WBSC Baseball5 World Cup: Kenya aim to claim world title as training camp gets underway
The Kenya National Baseball5 Team is holding an intense training camp with only one goal in mind: To win the inaugural WBSC Baseball5 World Cup, which will take place at El Zocalo, in Mexico City, from 7-13 November.
The Kenyan team opened the camp on 20 August in preparation for the tournament, looking to build on the learning from the past Baseball5 Africa Qualifier last May in Tanzania, where they finished runner up only behind South Africa.
Kenya swept the semifinal series against Uganda, 2-0, to clinch their spot in the World Cup, but then lost the final series to South Africa in consecutive games, 5-4 and 5-1, to finish in second place in the African continent.
Each daily session of the training camp includes drills and exercises covering all aspects of the game, but the main focus is on hitting, an aspect that failed for Kenya during the continental championship final against South Africa. In the afternoon, the group plays a series of games.
The weekends are used to work on physical condition and mental training, where the players are taught to be self-confident, block distractions, and be goal-oriented. Training analysis for every player is also done at the end of the week.
Kenya will compete in the maiden Baseball5 World Cup against 11 nations from the five continents.