They’re held every two years and, in the past, we haven’t been able to afford to go,’ said Ali Wade, president of the JSA for the last six years.
‘But because they’re being held so close to home, and because this is our 15th year, we’ve applied to take part.
Afford
‘There are normally eight teams or more and the last Europeans were held in Austria, which we couldn’t afford to go to, although we sent a Channel Islands’ side to the world series held in London last September when we came tenth out of 20 teams, which we were fairly pleased with.
‘They’re very strict about who can play – the criteria includes Island residency, and having a Jersey passport – but Sean Bilson, the Island coach, has had about ten letters back so far, from people who are eligible to play.
We’re also waiting for other replies.
‘There’s a lot of red tape and the instructions for the tournament are fairly strict, but we thought we’d do something different, to celebrate our 15th anniversary and we’ll start training and team selection around March time.’
The tournament, played on a round robin basis, runs between 8 and 12 July and among the teams which have already indicated they will be there are Great Britain, Denmark, Croatia, Ireland and Slovenia.
While it will be a first for the Island side, who are still hoping for sponsors to defer some of the costs of playing there, Ali Wade believes that playing in such a tournament can only be good for Island softball.
Realistically
‘Realistically, I think we can show the other European countries how seriously we take the game, and participating in this kind of competition can only raise the overall standard in Jersey,’ she said.
‘It also gives the players an opportunity both to learn and participate,’ she added.
‘So is it worthwhile? – Absolutely!’
