During the off-season period the Austrian Baseball Federation holds interviews with outstanding persons of the Austrian baseball. Today we offer the second part of the interview with the executive director of the World Confederation of Baseball and Softball, Michael Schmidt:

This year Austria has participated in two World Cups (baseball and softball). How do you estimate the results of the National Teams?

I believe it is not easy to win playing against our National Team. The team members showed sport skills quite confidently in games during the championship.

Our softball National Team takes the 17^th place. It is a very good result among world teams. It also ranks top-5 European teams. I believe softball has been significantly developed in recent years. Usually it takes 8-9 years to reach the level our athletes have now. The Austrian National Team participated in the European Cups and showed rather high level of game. Despite the fact softball is not popular enough we have been playing in the second Bundesliga among 6 other teams. In my opinion, development is slow but steady.

During the World Championship U-23 I had an opportunity to visit Austria-Czech Republic match and was pleased with game until 5^th or 6^th inning. Then unfortunately our team lost. It is very hard to win when your opponents are the best 12 teams. We should not forget, that teams from South America or Asia, which also took part in the Championship are rather strong. The positive moment is that the Championship has received a big resonance. The General Secretary of the Nippon Baseball Association was very impressed by the level of Austrian players. I believe it is very good our National Team participated in the Championship. Even if we haven’t won the high title the moment of participation has already become an important event for us. Now, Austria takes 30 or 31 place in the world rank and I as for me it is rather good result.

Still baseball and softball are secondary sport in Austria. How is it possible to increase the level of their popularity?

I always draw people`s attention to the fact that not everything is shown on television is true. For example, there is little information about Austrian baseball but it doesn’t mean it is true in real life. Today, even with low level of founding it is possible to do something new by means of modern media. In my opinion, we need to make up for lost time. Austria has many opportunities to show better results, without suffering huge losses. There are dynamic images, small videos which are appreciated by youth and draw their attention. It is not easy to watch the game which can last for four hours. Therefore, for people who are really fond of this game is an important thing to have an opportunity to know news or the results of favorite game.

You can watch the first part of interview with the executive director of the World Confederation of Baseball and Softball, Michael Schmidt here:

https://baseballua.com/de/