The push is on to get fast pitch back into the Olympic Games for 2016, says the president of the International Softball Federation.

Don Porter explained that while women's fast pitch is included in the upcoming Games in Beijing, the International Olympic Committee has not included softball in the 2012 Olympics.

The federation has formed a task force to spearhead the campaign, code named BackSoftball.

"There are kids out there now whose dreams have been shattered," Porter said of players who had their sights set on 2012 as an opportunity to achieve their goals of making it to the world's most prestigious sporting event.

Porter was in Whitehorse over the weekend for the opening of the eighth ISF Junior Men's World Fast Pitch Championships.

In a casual interview Saturday afternoon at the Pepsi Softball Centre, the federation's president said he gets hundreds and hundreds of e-mails urging the international organization to do whatever it can to get the sport back in for 2016.

"We have a lot of people who have volunteered their time and ability to help convince the IOC," Porter said.

Women's fast pitch has been a part of the summer Olympics since 1996.

He said Juan Antonio Samaranch, who served as president of the Olympic committee from 1980 to 2001, is the honourary chair of the BackSoftball campaign, which also has the support of a number of prominent athletes and media corporations.

As a former semi-pro hardball player who grew up with a passion for sports. The 78-year-old Porter eventually turned to softball because it was oriented more towards family involvement. And he's been with the sport ever since.

He was on the ground floor of organizing the International Softball Federation, was its first secretary general, and has been the president since 1987.

The federation's first international event was a women's fast pitch championship hosted by Melbourne, Australia on a cricket field back in 1965.

Porter said at the time, the women were more advanced in international softball competition, and came forward with a proposal to host the federation's inaugural world championship.

The first international men's fast pitch championship was held a year later, followed in 1981 by the first world junior women's championship and the first world junior men's championship. Each event is now held every four years - one each year.

The last junior men's championship was held in Edmonton in 2005. Under normal circumstances, it would not have been held until next year.

But the federation decided to switch the men's rotation with the junior men's so that the more prestigious Men's World Fast Pitch Championship wouldn't be overshadowed by the Beijing Olympics.

The primary goal of the federation, Porter said, is to promote the growth of the sport.

While there was a day when softball was primarily a Canadian and American sport, today there are 130 countries which belong to the ISF, he said.

It's estimated, though roughly, Porter acknowledges, that approximately 21 million people around the world play softball.

There are now, for instance, 12 African countries which belong to the federation.

"What our mission is within the federation is to try to help our countries develop a system where they can be competitive."

In the last six years, the federation has distributed $2.5 million worth of softball equipment to 91 countries, pointed out Porter, who once worked as a professional referee for NFL football and U.S. college ball.

The ISF has divided the globe up into six different regions, and allots each region a certain number of places at each championship.

There are five places available for Canada, U.S. and Bermuda, three for Latin America, five for Asia, three for Europe, two for Africa and two for Oceania, which includes Australia and New Zealand, a couple of contenders at this championship.

There is also one spot for the host country.

If a region has more countries interested in attending than available spots, there needs to be a regional playoff.

For these championships, only Europe required a playoff, with the Czech Republic and Denmark advancing.