At the combined ESF/CEB Congress on February 4 in Belgrade, Serbia elections for the executive board of the European Softball Federation (ESF) and the Confederation of European Baseball (CEB) are on the agenda.

Reigning CEB President Petr Ditrich (Czech Republic) is looking to become the new chair for the new executive board of governing body for European Baseball. He was so kind to answer a couple of questions to us about various topics. These are the answer:

Please introduce yourself to the audience:

I am the president of the Czech Baseball Association (CBA) for a long time. Baseball is my job and passion. I have devoted much of my professional life to baseball. Not everyone knows that I worked as headmaster of a high school before.

What qualifies you to become President of the Confederation of European Baseball (CEB)?

I have experience with managing a federation. CBA has gone through great development. I was part of the whole development process, I still remember the beginnings and I can imagine the situations of smaller federations. I consider this as very important, because we have a lot federation in this stage. We have built a good baseball infrastructure in the Czech Republic. We have enough international fields. Thanks to this, we were able to hold European Championship in 2005, University World Championship in 2008, World Championship in 2009 and European Championship in 2014. And every year some other extra action. Now we are preparing for the European Championship under 23, where we will be playing with 16 teams. I worked in CEB in various positions including as acting president in 2012-2013 years.

If you’re getting elected, what will be your program for the first year in office?

I will not promise unrealizable thinks; I prefer daily work. The program should be based on federation requirements. We have a potential but we have to use it.  The new CEB leadership must have a lot of support from the big majority of the member federation. Not just from big federations, but from all federations around Europe. It makes no sense to win the election by a few votes like last time. No president can assert the program by himself. He must rely on cooperation with his board. Personal ambition must be put aside. Simply put to be a president is not my first priority. I can help with my long time experience especially in organization and competition. For this reason I am looking for vice president positions too.

Internationally with the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) and in Europe as well with the majority of the federations, baseball and softball will be governed under one umbrella. There have been talks between CEB and the European Softball Federation (ESF) about a merger for some time. Would you be interested in bringing CEB and ESF together? If yes, what would be the advantages and what will be your measurements to make this happen?

WBSC has done a big result in the inclusion of baseball on the program of the Olympics. Not many people believed but it was managed.  Especially the WBSC baseball division has great economical results. Let´s look at the Premier12 as example. The new CEB board has to support the European leadership of WBSC. It is a great opportunity for all of us. Baseball and softball have been connected at the global level already. The majority of the federations in Europe are combined. Logically there must be a connection on the continental level too. The next WBSC Congress will be about the new structure.

The Euro League Baseball (ELB) was established last year to bring professional baseball to Europe. However, it was done without sanctioning of CEB. Will you be talking to the organizers to bring the   ELB into CEB? Is a real professional league a possibility?

We cannot skip stages of development. We will be able to have a real professional league at the moment we have a lot of professional clubs and professional players. The professional league should generate profit to owners. At the moment it is nice dream. I see an opportunity in the new club competition of WBSC who want to invest in the competition. We lose one year and hopefully we can start in 2018.

What will be your steps during your term to increase the number of baseball players in Europe?

The number of players is based on the work of each federation. Every federation is different and has specific possibilities.Generally we have to support young categories. Youth is our future. But again this has to be done throughout each federation.

What would be on your agenda to increase the visibility of European baseball competitions?

At least an internet live stream from every tournament is not utopia. We have to play more attractive games. Every country should have the opportunity to show up in home game every two years. According to this, we are glad that the European Championship U23 will be played in Austria and Slovakia too.

In the past CEB has asked to submit applications for a full-time executive position. Will you be in favor of hiring employees to run the day to day side of CEB?

Yes, it is the foundation. We already have a half-time employee in Zagreb. We will quickly raise it to full-time. I consider it as administration position. Every organization starts with the first employee. And we’ll manage it before the competitions start in 2017.

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