Professional baseball team Lotte announced that a coach from the Czech national team will be attending the spring training camp to be held on Ishigaki Island starting February 1st as part of an exchange to promote baseball.
The Czech national team played against Japan at last year's WBC = World Baseball Classic and lost, but many of the players on the national team, such as electricians and high school teachers, have jobs other than baseball, and Lotte, who started in that game, pitcher Aki Sasaki later became a hot topic when he personally apologized to the player who hit the ball with sweets.
Since then, the Czech Republic and Lotte have been working on a project to promote cultural exchanges such as baseball promotion, and this time, in order to deepen understanding of Japanese baseball, Alex Durhak, who is the coach of the Czech national team, will be attending Lotte, which will be held on Ishigaki Island from the 1st. I will be accompanying him to the spring camp.
The period is from February 1st to February 11th.
Speaking through the team, Alex Durhak said, ``I feel honored to be back in Japan with the cooperation of such a wonderful team. Above all, I want to thank the Japanese fans for their support and love for baseball, the best game in the world.'' Being here has created this special opportunity for me. Thank you so much."
Efforts to promote baseball between the Czech Republic and Lotte continued last year, and the exchange continues, with the Czech national team's manager and players invited to Lotte's home base, ZOZO Marine Stadium, where the manager threw out the ceremonial first pitch.