Zambia Baseball Softball Association (ZBSA) has opened trials for the National Baseball five and Softball teams at the Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC) in preparation to launch the first Zambian Baseball five national team.
The trials which begun on May 2 ended on May 4, and involved athletes of different sport disciplines interested in being a part of the National Baseball five team.
In an interview with Lusaka Star, ZBSA General Secretary Kenny Matisi said he is looking forward to having as many participants as possible because no special criteria is being used in the selection of the potential team members.
“We are expecting to have as many participants as we can especially since it’s a new sport that we are introducing,” he said.
Matisi added that the association has invited both female and male athletes to try-out for the sport in numbers in order for the team to run at both local and international levels.
“For the team to run both locally and internationally you need to have all the genders, if there are four males in one team, then there must be the same number of females and so we encourage the participation of women in sports,” Matisi said.
Meanwhile, ZBSA vice president Andrew Zulu disclosed that he expects to have as many players so that selections and preparations are made for the world cup qualifiers taking place on May 23 this year.
He expressed excitement that this will be the first ever worldwide tournament for the sport and would like to see Zambia representing Africa.
“It will be the first tournament that will be played not only in Zambia but world wide because it is a new sport and there is nothing like America started it or something like that,” he said.
He further said that the association has begun giving out instructions of the rules and regulations of the new sport at Olympia.
“We are talking to people from different sporting disciplines because this is an easy game that anyone knows and athletes can play as it is similar to rounders’,” he said.
“We are also trying to reach as many people as possible to join the sport.”
Zulu noted that the trial games are a big opportunity for athletes in the country.
“It’s an opportunity for many youth out there because we have competitions for under 18, under 16, under 20 and under 12 so in comparison to baseball, it is the only sport in the world that has under 18, 16, 12 and 20 world cup qualifiers and qualifying for this game means qualifying for world cup,” he said.
He further said that the association is positive that it will form a strong team at the end of the trials because the sport has been played in the country only that it has been modernised.
Published on May 18, 2022