Come down to Farnham Park for 2.30 pm on Sunday afternoon 30 June, and watch the full GB Women's Fastpitch Team play an exhibition game against Great Britain Fastpitch League players. Everyone is invited to meet the team, see them play and give them a good send-off for the European Championships coming up in Prague.
Rare event
It's actually fairly rare for the full GB Women's Team to spend time in the UK, because of course their official competitions are always elsewhere, in Europe or around the world, and the players come from many different countries as well as from Britain.
But later this month, the full GB team (minus three players who will be at Junior World Championships in Canada with the GB Under-19 Women) will be gathering in Britain for a training camp, to be held mainly at Richings Park from June 27-July 4. After that, the team will fly to Prague for the European Championships and World Championship Qualifier, to be played from July 7-13 with 19 countries participating.
The last time the complete squad was here was in 2009, but the training camp was held at RAF Lakenheath before the team left for European Championships in Valencia, and very few people got to see them.
The last time the full GB Women's Team played a competitive game in the UK was in 2006, when GB won a London Cup Tournament played in Croydon and featuring teams from the USA, Greece, Spain, France and the Czech Republic.
Top four finish
To qualify for their fourth straight World Championships, to be held in August 2014 in the Netherlands, the GB Women's Team will need to finish in the top four at the European Championships in Prague.
The GB Team has finished second and third at the last two European Championships, but a number of veteran players retired following the World Championships last summer in Canada, and this will be a relatively young GB Team that will need to compete with the Netherlands, Italy, the Czech Republic, Russia and Germany as their most likely rivals for the four World Championship places.
Support appreciated
The GB Women's Team staff and players, led by Head Coach Hayley Scott, will very much appreciate as many people as possible coming out to Farnham Park on 30 June to see them play and give them support. The exhibition game against a team of GBFL players will also mark the first time that fastpitch will have been played on the new dedicated fields at Farnham.
Warm-ups should begin around 1.30 pm, with the game scheduled for 2.30.
GB Squad
The 17 players who will compete for GB in the European Championships in Prague are:
Pitchers
Carling Hare
Kylie Marshall
Keeli Waugh*
Catchers
Amy Moore
Steph Pearce
Nicole Ratel*
Infielders
Jenny Ball
Sarah Craig
Sarah Jones
Chiya Louie
Amy Wells*
Alicja Wolny
Outfielders
Susie Hall
Karlene Headley-Cooper
Naomi Jones
Laura Thompson
Kori Waugh
* These three players will be with the GB Under-19 Women at World Championships in Canada during the training camp and will fly direct from Canada to Prague.