WBSC Europe's Baseball5 Game Officials clinic draws seventeen participants

The WBSC Europe Game Officials Clinic brought together a diverse group of seventeen participants, including eight newcomers to the world of Baseball5 officiating.

Representing a wide array of countries, the participants hailed from Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, France, Great Britain, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, Romania, Spain, and Türkiye.

Three of the attendees had previous experience officiating at WBSC World Cup or Youth World Cup events.

All seventeen participants officiated the games of the Baseball5 European Championship 2023.

Game Officials in Chief Tony JONES (Finland) and WBSC Europe Baseball5 Technical & Competitions Director Ludovic MEILLIER (France) led the Clinic.

The clinic mainly focused on regulations and rules interpretation and the scoring system techniques.

The Baseball5 Commission expressed satisfaction with the overall outcome of the clinic. Encouragingly, the Commission is urging National Federations to intensify efforts in recruiting additional Game Officials, with a particular emphasis on female candidates as the clinic highlighted a gender diversity gap with only three out of seventeen participants being female.

The call extends to both online and in-person recruitment methods, reflecting the commitment to promoting the growth and development of Baseball5 in Europe.

As baseball5 gains popularity, more games and tournaments are on the horizon for 2024, including the Youth Baseball5 European Championship 2024, qualifier for the upcoming WBSC Youth Baseball5 World Cup in 2025. Tickets for the Youth Olympic Games in 2026 will be at stake at the World Cup.

Cover photo by Evaldas Žarkaitis