Czech Grizzlies are slowly waking up

After reaching the 6th overall ranking in the ESSL 2018 the team plans to surprise some teams. After a long winter sleep the Czech Grizzlies are slowly waking up. There first challenge will be the pre-season tournament in Ladenburg, Germany.
We interviewed Pavel Kozeny, one of the team managers.

(Q) Why did you choose Czech Grizzlies as a team name? 
(A) Our team was founded in 2018. Since 2019 we are an official registered team in the Czech Republic and a member of the Czech Softball Association. But history is longer because we are the successors of the ESSL team Linz Grizzlies. And this is the answer to your question. For us it was, why think about a new name when we already have a perfect one for us. The Grizzlies name perfectly describes our team. We sleep in winter and go play in the spring 🙂 Because we are based in the Czech Republic we are Czech Grizzlies.

(Q) Why did you join the ESSL?
(A) The ESSL is the best competition in Europe. In the Czech Republic there is only co-ed league and we wanted to play a higher level against the best players in Europe. We also would like to prepare players for the Czech national team.

(Q) What do you expect from this season?
(A) We expect more competition than last season. For some players it will be their third season and we hope we will be ranked better than last year. But we are still learning how to play the best slowpitch. At last, but not least, we also expect a lot of fun during traveling 😀

(Q) How would you describe your team’s playing philosophy?
(A) Grizzlies team is about friendship. We all know why we are playing. We play for fun but we want to win, too. A part of our team is based in Prague, others are from cities located in the eastern Bohemia. We also have players from other countries like USA players living in Austria or in Dubai. We are a Czech team but we are open for everybody. We would like to take advantage of the different cultures in our team and our goal is to win more games.

(Q) How do you see the future for slowpitch in Europe and for the ESSL?
(A) I think, there is only one future for slowpitch and it is the ESSL. It is attractive for players and also for spectators. ESSL is a high level of competition because of the many players from different countries, especially the US players. I think more European national teams will join to play this competition because they all need to improve and to prepare for the upcoming 1st Men Slowpitch World Cup in 2021.

(Q) Anything else you want to say?
(A) I wish the ESSL will stay as it is, full of friendship and with high quality. I wish ESSL to develop into the right direction because it is not so easy to find stadiums with enough capacity for ESSL tournaments.