Photo: Rocker Davies Media/British Baseball Federation

The new Emerging Players Programme (EPP), an initiative designed to identify, develop and increase the number of young British baseball players able to meet the standards for national team selection, got off to a flying start at the weekend.

The EPP is a joint initiative between the British Baseball Federation and BaseballSoftballUK with funding being made available through Sport England, and is the first step in the new National Talent Development Pathway.

The 19 young players, who attended the first session of the London & South East EPP at Greenwich on Sunday, trained under the guidance of EPP Director Will Lintern.

The players from Brighton, Bristol, Croydon, Guildford, Greenwich and London were put through a variety of tests and baseball drills over the three hours by Will and his coaching team of Jamie Dix, (former Senior National Team player and current National Team coach), Tosh Lawson (Former U18 National Team Player), Conner Brown (former Senior National Team Player) who will be at future sessions and Sy Gonsenuaskas (experienced youth coach from Canada).

“This was the beginning of something special,” said EPP Director Will Lintern. “To have a practice filled with young, developing athletes, eager to learn and take the next step along their development journey and to be supported by such amazing coaches.

“One of the key elements of the EPP is to have coaches who have experienced what it means to play for a national team, and who have gone on the development journey to get there. Their insight and experience is vital in building the next generation of GB players.

“This programme is coming at the perfect time for British Baseball as Great Britain prepares to take on the world in 2026. I am so excited to help build the bridge and pipeline of talent between club and country.”

Next Saturday (31st January) will see the first session of the Midlands EPP, led by Bob Rowe in Oxford with over 20 young players from Birmingham, Cambridge, Leicester, Oxford and Bristol expected to attend.

Assisting Bob will be current U18 National Team Head Coach Matt Moran, former National Team player Jarrod Pretorius, Said Bayan from BaseballSoftballUK, and the Birmingham Goats’ Chris Waller and Jacob Norcliffe.

“The young talent pool for this joint initiative between the BBF and BSUK comes from BBF affiliated clubs in each of the two pilot regions and helps bridge the gap between club players and national academies and teams. This, in turn, helps with identifying, recruiting and developing young talent in an environment of their peers where they can be pushed by experienced, high-level coaches,” said Alan Dean, Performance Programme Manager

“The goal is to expand the number of domestic players who meet the standards to be selected for the National Teams. This also provides a great opportunity to develop our coaching workforce through direct contact and supervised experience working with highly qualified and experienced coaches.”

Further EPP sessions will be held as follows:

  • 22nd February – London & Southeast
  • 28th February – Midlands
  • 28th March – Midlands
  • 29th March – London & Southeast.

Later in the year, an EPP Series of games is planned for the participants as well as a three-day Summer Camp.

Expansion of the Emerging Players Programme into more regions is planned for 2027 and beyond. Any players who wish to be considered for future EPP and talent development plans should email epp@britishbaseball.org.uk