GB Slowpitch Head Coach Steve Patterson and his staff have announced the 18 players they have selected for the team that will attempt to win a ninth straight European Championship from July 17-20 this summer in Pardubice, in the Czech Republic.
The team includes 10 men and eight women – and with four players moving up from the Development Squad and five experienced players re-joining the team who did not play in 2011, the 2013 GB Team will have quite a different look.
Full squad
The full 2013 GB Slowpitch Team is as follows:
Women
Jenny Ball
Lucy Binding
Vicky Chapman
Emily Clifford
Nicola Duerden
Areej Elmaazi
Chiya Louie
Ruth Macintosh
Men
Lee Cornwall
Brett Gibbens
Paul Gough
Roger Grooms
Danny Gunn
Steve Hazard
Ian Kulka
David Lee
Dan Spinks
Ben Taylor
Different faces
The four players who have made the jump from the Development Squad are Areej Elmaazi, Ian Kulka, Chiya Louie and Ben Taylor.
Five veteran players who have been re-selected after not playing in Bulgaria in 2011 are Jenny Ball, Lee Cornwall, Brett Gibbens, Paul Gough and David Lee.
The 18 players have been selected from a total of 37 players in the GB Slowpitch Main and Development Squads, 30 of whom competed in the GB Challenge Tournament on April 20 at Farnham Park.
The 2013 selection has added both speed and power in comparison to the squad that lost twice to Slovenia in the 2011 European Championships before beating them in the final. The GB coaching staff recognises that the challenge from Slovenia may be even stronger this time around, following the European Cup win by the Slovenian club Lisicke in 2012 over the Chromies, also in Pardubice.
Full reports on every GB Slowpitch Team game at the European Championships will be posted on the BSF website (www.britishsoftball.org).