EBCA Team at 5th Junior Nankyu Baseball World Championship On july 24th an EBCA Team picked with players from Austria, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands started on a trip to japan to play a U15 tournament. Playing there for the 3rd time Headcoach Georg Apfelbaum knew about the strong competition with Team Japan 1 and Chinese Taipei – each one had won 2 of the last 4 competition. But before playing at the World Champioship two games against local Highschools were scheduled to get used to the climate and the kind of japanese play. The team won the 1st game and lost the 2nd giving every pitcher a chance to throw. Beside playing the boys stayed some time at Japanese families and made many new friends. Thanks to Mr. Izooka and Mr. Ischida the team had a really good time at the city of Kachiwa. The tournament didn´t went this well – losing to Chinese Taipei and Japan 1 the team lost also against Team USA and Team China. One of the biggest challenges was the climate itself – 35° C and 90% humidity made a difference. In friendship games after the competition the EBCA could win 2 more times against Tanaka Highschool and Asahi Baseball Club. With these 2 wins the team left for the region of Nasu where we were hosted by Kaijo Highschool. Practicing and living with the boys was another exciting thing. The team went also to an old Japanese castle and watched a Pro Baseball Game at Chiba Marines stadium. At the end everybody agreed that it was a lifetime experience and we thank all the hosts and Japanese people from IBA who made this happen!