Overview
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Lüneburg. Click! This sound makes Vincent’s adrenaline rush. When he hits the fist-sized leather ball with the wooden bat and catapults it into the playing field. “It’s a really good feeling,” the 13-year-old assures. Click! For him, that also means running as fast as he can.
The principle: hit and run!
Hit and run! This is how a team attacks in baseball: First hit the ball hard, then get moving and reach a “base” – one of three possible stops – as quickly as possible. And ideally, do this before the opposing defenders bring or throw the ball to the same base and take the runner out of the game.
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“It would be great if many more children and young people came to us to play baseball.”
Eric Zimmermann
U15 baseball player at the Lüneburg Woodlarks
What sounds easy and is similar to dodgeball is actually a complicated sport with a lot of rules. At the Woodlarks of MTV Treubund, even the youngest players train twice a week in the Salt City Stadium on Ebelingweg in Lüneburg. The U12 and U15 players are on the field together. A total of 17 children, the youngest are seven, the oldest is 15 years old.
The Woodlarks offspring in video
With the camera at baseball training
The Woodlarks in front of the camera: The Lüneburg baseball juniors of MTV Treubund took us to training and told us what makes them special.
The small squads of the two teams unite the Woodlarks with other clubs nationwide. “It’s not like football, where there are tons of clubs everywhere. Baseball is a niche sport,” explains head coach Jonathan Mücke, who leads the training together with Jonas Harms. Both have been playing baseball since they were children and are part of the Woodlarks men’s team.
Gaming operations only work via gaming communities
In baseball, two teams of nine players each face each other. In order to be able to take part in the game, the youth team must form joint teams. The U12 team of the Lüneburg baseball division has joined forces with a team from Bremen, and the U15 team has joined forces with three other teams from Bremen, Bückeburg and Hänigsen.
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Man, Kinners!
Developed with parents from the region for the whole family: A newsletter with dates, tips and tricks. Always on the first Wednesday of the month.
This works well, but is not necessarily a success in the league: “Because of the distance, each team trains on its own, and that’s why we can’t get used to each other very well. It would be great if many more children and young people came to us to play baseball,” says player Eric Zimmermann.
Eric Zimmermann pitching: The more varied the throws are, the more difficult it becomes for the batter, the hitter of the opposing team, to hit the ball.
Quelle: lüb
How children start playing baseball
Anyone who wants to try out the sport doesn’t need to bring anything with them: “You should already have a certain level of mobility, but otherwise the children learn everything with us, the ideal age to start is around six years old,” says Jonathan Mücke. Johanna (7), the only girl on the team, is also still quite new to the game: “I saw something about baseball on a children’s program and it really got me interested.”
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- Training takes place on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on the Woodlarks grounds on Ebelingweg in Lüneburg (directly next to the Kreideberg sports park). Contact: Jonathan Mücke, telephone: 0177/7649325.
Vincent in action as a “batter”: The batter is the offensive player in baseball who tries to hit the ball into the field.
Quelle: lüb
Eric loves the variety of baseball: “Running, hitting, catching and throwing, the many disciplines make it really fun.” And so the training is also very varied. While one group runs after the long balls from assistant coach Jonas Harms to catch them, a smaller team practices “pitching” and “catching”.
Pitcher, catcher and batter – what?
The principle: The pitcher (the defending team’s thrower) throws the ball to the catcher. This is his teammate who is supposed to catch the ball. The opposing batter is standing between the two. He wants to hit the ball into the field and score points.
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“Catcher” Mats (9) in action: He kneels behind the opposing batter and catches his mishits. He wears additional protective equipment.
Quelle: lüb
Baseball dress code
Baseball teams also wear different jerseys, but have their own dress code. The shirt and rather old-fashioned pants are typical, but they have their purpose: when diving over the rough sand to the “base”, the fabric suffers, but not the knees. The thick glove protects the fingers against the hard ball, the cap provides shade. The helmet is worn by players who could be injured by a ball.
“A game can sometimes last up to two hours, but you always have to be ready for that one decisive ball, even if it can get boring at times.”
Eric Zimmermann
about the challenge in baseball
The Woodlarks’ youngsters also wear the typical baseball jerseys.
Quelle: lüb
The challenge in baseball: Often nothing happens for minutes because the pitcher misses the ball or the batter hits the air. These are the most difficult moments for Eric: “A game can sometimes last up to two hours, but you always have to be ready for that one decisive ball.” When it goes “click” again, the wooden bat finally hits the hard leather ball and the game explodes.
LZ
2024-06-04 15:47:24
#Visiting #Woodlarks #baseball #team #MTV #Treubund
