Players and staff from the Great Britain Slowpitch Team are now in Plant City, Florida to compete in the 4th Co-ed Slowpitch World Cup hosted by the International Softball Federation.
The event, contested by teams from nine countries, will be played from 19-22 November at the ISF’s headquarters complex in Plant City, and will take place in conjunction with a major Barbeque Festival known as the Pig Jam.
The GB Team, which finished second to a strong American side when the tournament was last held in January 2014, will be hoping to continue its medal-winning run at the competition. One of two GB Teams won the first ISF Slowpitch World Cup in 2002, and GB took the silver medal in 2005 as well as 2014.
The fact that the tournament has now been run in consecutive years by the ISF indicates their desire to make it an annual event, and there has been discussion about turning it into a full-blown World Championship in alternate years.
New look
The GB Team that will play in Florida has a new look, with eight players who have yet to represent the country in formal ESF or ISF competition, and the team will be significantly different from the group that dominated affairs in the European Championships in Bulgaria this past summer.
With the ESF and ISF holding marquee slowpitch events in relatively quick succession, the selection process has been a challenge, with many players finding it difficult to commit to two overseas tournaments in a year. Looking ahead, the GB Slowpitch programme will be keen to discuss sponsorship possibilities to support the growing number of opportunities to play high-level slowpitch worldwide.
Several of the players who were contending for spots at the World Cup were asked to play in the GB Development side that finished as runners-up in September’s Softball World Series, and their selection highlights the strength in depth of the GB Slowpitch programme.
GB Slowpitch Head Coach Steve Patterson said, “There are a number of talented players across the breadth of today’s GB programme, and getting into any GB team is difficult, as it should be. At last spring’s GB Challenge, all players were challenged to develop themselves to be the next ‘must have’ player. The same will hold true in Florida.
“I was impressed with the effort these players put in at the World Series,” Steve added. “For me, competing for GB is as much about attitude as it is about talent. A 100% commitment to compete, to develop and to win goes hand in hand with GB Softball. These players have worked hard during our winter training sessions, at summer club tournaments and at the recent World Series.”
The players
The players who will play for GB in Plant City are:
Michelle Collier
Lauren Futcher
Stephanie Gillard
Katherine Golik
Kirsty Leach
Claudine Snape
Stewart Butcher
Roger Grooms
Kelvin Harrison
Roddy Hill
David Lee
Mike MacDowell
Matt Tomlin
Chris Yoxall
The coaches
The coaching staff going the World Cup includes GB Slowpitch Head Coach Steve Patterson, Team Manager and Assistant Coach Sara Vertigan and former GB Slowpitch player Robbie Robison, who is also Head Coach of the Softball Academy and High Performance Academy.
GB Assistant Coaches Mike Ashley and Lucy Binding are both unable to travel on this occasion, but have been outstanding in supporting the team’s preparations.
In Florida, preparations will include a one-day tournament in Tampa on Sunday 15 November and training sessions on the competition fields at Plant City.
The opponents
Nine countries have sent teams to the 2015 Slowpitch World Cup:
Bahamas
Bulgaria
Canada
Curacao
France
Germany
Great Britain
United States
Turks & Caicos Islands
Seven countries were represented in 2014, so the tournament is gaining ground.
Schedule
The Slowpitch World Cup will be played as a full round-robin, followed by a Page Playoff for the top four teams and a Placing Page Playoff to determine places 5-8 in the final standings.
GB’s first game, at noon on Thursday 19 November, will be against Curacao, followed by a game against Canada at 3.00 pm.
On Friday, GB will play the Bahamas, France and the Turks and Caicos Islands, and then all the teams will get a chance to enjoy the food and music at the Pig Jam.
GB will complete its round-robin games on Saturday by playing Germany, the United States and Bulgaria, with all Page Playoff games scheduled for Sunday. Medal ceremonies will follow the gold medal game, which will begin at 3.00 pm.
All of GB’s games in Florida will be reported in full on the BSF website.
GB trials
It will only be about three weeks after the team returns from Florida that the GB Slowpitch programme will hold its annual Open Trials.
The trials will take place at Nuffield Health Sports and Fitness Centre in Rickmansworth, Herts on Sunday 13 December.
Any players looking to attend the Open Trials should contact Lucy Binding (lucybinding@msn.com) or Mike Ashley (mga4351@yahoo.com) for more information and timings.