THE Zimbabwe men’s national baseball team last week embarked on a six-day camp in Bulawayo in preparation for the South African Baseball Championships to be held in Durban (South Africa) in April next year.
BY FORTUNE MBELE
The 26-member team was camped at Hamilton High School and putting up at Founders High School from last week till Sunday under coach Americo Juma and American baseball mentor Bart Bratcher.
Zimbabwe Baseball Association (ZBA) president Morris Banda said the team would undertake the same training programmes in the next three months before they travel to South Africa for the tournament.
“The national baseball team was in camp from last week preparing for the South African Baseball Championships to be held in South Africa in April next year. We had 26 players in camp under coaches Americo Juma, Taniyama Naoki, assistant coach Washington Nyika as well as Bart Bratcher, who is a friend of Zimbabwe baseball from the United States,” Banda said.
Bratcher is usually in the country every August to hold baseball coaching clinics, but Banda said he had been invited to help the national team in preparation for the upcoming competition in Durban.
The ZBA president said three of the national team players (pitchers) will travel to Japan in March as part of their preparations before the South Africa championships.
“Every month from now, we are going to have one-week training camps and we are looking forward to three of players travelling to Japan for three weeks in March. In this camp at Hamilton, the players went through drill, skills and playing strategies and they really benefited a lot. We were focusing a lot on batting, pitching, base running and signal,” Banda said.
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He said Bratcher, who also took the players through the cognitive (mental) aspect of the game, is also into sports ministry teaching the players to be good, acceptable and how to be better people in life in their communities.
Squad:
Kutsanza Nathaniel, Katsaruware Tanyaradzwa, Ngulube Nhloniphani, Pika Collen, Mawanga Luxson, Basera Tadiwanashe, Sibanda Shepherd, Kachidza Godknows, Majobo Brendon, Kawadza Kelvin, Chaima Vincent, Machikiti Grant, Chibvure Ashlone, Kwangwari Tinashe, Tenderere Joel, Kanyuchi Kudzayi, Makanda Admire, Ndebele Lawson, Davengwa Abel, Blessing Freddy, Kabachi Marshall, Magistrate Ryan, Nyamangara Cuthbert, Zhuwawo Lungton, Samkange Tapiwanashe, Mudzingwa Eldon
