Cloverdale Rangers raise national championship banner in Surrey<\/p>\n
Published 9:30 pm Monday, April 27, 2026<\/p>\n
The Cloverdale Rangers recently raised a national championship banner at Hillcrest Park.<\/p>\n
The banner, affixed to the backstop of the 18U diamond, was unveiled in front of players, parents, friends, and baseball volunteers ahead of a game there April 18.<\/p>\n
The Cloverdale Rangers 18U College Prep baseball team won the 2025 title in August last year at nationals in Fort McMurray, Alberta. The win capped off an amazing season, said Bob Foerster, the GM for the Cloverdale Rangers High Performance Baseball Program.<\/p>\n
During a short ceremony and unveiling, Foerster thanked those in attendance, honoured the team from last year, and also thanked the Cloverdale Minor Baseball Association board members for allowing him to create the elite Rangers program.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s exciting for the players, exciting for the program, and exciting for Cloverdale,\u201d Foerster said of the national title win. \u201cKudos to the coaches and kudos to the players. It\u2019s an amazing accomplishment for the program. The competition was very difficult to play against. It\u2019s almost indescribable.\u201d<\/p>\n
For a program that was only in its third year in 2025, it is quite the accomplishment, he added. Foerster said the program is further ahead of schedule than he thought it would be in year three.<\/p>\n
He said the Rangers program has elevated development in three short years by improving its coaching and offering consistency across three different age groups: 18U, 15U, and 13U.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur program is being noticed, and it\u2019s now confirmed,\u201d he added. \u201cWe\u2019re a legitimate, elite program the kids can play in if they want to try to excel at the next level.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foerster noted the coaching staff and program is now nationally known as a program that develops players. He said several of the kids on the team are in baseball academies this year and several more have gone on to play baseball at post-secondary schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur coaching staff is one of the best in B.C. Minor (Baseball), if not the province.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foerster said people across teh entire program are looking forward to a \u201cgreat\u201d 2026 baseball season.<\/p>\n
Mike Dance, head coach of the Rangers\u2019 national winning team, said the victory still hasn\u2019t sunk in.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter six months, I still don\u2019t know that I have the words to describe it,\u201d Dance said. \u201cIt was really an honor to coach these kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he\u2019s coached many of the players since they played in 8U and 9U.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a kid that was part of that group\u2014so, I\u2019ve really gotten to know a bunch of these players on more of a personal level, the parents on more of a personal level,\u201d he said. \u201cSo being able to win it with that team, as opposed to some of the other teams I\u2019ve coached, makes it incredibly special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dance added the win has fueled him to get back to the playoffs this year in an effort to do it again\u2014albeit with a different team. All the players from last year have graduated from the program.<\/p>\n
He noted Rangers elite development has elevated baseball in Cloverdale above where it would have been without the high performance program being implemented.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s streamlined the style of play, the culture, the coaching, all that sort of stuff within Cloverdale,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe\u2019ve always had high performance teams, but it\u2019s always been disjointed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having the Rangers program come along, he said, has tied everything together.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt allows those kids that are playing in 13U to be able to see a pathway to 15U and 18 U. Then that may lead to post-secondary play and things of that nature.\u201d<\/p>\n