Edenvale side players in the national team
Three Giant Baseball Club players have been selected for the South African Baseball team which will face Britain later this month.
The Giants team is based in Edenvale.
The teams will battle it out during the five-game test series which will run from August 23 at the Boksburg Sports Stadium.
The series is part of the Great Britain Inbound tour.
During the tour, Britain will face two South African provincial sides, KwaZulu Natal and the Western Cape, before facing the national team.
Giants’ Cameron Ellis, Micheal Lebepe and Cameron van Niekerk and their coach, Dean McKinon, will be part of seven Gauteng players who will represent the country.
The national team’s manager, Rob Peeters, said there will be 20 players and four coaches carrying the hopes of the nation in this tournament.
He said that the selected national players train every week in three different provinces, the Western Cape, KwaZulu Natal and Gauteng.
“We are following strict training guidelines in all our camps in all the provinces. We are all working on a high performance programme. Today we are working on field- and gym-work to build up the boys’ fitness,” he said.
He added that the whole team will meet on August 21.
“From then, we will have regular training session. Even on the morning of August 23, we will train before the first game. We are serious about winning this series,” he said.
During the Gauteng training camp at the Edenvale Sports Grounds on Saturday last week, Peeters said the tour is part of the Baseball South Africa Union’s plan to develop the game.
“Each year we will try to bring an international team to play against our boys. This will help strengthen the game in our youth. This experience will help prepare our players for the 2016 World Baseball Classic. All the players in our current squad will still be at the right age to play then. This exposure will help a lot. It is good to play against your team-mates and local players, but it is another thing to play against international players,” Peeters said.
He urged all baseball and sports people to come in numbers to support the local lads during the tournament.
Entrance is free.
For more information about the tour, contact tournament director Paddy van Niekerk on 011 452 9341 or the team’s manager, Rob Peeters on 011 266 5425.
