together, boyfriends and girlfriends, husbands and wives. It’s really special.
Big league
The Manchester Softball League is quite a big league with about 34 teams in four divisions. There’s about 600 people playing softball in Manchester. The league started in 1990, way before my time here. It started with “jumpers for bases” in the park. But now it’s a well-run league, and it has been for a number of years as well. We won “League of the Year” a few years ago and I still think it’s simply the best league out there. I’m very biased, of course, but it’s very well run. We’ve got good facilities, good people, and the social aspect of it is really big as well. Nobody gets paid to run the Manchester Softball League. We literally pay to play and to run the league, which is absolutely fine. It’s been like that for years.
Summer schedule
Obviously it’s a summer sport, although we do a lot of off-season winter activity as well. The league plays on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. We have four divisions: Divisions 3 and 4 play on Tuesday nights at a school in Didsbury called Parrs Wood High School. They have massive grass playing fields, and we set up and mark the fields there.
Divisions 1 and 2 play on Wednesdays, at Wythenshawe Sports Grounds on William Hall Lane. It’s a massive football field complex that used to belong to the university. Now it belongs to Manchester City Council. We hire the fields from them, and we set up about six to eight fields, with 16 teams participating on both nights.
So we play on grass fields that are shared with football, cricket, and other sports. We don’t have a field just for softball here in Manchester. One of the plans, hopefully in the years to come, is to start looking into that. There are reasons we haven’t done it, though. People do enjoy the way it is, the social aspect, the lack of formality. But more and more people have seen and played on good fields and started to really enjoy them, so it’s something we have in the pipeline.
During the off-season many teams train indoors during the winter. The Manchester Softball League runs indoor sessions at Fallowfield in Manchester. These sessions last two hours, and you just turn up, get assigned to a team, and start playing. Even if you’re brand new, it doesn’t matter, they’ll show you how to hold the bat and hit the ball.
Countrywide tournaments and social hubs
As a league, we also organise tournaments. The way tournaments work in the UK is every city hosts a tournament, normally Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh, Leeds, and others. Once the season starts, there will be a tournament every single weekend somewhere in the UK, sometimes even two locations, because the calendar is getting packed. These are usually open tournaments, so anyone can enter.
People will come to the tournament, and sometimes camp overnight there if they want to, or stay at a hotel nearby, and it’s a massive community of friends. As you might imagine, it’s also like a big dating agency, with men and women spending the whole weekend having fun in the sunshine. But it’s also time to spend with your family, wife, kids, or cousins from other cities, and enjoy the sport.
I can go and play at the lowest level if I want to play for fun, or I can join a good level tournament for that weekend. I’m not attached to a particular team outside of my league. The people in Liverpool have a league, as do those in Leeds, and people might be attached to those teams, but we borrow players from other teams. It’s very flexible that way.
We do provide a great platform for people to play socially, and we always go to the pub afterwards. This is essential. Every time we look for a venue, we make sure there’s a pub nearby. We also talk to the venue and ask if they can put out some chips for us when we have our drinks afterward, or provide food for the kids.
Rookie sessions
We have rookie sessions every Tuesday night in Manchester for anyone who wants to try softball. If you don’t have a team, come along. At 6pm on Tuesday we run beginner sessions. We lend you a bat, a glove, and there’s a paid coach to teach you the sport. After that, they can say, “You’re pretty good, why don’t you join that team?” or, “You’re still learning, gather your own team and give it a go!” We form teams from these sessions and add them to the league, starting from 14 years and up.
You can even come and play with your granddad if you have a team of five. It’s one of the most amazing things, our oldest player is 76, and our youngest is 14. They might end up on the same team. The 76-year-old might have played for Great Britain before, but doesn’t anymore due to age, and then you have someone who’s just starting out. The interaction between these generations is pretty special. There are also people new to the sport who join at the lower levels, just enjoying the game. We’ve got people in their 50s joining the league as well.
Non-contact appeal
Softball is a non-contact sport, which is a big appeal. You don’t have to sprint for long periods, unlike football or rugby. We do get some injuries, of course, from people sitting all day at the office and then coming out for a game, but it’s nothing major.
I’ve always said let’s not try to attract people who already play rugby, football, or netball. Those people are already doing their own sports. Let’s focus on people who aren’t involved in any sports and get them into softball. That will be the best demographic to attract.
International success
When we went to the European Championships last year, about five players from GB’s 16-player squad were from the Manchester Softball League. That’s quite a significant number. What we want to continue doing at the Manchester Softball League is provide the best league in the country. We want to create an environment where you can play alongside internationals like Joe Grantham and Zoe Le Roux, and experience an organised game with an umpire, good balls, quality fields, and uniform that looks professional. Without that, people won’t take it seriously or may not even join.
Our goal is to make this the best league in the country, catering to anyone who wants to play socially or take it to the next level. I’m fortunate to have a team of 10 executive members working with me. Together, we’re striving to create the best league in the country, and that’s how it’s turning out.
Find out more about the Manchester Softball League at manchester-softball.co.uk
