North Shore Twins has been the top program for elite 16- to 18-year-old baseball players on Vancouver's North Shore since 1990. In more recent years the program has expanded to include teams for younger players as well: North Shore Junior Twins and North Shore Prep Twins. The three teams now comprise the North Shore Twins Baseball Club, which is operated by coaches with professional and/or college baseball credentials and dedicated volunteers. The club is based at Parkgate Park in North Vancouver, BC.
The Premier Twins is a member of the prestigious British Columbia Premier Baseball League ("BCPBL"), recognized as the foremost baseball league in Canada for high-school-age players, which is comprised of twelve teams: North Shore, Abbotsford, Coquitlam, Fraser Valley, Kelowna, Langley, Nanaimo, North Delta, Parksville, Victoria (2), and White Rock. The team plays approximately 90 games per season including league and tournament games throughout British Columbia and the US.
The Premier Twins' roster is primarily made up of North Shore players, with others from across the Lower Mainland choosing to join the program. Players are selected for their ability, commitment and desire to ultimately compete at the college or professional level. The program aims to provide the environment, guidance and skills—physical, mental and emotional included—that will allow these dedicated baseball players to reach for their dreams.
Since its inception the North Shore Twins has been highly successful in meeting its goals. Under a series of Head Coaches including Buff Schemmer, Dave Empey, Canadian-Hall-of-Famer John Haar (he heads up the North Shore Twins Baseball Club and has returned to the Head Coach position after a period with the Prep Twins), Jordan Wilson, Larson Bauck, many of its graduates have been able to play baseball while pursuing their post-secondary academics at US and Canadian colleges and universities thanks to athletic and academic scholarships and other financial assistance.
In addition, fourteen Twins have been drafted into professional baseball. The team’s most famous draftee is Gibson’s Ryan Dempster, and the most recent is Lachlan Fontaine, drafted by the Seattle Mariners in 2013.
