Former GB Slowpitch Team player, captain and Assistant Coach Steve Patterson
has been appointed as the programme's new Head Coach after Jeremy Bedford was forced to step down over the winter for personal reasons.
Jeremy led the team to its eighth straight European Championship win in Bulgaria last summer in his first year after taking over from Mark Saunders, and Steve will now begin preparing the team to win its ninth title next summer in the Czech town of Pardubice.
However, Team Manager and Assistant Coach Sara Vertigan will take the GB Slowpitch Team to the Netherlands on the weekend of May 25-27 for a series of challenge games against a hand-picked Dutch team, since Steve is unavailable that weekend.
The Challenge Series in Holland has been arranged by the European Softball Federation as part of its effort to increase slowpitch participation and interest on the Continent. For news of the GB Team selection for the Challenge Series, see below.
Background
Steve Patterson grew up in New England, where he played baseball, softball, soccer and golf and eventually came to the UK in 1995 as a ski and snowboard coach. In 1999, Steve discovered that softball existed in Britain and helped start the Brighton Beachcombers Softball Club.
But Steve soon began playing more competitive softball, attended GB Slowpitch Team trials in 2001 and made the team that was selected for the 2002 European Championships in Mlade Buky and the first ISF Slowpitch World Cup that same year.
Steve was a starter for the GB Team from 2002 through 2010 and captained the team from 2005 onwards. In both 2004 and 2006, he knocked in the tying and go-ahead runs in the European Championship semi-finals and finals. In 2011, however, he made the “difficult decision to step down from the captainship and my on-field role as player to support Jeremy Bedford as an Assistant Coach, focusing on infield, communication and development.”
Domestic success
Domestically, Steve has enjoyed success in men's slowpitch with the Dragons and Puppies, was one of the founders of H2O and has played for Team USA in the World Series.
He has always had a reputation as a leader and a tactician on the field, and as a player who delivered his best in clutch situations.
Steve met his future wife, the Ireland player Jenny Bohan, at the European Championships in 2004, moved to Dublin in 2006, and the two were married in 2008. Steve and Jenny have won honours in Ireland with Oddsox Greens and are involved with coaching and youth development in Dublin.
High-level experience
“I am very much looking forward to the opportunity to coach the GB National Team,” Steve said.
“I have a wealth of experience playing the game at a high level and have consistently shown a passion for both the game and the GB programme. My role as Team Captain has offered a high level of insight into Head Coach decisions, as I was often consulted and privy to the options under consideration.”
Team for Holland
Meanwhile, the players to take on the Dutch next month were announced on April 10 by the GB Slowpitch Team staff. Those making the trip are:
Martin Digon
Brett Gibbens
Roger Grooms
Zak Haq
Ian Kulka
Robbie Robison
Dan Spinks
Ed Watkinson
Jenny Ball
Lucy Binding
Vicky Chapman
Emily Clifford
Nicola Duerden
Gelske Huyer
Kirstie Leach
Ruth Macintosh
Three venues
GB players will fly to the Netherlands on Friday, May 25 and will take on a Dutch team
consisting of former national team baseball and fastpitch players at 7.00 pm that evening at the Olympia Softball Club in Haarlem.
On Saturday, the two teams will play at 2.00 pm at the Gryphons Softball Club in Rosmalen and at the same time on Sunday during the Zeisterslot Men's Fastpitch Tournament in Zeist.
The BSF regards this tour as highly important in terms of slowpitch development in Europe, and is providing financial and other support to both the GB Team and the Dutch organisers, who include ESF President Andre van Overbeek.
Dutch opponents
Dutch fastpitch star Debby Connor
Among the players that GB will face are three women who were key figures on the Dutch national fastpitch team until 2010, Sandra Gouverneur, Jolanda Kroesen and the power-hitting Debby Connor, and the male players include Wesley Connor and Brian Farley, Head Coach of the Dutch baseball team that recently won the IBAF World Championship.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Royal Dutch Baseball and Softball Federation, and the team is being advertised as the first Dutch national slowpitch team in 100 years.
The Dutch team will be coached by Caroline Theunissen, who has extensive Dutch national team coaching experience and managed by ISF Hall of Fame member Andre Prins.
Exciting weekend
The Dutch organisers of the Challenge Series are making great efforts to promote the games and create atmosphere around them, and the fact that all of the games will be played in conjunction with important fastpitch events should ensure good crowds.
The payoff will be a Dutch team in next year's 9th European Slowpitch Championships – and if that comes to pass, the team will certainly be a strong one.