Following the draw at the ESF Congress on 15 February to establish round-robin groups for this summer's European Junior (Under-19) Women's Championships, Head Coach Rachael Watkeys and the GB Junior Team now knows what it has to be done to get to the playoffs and a possible medal place.
At the moment, the tournament has a record 16 entries, and will be played from July 21-26 at Rosmalen, near S'Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands.
In 2012, the GB Under-19s reached the playoff stage and finished sixth, their highest-ever placing at the event, despite winning only two games and losing four (in 2010, the GB Team was 6-2 but finished ninth, which demonstrates that it's not how many games you win but when you win them that counts). However, that sixth-place finish in 2012 improved their chances of getting to the playoffs again this time around, as GB was seeded in the second of four tiers of teams for the draw.
The top two teams from each of the four initial round-robin groups will go forward to the playoffs, but as always, winning the group will result in an easier playoff run than finishing second.
In the past, this tournament would have been a qualifier for the next Junior Women's World Championships, which will be played in August 2015 in Oklahoma City. But the Junior World Championships are now an open event, as they were in 2013 when the GB Under-19s entered and finished ninth, so the GB Team can go to Oklahoma next year if they want to regardless of placing.
Interesting draw
When the names were pulled out of hats at the ESF Congress in Prague, the GB Under-19s wound up in Pool C, along with 2012 losing finalists Germany; Belgium, who finished 10th in 2012; and Serbia, who did not play two years ago.
The GB Team will be pleased to have avoided Pool A, headed by the defending champion Netherlands, and the pools headed by Italy and Russia. While Germany is always strong at Under-19 level, their march to the final in 2012, when they upset Italy and Russia, was something of a surprise and they may not be quite as formidable as those other three group leaders. So what promises to be a strong GB Team will set themselves the aim of winning the group.
But caution will also be needed, since Belgium is often stronger than indicated by their 10th-place finish in 2012. Serbia, on the other hand, who are relative newcomers to European competition, are not expected to pose a problem for the other teams in the group.
With the ESF deadline for withdrawing from competitions without penalty set at 1 March, the final make-up of the competition could still change, and in the unlikely event that a number of teams withdraw, group compositions could still be altered.
Pool groups
For the moment, however, the pool groups are shown in full below:
Pool A
Netherlands
Croatia
Ukraine
Lithuania
Pool B
Russia
Spain
France
Greece
Pool C
Germany
GB
Belgium
Serbia
Pool D
Italy
Czech Republic
Israel
Denmark
Selection date
GB Junior Head Coach Rachael Watkeys and Assistant Coach Liz Knight are planning to select the traveling squad for the European Junior Championships, plus non-travelling reserves, following the Regional Academy Softball session in London on Saturday 8 March.
As usual, the squad will be a mixture of players based in Britain and players based overseas, and though some of the players who competed in the Junior World Championships last summer have now aged out, many of those who helped GB to a successful ninth place finish in the team's first-ever World Championship appearance will be back.
2012 placings
Placings at the European Junior Women's Championships in 2012, also played at Rosmalen, were as follows:
1 - Netherlands
2 - Germany
3 - Russia
4 - Italy
5 - Czech Republic
6 - Great Britain
7 - Spain
8 - Croatia
9 - France
10 - Belgium
11 - Ukraine
12 - Israel
13 - Austria
14 - Denmark
15 - Lithuania