Head coach of the Kenya Softball National Team Peter Anyanzwa has spent the last two weeks in Prague, Czech Republic, to learn from Czech coaches. The trip has been possible with the support of Czech Softball, European Softball Federation, and WBSC, boosting the efforts to develop softball in Africa.
“You have so many teams here; at home, we only have the chance to develop teams at universities, both men and women, so we have eight teams and one team from government – that is a national service. But people are very excited and interested in softball”, said Anyanzwa, who started to play himself long time ago when he was in national service in Kenya. “I’ve seen so many things here; practices, coaching, batting, catching, drills… so many things. When I come back home I will train and coach the players we have, so at least they can improve”.
The growing of baseball and softball in Africa has been a center piece of the WBSC development strategy in the last years. In May 2017, WBSC organized and supported the inaugural WBSC African Summit 2017, to review and best harness baseball and softball’s increasing participation rates and popularity across the African continent.
A few months later, in October 2017, baseball and softball leaders from approximately 100 countries arrived in Gaborone, Botswana, to participate in the historic II WBSC World Baseball Softball Congress.
Anyanzwa’s learning visit to Europe is another occasion where Europe and Africa cooperate in the matter of softball development. Last year, the first African team from Botswana competed in the Women’s European Cup. This year, two teams from Africa are getting ready for European Cup competitions.
