OSLOPRETENDERS

Tuesday July 29th, 2014

By Jimmy Dudek

 

Norwegian baseball is back on the international arena and will send their National team to compete in this year's Pool C European championships in Ljubjana, Slovena July 29th - August 2nd. Mathias and Martinius from the Pretenders are in the squad to defend the Norwegian honor.

 

This yea's national team is the first in many years as the Norwegian Baseball Federation is determined to put together a competitive team in the European Championships.  A few year's back, Andy Johnson was hired to create a long term plan to develop talent and eventually a National team to compete internationally and make baseball a more popular sport in Norway.  Today, there are now 12 baseball clubs in Norway, with 6 teams in the 1st division, and six teams in the 2nd division.  

 

In order to develop the younger talent in the country, a Baseball Academy was formed four years ago, coached by Brian Bach, Andy Johnson and James Dudek.  There are 19 team members traveling to Slovenia, 10 are current members or recent graduates of the Norwegian Baseball Academy.  Two team members are current players for the Oslo Pretenders, Mathias Dudek (17) and Martinius Hars (21).  We wish them good luck and success in Slovenia playing for their national team.

You can follow them and the tournament online here: