Dutch Women Softball Team

2009

Website European Championships launched

links

VALENCIA (Spain) - On Friday, February 13, the Organizing Committee of the European Championships Women's Fastpitch Softball 2009 launched its official website, which is hosted by the Federación de Béisbol y Sófbol de la Comunidad Valenciana. The 16th European Championships will be held this year in Valencia (Spain) from July 27-August 1 and also will be a qualification tournament for next years World Championships in the USA.

Currently, the EC-website offers information about the playing accomodation (like directions to the field), the hotel and the organization. Most information, like team-rosters and the game schedule, will be added later when available.
All games will be played on the Municipal Baseball and Softball Field (Campo Municipal de Béisbol y Sófbol, Viejo Cauce del Río Turia), located at Calle Llano de la Zaidia across Avinguda de la Constitución. The field is pictured below.
The URL for the European Championships Website is www.fbscv.es/europeansoftball2009/.

This years Championships coincides with the fact that the first European Championships were held 30 years ago in 1979 in the Italian city of Rovereto. Back then, when the event took place August 26-September 1, the Netherlands won the first-ever European title. The Dutch team captured six European titles overall and won the silver medal on five tournaments.

The European Championships in Valencia will be the first held in Spain. Italy organized the event five times, Belgium, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands three times each and Denmark once. Antwerp (Belgium) and Prague (Czech Republic) are the only cities to stage the event three times.

After the third Championships in 1983, the tournament switched to even years, with the fourth being held the next year, 1984. When the Championships were held in 1992, it was decided to move the event back to the uneven years with the next being organized in 1995. From then, the Championships remained to be played in uneven years.

The last European Championships was held in 2007 when Dutch capital Amsterdam was the host city. As so many times before, the national teams of Italy and the Netherlands faced each other in the final game with the Italians winning the title. Three weeks later, the two teams faced each other again, but this time the Dutch team defeated Italy in what was the final of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, therefore securing itself of a spot in the Olympic Games of 2008 in Beijing (China).

The Dutch Team has participated in every European Championships since it was first organized in 1979. For Head Coach Craig Montvidas, it will be the third time that he leads the Dutch National Team during an European Championship, after heading the team in 1997 and 1999. With this, Montvidas will tie the record set by Nol Houtkamp, who also led the Dutch squad during three European Championships (1979, 1981, 1983). In total, this will be the sixth European Championships in which Montvidas will be a coach. In 2003, he was the Assistant and Pitching Coach of the National Team of Great Britain, then managed this team during the Championships of 2005 and 2007.

During the event, the site of the Dutch National Team of course will provide you with daily coverage, including recaps (in both Dutch and English), statistics and photos, from the European Championships in Valencia.