POSTED: June 14th 2009
NewsUpdate
Lithuanian baseball chases Olympic dreams
LAURA WALDEN / Sports Features Communications
LAUSANNE: The top Lithuanian baseball players have now traveled to the heartland of America for a 16 day tour to ramp up their game. The players are part of Club team Kaunas Lituanica that is part of the nation’s top group of players forming the Lithuanian Baseball League.
The team brought their ‘pirstines’ and ‘lazdos’ [baseball gloves and bats] ready to sink into some intense matches comprising a seven game schedule against local summer amateur baseball teams. They are on a learning curve to glean all they can to up their game skills.
The objective of the tour is formation training for the younger players and for the team to learn more about the game after their disappointing 3rd place finish in 2008 league play. The Kaunas Lituanica’s goal is to aim towards winning the Lithuanian Baseball League title in 2009.
The main objective is to take Lithuanian baseball to the Olympics one day. Having baseball back on the Olympic program is crucial for many countries for funding and training purposes.
Lithuania is targeting young player development as the priority for future of the game in Lithuania and throughout the European continent.
Already two players on the US Tour have caught the attention of MLB scouts, 17 year old pitcher and outfielder Edvardus Matusevicius and 16 year old pitcher Dovydas Neverauskas, and they have been invited to Major League Baseball’s European Academy taking place in August in Italy.
The father of Matusevicius, Edmuntas, is the General Secretary of the Lithuanian Baseball Association and is overseeing the tour.
MLB Scouting Bureau staff recently ran 80 tryout and selection sessions evaluating over 250 of the top promising European players as part of their grassroots program.
US Tour
The kick off of the tour was a visit to study the Major League Baseball teams of the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers head off at Chicago's US Cellular Field.
Strong competition hit them to up their game and they fell 11-0 in their first game against the Chicago Wildcats a league considered by many as one of the best amateur leagues in the US.
Tony Huntley of the Wildcats commented on the potential of the younger players and the fact that they hung into the game in spite of the high score.
Olympic Dream
This week IBAF president Dr. Harvey Schiller is in the Olympic capital to make a presentation in front of the IOC executive board for baseball to regain its place on the Olympic Program.
He has some strong suggestions for national teams, “Letter writing, calls and updates to IOC members that you may know or can access is very important, as they need to constantly hear about the developments with baseball, especially on the grassroots level, while they travel the world promoting the Olympic movement. Also, communication back to us on what you are hearing and doing is greatly appreciated.”
Dr. Schiller put forth his aim in a new statement on Friday, June 12: “Also, as a reminder, information on international player activity on any level that can be passed along to us is also important so that we can help you tell all the good news stories about baseball to the largest possible audience.”
IBAF makes a presentation June 15 then there is another opportunity to inform the members as the IOC Executive Board will then meet again in August in Berlin at the World Track and Field Championships.
The plan for the choice of sports on the 2016 Olympic sports program is that the IOC executive board will put forth suggested sports to be added to the core sport group for consideration of the IOC session gathering in Copenhagen in October later this year.
Picture (above right): Kaunas Lituanica players learning from the Detroit Tigers. Image: Kaunas Lituanica
Keywords · IBAF · Harvey Schiller · Kaunas Lituanica · Edvardus Matusevicius · Dovydas Neverauskas
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