The GB Senior Men’s Fastpitch Team travelled to Denmark on Saturday 22 July to compete in their first European Men’s 
Championship since 2018, which will be played in the city of Horsholm from 24-29 July.
New Head Coach Robbie Robison will lead a team with hopes of finishing near the top of the table in a 12-team tournament, which equals the highest number of teams ever to contest a European Men’s Championship.
In 2018, the GB Team finished fourth, just missing out on qualification for what was then called the Men’s World Championship. This year’s tournament will be a qualifier for the next WBSC Men’s World Cup.
Robbie Robison said, "The team arrived safely, there’s a certain buzz in the air and we are excited for the tournament to start. The guys have been working hard both together and on their own since selections and we are ready for the week ahead!"
Format
The format selected for this tournament by WBSC Europe divides the 12 teams into four groups of three for an initial round-robin, with two teams from each group going forward to Championship playoffs.
The GB Team is in a group with Czechia, the overwhelming favourite to win the tournament, and Sweden. The GB Men’s Team had two fairly comfortable wins over Sweden at Farnham Park in May 2022 when the Swedes travelled to the UK for a series of friendly games, and more recently beat Sweden 3-0 in a return fixture earlier this year in Gothenburg.
In European men’s fastpitch tournaments at every age level, it seems to be GB’s fate to open the tournament against the all-conquering Czechs, ranked #1 in Europe and #6 in the world. It happened to both the GB Under-16 and Under-18 Men’s Teams in their recent European Championships, and it will happen to the GB Men's Team on Monday 24 July when they take on the Czechs at 10.00 am Danish time on Field 2 at Hurrican Park.
GB will play Sweden at 9.00 am on Tuesday morning as the brief opening round-robin comes to an end, and it will then be on to the playoffs. GB will have to win one of those round-robin games to make it to the Championship playoffs involving the top eight teams.
Preparation
Since the squad for the GB Men’s Team was selected in April, the team has had various full-day training sessions at Conniburrow in Milton Keynes or at Farnham Park, with additional sessions after GBFL weekends.
Most of the squad has also taken part in warm-up events, including the return trip to Sweden at the start of May and then the annual Zeist Tournament at the end of May in the Netherlands, where the GB Team finished fourth, with wins over the Netherlands and Germany, two teams they may face during the course of this Championship.
The GB Team, made up primarily of home-grown talent, flew out to Copenhagen on Saturday 22 July, with a large contingent on a flight from Manchester that met up with players and staff from various London flights. Of the team’s two Australian-based players, Matt Eder flew into Manchester to fly out with the others, and Todd Kriehn flew separately into Europe and met up with the squad in Denmark. This was the first time the full squad has been together.
Plans are to have a training session on Sunday afternoon in Horsholm, including a scrimmage game against Germany.
Players and staff
There has been one change from the team selected in April, due to the withdrawal because of injury by Gareth Jooste, who has been replaced by Darren Tighe. The players who will compete in Denmark are:
Amit Aswani
Damon Brown
Joe Coxon
Matt Eder
Ieuan Gale
Todd Kriehn
Darren Meintjes
Trent Nash
Josh Peat
Tom Priscott
Tom Russell
Jack Scholes
Carl Sharpe
Darren Tighe
Matt Tomlin
George Young
The staff is:
Head Coach: Robbie Robison
Team Operations Manager: Jill Russell
Assistant Coach: Chelsie Robison
Sports Therapist: Alfie Stanik
Reports on all GB games from the 2023 European Men’s Championship will be posted throughout the week on the BSF website.