Interview with Bulldogs (Slovenia)

Interview with Matjaz Rogelj, coach of the Bulldogs from Novo Mesto, Slovenia.
Team stats: Bulldogs

When was your team founded?
Team Bulldogs was founded in 2005 by Matjaz Rogelj.

In which city is your team located?
We are located in a small city called Novo Mesto. The city is about 70 km south of Ljubljana and about half way between Ljubljana and Zagreb.

Give us a short history of your team
The team was founded as a baseball Little League team. In the beginning we offered youth baseball and fastpitch softball for girls. In 2007 we started to play Slowpitch and were excited about it. Our players are from different parts of Slovenia and even from Croatia. We don’t have our own field. Therefore, we always have to play as a guest.

What do you expect from this season and what are your goals?
In 2015 we expect a lot of games on the highest possible level in Europe. For this season we have some new players with less experience. Unfortunately, we lost three of our old players. Our goal is to win some games against the US-teams and to be the best team from Slovenia.

What do you think of the ESSL?
The ESSL is a great opportunity for teams who want to play slowpitch on the highest possible level in Europe.

How do you see the future of the ESSL?
I believe, in the future, European teams will be strong enough to play Slowpitch on the same level as the American teams.