Talented Grade 12 learner on his way to Ghana!
"I am so excited to be participating in this event especially since it will be the first ever Baseball-5 U18 World Cup."
Crawford International Ruimsig’s Ihsaan Slamdien Grade 12 was selected to represent South Africa in Baseball-5 for the African Qualifier happening from May 16 to 21!
“My father and his brothers started playing baseball when I was small and I would go to watch them practice and watch their games. When I was 11 years old, I started playing for the same team as my father in the U15 team,” elaborated Ihsaan.
“At the end of my second year playing, I stopped because there were not enough players to make a team but then last year a few of my friends said they want to try out baseball and invited me to join them again.”
He goes on to say that at the beginning of the year, Ihsaan and a few of his friends went for SA baseball-5 trials. Then all the U18 players from various teams in the area joined together to form the South West Gauteng team where they participated in the Nation Baseball Championship in April.
“The tournament was fun, great for team building, and gave our team motivation to work harder. Cobras is a great team with supportive players and extremely helpful coaches. Without my coach taking me to the baseball-5 trials I would not have been able to make it here, big thanks to you, Coach Rajah,” added Ihsaan.
After the NBC tournament, the selectors from Baseball 5 messaged all the players that qualified for the second round of trials and fortunately, Ihsaan was one of them. The next day after the trials were completed, the South-African baseball website was updated and it announced the players who will be participating in the world cup qualifier.
“I am so excited to be participating in this event especially since it will be the first-ever Baseball-5 U18 World Cup. The African Qualifier will be held in Ghana in May, the top two African teams will then qualify to participate in the World Cup in December. Baseball is a small sport in South Africa so even world cup tours have to be completely self-funded,” explained Ihsaan.
To donate towards Ihsaan’s trip, contact Crawford International Ruimsig for the banking details.
