From the beginning of this year Clemens Cichocki is going to be a new coach of the Austrian U-23 National Team, which will form the basis for the Austrian national baseball team in the future.
Clemens was born in Wiener Neustadt and his baseball career began in team «Diving Ducks». Then he worked with other Austrian clubs, such as the «Vienna Wanderers», where he won his first Austrian Champion title in 2009. While he was studying in college in Arizona, 32-year-old athlete was playing for a professional contract in the winter league. Now Clemens is a head coach of the «Hard Bulls», with whom he made his way to the Austrian Baseball League (ABL) and brought the club back into the Major League. For many years the athlete is also been an essential part of the senior national team. In 2016 Clemens attended the world championship U-23 in Monterrey (Mexico) as an assistant coach.
This year you are going to be a head coach U-23 team. What does this work mean to you
Firstly, it is a great honor for me to get this position. This is similar to the situation as if the player was honored to represent his country. I am extremely pleased to work with these young talents – they are already one step away from getting into the national team.
You were an assistant coach U-23 team at the World Championship in October 2016. What are your impressions?
Oh, they are very positive! It was my first World Cup and I may say that these championships are definitely worth visiting them. Of course, I hope it was not my last one and I will be going to do everything possible to get there again and feel this one more time. Unfortunately, a few things have not worked out for us as we would like. It was a little disappointing that we did not get any wins, but we always have to move forward. Ferdinand Obed’s Homerun has become legendary. Of course, this was not enough for victory but then I realized: we are here and it is cool, what else is needed? The team felt the same and had shown a good game. This experience energized us for further development and winning, so I can not wait to see our future achievements.
The U-23 Championship is a great event. What plans do you have for your team?
Now we have to use all that energy from Mexico. It became clear to everyone that now we have to work hard, eliminate the weaknesses, enhance strengths and raise the bar. I wish our team to be the most prepared at the championship.
Christian Tomsich, Matthias Scheicher und Hiroyuki Sakanashi will assist you at the U-23 Championship. What will be your responsibilities for the Coaching Staff?
Christian Tomsich, as we all know, has an incredible amount of baseball experience at the highest level and a huge passion for baseball, especially the Austrian. First of all, he will be responsible for the pitchers. Matthias Scheicher is the youngest in the coaching staff and he will take the sports training and will train our first base players. In recent years Hiroyuki Sakanashi has got not only the Champion title with “Wanderers”, but also he has led the U-23 team at the World Cup in Mexico and has achieved a great success with the players of the National team as a head coach. He will train the offensive players and will support me by sharing his experience of head coach U-23. We are going to work closely and coordinate all training program. I am so proud to work with these three professionals
How should the team develop in the long-term perspective?
Now we are talking about our wins. First of all, we have to prepare the players for wining in the adult team. I think that in the long-term perspective our goal should be to get into the Top 5 in Europe.
What do you wish your players this year?
I wish they raised the bar, looked forward, set big goals, held their ardor and gave their best on the field.
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