On February 2nd, the Annual General Meeting of the Challengers Baseball & Softball Club Zurich took place in the Linde Oberstrass restaurant in Zurich. President Mindy Siemers looked back on an eventful season. Treasurer Nicola Ernst had some good news.
In terms of sport, the third places of the U15 Cadets, U12 Juveniles and the Softball-Team stood out. The ladies also finished in third place in the European Cup tournament. Meanwhile, the very many rainouts and the Baseball NLA, which only had four teams, proved to be problematic. On the other hand, the many new members, especially among the youngest, were positive, which was also reflected in higher income from youth sports subsidies. This, as well as higher income from sponsorship and patrons as well as from the food stands, allowed treasurer Nicola Ernst to present a record-breakingly positive annual financial statement. Stefan Benz resigned from the club’s board after one year for professional reasons. The rest of the board, including President Mindy Siemers, was confirmed for another year.
In baseball, the cards were reshuffled for 2025. The NLA was expanded to seven teams with the Lucerne Eagles, the Sissach Frogs and the second team of the Zurich Barracudas. The NLB is also made up of seven teams. Due to the thin staffing levels in adult baseball, the Challengers have not registered a 1st league team for the championship in 2025. 1st league players of the Challengers have the opportunity to play games in the regional league with another Zurich team. A players’ commission headed by Chris Palatinus was founded to set up the Challengers 2025-2030. Isabelle Tan also presented the founding of a Challengers slowpitch Softball-Team.
The awards for the past season were presented at the awards ceremony. Ryan Byrne in the NLA, Isabelle Tan in the softball women’s team, Honey Gigato Romero in the NLB and Florin Kämpfer in the 1st league were named MVP of their respective teams. At the junior meeting in the early afternoon Jasper Freigang was named MVP of the U15 Cadets, while for the U12 the award went to the entire Juveniles-Team.
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General Assembly 2024
Schedules for Baseball National Leagues published
The Swiss Baseball and Softball Federation has published the schedules for the Baseball NLA and NLB. For the 2025 season seven teams will play in the NLA and NLB each, after the NLA gradually shrank to just four teams in recent years. The mode has also been completely overhauled with this change.
In addition to the four existing teams Therwil Flyers, Wil Pirates, Zurich Barracudas and Zurich Challengers, the Lucerne Eagles, the Sissach Frogs and the second team of the Zurich Barracudas will also be playing in the NLA. In the preliminary round, all teams play a doubleheader against every other team. When each team has played twelve games, the standings will be split. The best four teams play another doubleheader against each other, and the two best teams then play in the playoff final for the Swiss championship title.
The seven teams in the NLB are the Embrach Mustangs, the Hünenberg Unicorns, the Lausanne Indians and the three Zurich city clubs, the Zurich Barracudas with their Academy Team, the Zurich Lions and the Zurich Challengers. The Zurich teams will not play their first home games this season until June. Due to a massive construction delay in the “New Backstop” project at the Heerenschürli ballpark in Zurich-Schwamendingen the facility is closed until the end of May.
The Challengers’ second team will open its season on Sunday, April 13th with a doubleheader against the Therwil Flyers’ second team. The NLA-Team will not play its opening day until after Easter. The Challengers will face the Sissach Frogs on Saturday, April 26 at Sissach Tannbrunn.
Construction delay in Heerenschürli
The construction progress on the “New Ball Backstop” project in the Heerenschürli ballpark is not progressing as planned. According to the current status, the construction delay is two months, which is why the first home games for the city clubs will not be able to take place in the Heerenschürli stadium until May 31. The Challengers will therefore have to play their first home games of the 2025 season away from home and will not be able to play in front of a home crowd until mid-June. The practices will also be severely restricted in April and May.
Challengers GA on February 2nd
This year’s General Assembly of the Challengers Baseball & Softball Club Zurich will take place on Sunday, February 2nd at the Linde Oberstrass restaurant in Zurich.
Before the ordinary general meeting, which begins at 3 p.m., the junior meeting will take place from 1 p.m.
Happy Holidays
As 2024 comes to a close, we want to thank each of you for your dedication and energy throughout the year. We wish you and your loved ones a wonderful holiday season, a Happy New Year, and we look forward to seeing you at our GV on Sunday, February 2.
Your Challengers Board members
Armin Blickenstorfer new assistant coach of the U15 National Team
The Swiss Baseball and Softball Federation (SBSF) has named Armin Blickenstorfer the new assistant coach of the U15-Cadets national team.
The original Challenger started his baseball career in 1989 with the Schwamendingers and went through all age groups and teams in Zurich North. He took part in various European Cup tournaments with the Challengers and became Swiss champion four times. He gained his first experience as a coach during his active career. He later led the softball team for two seasons and was most recently the coach of the Challengers’ U12 youth team for many years, with whom he also won four Swiss championship titles.
In the last two years, Blickenstorfer took over as head coach of the Swiss Little League team, which impressed with strong performances, particularly last year in Kutno, Poland. The move to the U15 Cadets national team as assistant to the new head coach David Castillo is therefore a logical next step for the Zurich native.
Volunteer Day – Thank you
Volunteering is the foundation of club sport in Switzerland. Of the approximately 350,000 positions that need to be filled in Swiss club sport, a good 335,000 are unpaid. According to a study by Swiss Olympic, volunteers provide services with a “hypothetical value” of around two billion francs each year.
This results in around 75 million hours of voluntary work per year. 44 million hours are provided by volunteers, the rest are work by helpers. This makes it clear why the study describes volunteering as the “foundation”. However, the outlook for the future is not entirely optimistic. There are many concerns. The clubs are often dependent on the commitment of a few people. Recruiting and integrating volunteers is becoming increasingly difficult.
On today’s Volunteer Day, the Challengers Baseball & Softball Club Zurich would like to thank all of its volunteer members and all of its helpers for their commitment to the club, to the sport, and to our youth.
League meetings and presidents’ meeting in the House of Sports
This year’s league meetings and the presidents’ meeting of the Swiss Baseball and Softball Federation will take place on November 23rd in the House of Sports in Ittigen near Bern.
The SBSF has also announced that both President Dagmar Voith Leemann and Christof Rissi, the person responsible for grassroots sport, will resign at the general assembly on February 22nd, 2025. The search for successors is underway.
Start of indoor practices
After the fall break, indoor practices will begin for the Challengers teams and thus preparations for the 2025 season. The gyms remain unchanged from last year, with pitcher/catcher practice in the Ruggächer sports hall in Zurich-Affoltern, baseball practice in the Probstei gym in Zurich-Schwamendingen, softball practice in the Gabler gym in Zurich-Enge and junior practices in the Auhof and Herzogenmühle gyms in Zurich-Schwamendingen.
Continue Reading » Start of indoor practices2024 season ends with the veteran’s game
All generations of Challengers met on Wednesday night for the traditional veteran’s game. The event also marked the end of the season for the Challengers in the Heerenschürli baseball stadium, after the three men’s teams also played their last championship games of the season last weekend.
The juniors will once again have an extensive indoor season with various tournaments throughout German-speaking Switzerland, while the seniors will continue in April next year with the start of the next baseball and softball season. Meanwhile, the construction machines have already arrived at the Heerenschürli to install the new 26-meter-high back stop during the off-season. If the weather plays along, the construction works should be completed in time for the start of the season in March 2025.