Baseball5 Youth European Championships will be held under the European Union (WBSC Europe) in Clermont-Ferrand on October 29.10-2.11.2024. Finland‘s Head coach Saku Komulainen has named five girl players and three boy players from the Vuokatti-Ruka Sports Academy baseball students. Preparations for the competition started at the beginning of the year and through the qualifiers Elina Huttunen, Nelly Kiiski, Nelli Kilpi, Tiia-Maria Veikanmaa, Siiri Mäenpää, Reino Heikkinen, Samuli Larinen and Timo Kilpiniemi claimed their spots in the team. Thirteen countries are participating in the tournament and during the preliminary series Finland faces Turkey, Romania, Poland, Lithuania, Italy and Germany. The best three of the group get to play in the next series and the rest of the teams will continue their ranking matches after the initial series. “The team will surprise at the games and the defensive game will be our strength”, says head coach Saku Komulainen. Representing the national team and playing on international fields is a great opportunity for young people at the academy. Interesting to see how academy athletes compare to European baseball, softball and baseball5 youth. The team is excited to set off and on to a new adventure: it has quickly become a respected sport within the Olympic movement and has already been selected to participate in the 2026 Dakar Youth Olympics. The success of the adult national team at last year’s European Championship competition (seventh) after a short practice creates confidence in the possibilities of the young athletes from the academy to succeed. “The tournament’s finalists will get representation rights to the World Championships and the Dakari Youth Olympics”, states Ville-Herman Saarman, the Finnish Baseball Association’s baseball and softball sportsman.
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