BaseballSoftballUK’s High Performance Academy class for the 2018-2019 off-season currently has a total of 53 athletes aged 
between 13 and 19 taking part -- 15 from fastpitch softball and 38 from baseball.
The athletes were selected from tryouts held at Farnham Park in late September.
High Performance Academy training sessions began with the 2018-2019 HPA Launch and Baseline Testing Day held on 21 October 2018 to start the first half of the programme.
The HPA is run by top trainers and instructors with the aim of preparing the UK’S talented baseball and fastpitch softball athletes for the 2019 season.
Below are the athletes taking part in the High Performance Academy programme this off-season.
Fastpitch Softball HPA participants
Rose Bhanji
Eliza Esiri
Caitlin Frank
Jasmine Lee-Tin
Glenys McGuire
Mary Murray
Holly Newell
Hannah Pitman
Esme Potter
Chelsie Robison
Steph Roycroft
Louisa Scott
Michelle Shaw
Jessica Vernon
Sian Wigington
Baseball HPA participants
Alec Anderson
Al Banerjee
Conor Baxter
Dylan Baxter
Jake Berger
Chester Burleigh
Alex Certel
Will Clayton
Alexander Deacon
Michael Flaherty
Matt Furst
Liam Gulliver
Jaime Gustafson
Django Hendrickson
Joshua Jackson
Charlie Johnson
Joshua Jones
Nathan Kettle
Jonas Kolaja
Nate Lewis
Max Manoff
Jack McCarthy
Matthew Moran
Ben Morris
Cole Nakazawa
Jack Nemeth
Thomas Norman
Andrew Painter
Alexander Paterson
Miles Patience
Matthew Pope
Matthew Pritchard
Nitin Rao
Joe Rawcliffe
Nathan Simmons
Jonathan Tolan
Jamie Warren
Joshua Webster
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Academy opening
Meanwhile, on 13 October, 60 baseball and softball athletes assembled at Harefield Academy on a beautiful autumn day to kick off BaseballSoftballUK’s 2018-19 Academy programme.
As a part of the opening day schedule, a representative from BatFast/PitchLine Baseball Simulator was on site to provide a batting cage simulator for athletes to work with as a part of programming for the day. Aside from hitting, the schedule also included baserunning and infield and outfield skills.
The Academy programme is designed to provide athletes with an opportunity to #MaximizePotential in the off-season to become better and stronger ballplayers under the nation’s best coaches.
The Academy programme is split into two divisions -- Academy Baseball and Academy Softball -- and both offer monthly national and regional weekend training session from October 2018 through March 2019.
The Academy is open to all players aged 10 to 25, and for anyone who has not yet signed up and wants to take part, registrations are still open.
Please visit http://academy.baseballsoftballuk.com/ for more information and details on how to register.