The Czech Softball Association will host a World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) tournament for the third time with the announcement that the European country has been awarded the hosting rights of the WBSC U-18 Men's Softball World Cup 2027 The 12-team tournament will take place in Havlickuv Brod and Ledenice - two cities located 120 kilometres apart - marking the first time this event will be held on European soil Czechia hosted the WBSC Men's Softball World Cup in 2019 and is set to organise one of the three groups of the WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup in 2026 The exact dates of the WBSC U-18 Men’s Softball World Cup 2027 will be announced at a later stage Havlickuv Brod, a historic town located in the Vysocina Region of the Czech Republic, lies about 118 kilometres south east from the country’s capital Prague. With a population of approximately 23,000, the city co-hosted the WBSC Men’s Softball World Cup 2019 alongside Prague and will also host the Men's Softball European Championship in 2025 it will welcome the softball world once again at Hippos Arena Ledenice, home to nearly 3,000 residents, is located in the South Bohemian Region, approximately 157 kilometres south of Prague and one hour and 40 minutes drive south east of Havlickuv Brod. The Shark’s Bay softball field, which opened in 2009 and co-hosted the Men's Softball European Championship in 2021 The 2027 tournament will mark the 15th edition of the WBSC U-18 Men’s Softball World Cup will become the seventh nation to host the event - joining Argentina New Zealand and USA - while Europe will become the fourth continent to stage the tournament Japan are the defending world champions, having claimed their fourth title in Hermosillo in 2023 with a thrilling 7-4 victory over hosts Mexico in the World Championship Final Canada secured the bronze medal with a 2-1 win over USA Sitemap Media Data Protection Contacts Avenue Général-Guisan, 45 CH-1009 Pully | Switzerland The WBSC is recognised as the sole competent authority in Baseball and Softball by the International Olympic Committee 25 designs were submitted to the architectural competition for the new swimming complex in H West Ham signed Tomas Soucek initially on loan from Slavia Prague in January 2020m before making his deal a permanent one just six months later He has been integral for the Hammers this season, but many of his performances go under the radar We should all think ourselves very lucky to have Soucek at the London Stadium The fact that he has been so crucial for the Hammers under Graham Potter has surprised many Every manager he has played under loves him And Soucek is clearly loving life under Potter at West Ham now What does the future hold for big Tom though The Czech ace has been crucial for the Hammers this season He’s still a vital player for his country as well and is a very popular figure in his homeland Soucek is still very connected to the footballing world in the Czech Republic and it seems like the 30-year-old one day owning a football club in his home country is a very real possibility The West Ham midfielder responded when asked if he could buy either Viktoria Zizkov or Havlickuv Brod, as quoted by Infotbal: It is quite possible,” he said when asked about buying either Viktoria Zizkov or Havlickuv Brod but I’m putting it off for a few years now what it would be like to play the real Football Manager “I think my name could help me with sponsors Then I watch the division in Havlickuv Brod.” Zizkov are currently competing in the Czech second division whilst Havlickuv Brod are in the fourth tier Soucek is clearly a very ambitious man and the fact he would like to help out one of the poorer clubs in his homeland is very admirable the 30-year-old Hammer is now just one of two players in Premier League history to have accomplished a rather incredible feat Alongside Teddy Sheringham, Soucek is now one of only two players to have scored goals on their birthdays in separate years The West Ham midfielder bagged against Leicester on Thursday night – his 35th goal for the club – on his 30th birthday The Czech Republic international also scored for the Hammers in February 2022 during our win over Wolves on his 27th birtrhday Now Tomas Soucek will be hoping to remain with West Ham for many more years to come score once again on his birthday and to subsequently hold the record on his own Potato Research Institute geneticist Jaroslava Domkářová says that while potatoes are a staple crop in the Czech Republic the recent blue "specialty varieties" are harder to market In the east-Bohemian city of Havlíčkův Brod, two hours by train from Prague, the Potato Research Institute is caught in the crosshairs of time Not much appears to have changed in the PRI's "historical building" in the Institute's nearly 95 years of existence (Given that the history of Havlíčkův Brod stretches back more than 700 years "historical" is a relative term.) There's no front desk in the building and the smell of a hot lunch wafts out of a noisy canteen on the ground floor geneticists have been breeding an agricultural product that would have been unthinkable in 1920s Czechoslovakia the PRI introduced the "Val Blue," a debut 11 years in the making and the first new variety of potato bred at the Institute since 2005 Val is fairly unprepossessing at first glance which cooks up to a purple shade straight out of a box of Crayolas the flavor earthy and fairly indistinctive PRI geneticist Jaroslava Domkářová notes with a smile the Val Blue's vivid purple color is 30 percent more intense than that of its "mother" potato the PRI-bred "Valfi." Its trademark hue indicates an antioxidant load surpassing its white- and yellow-flesh relatives two or three times over Brightly colored, antioxidant-rich potatoes already grace the produce aisles of supermarkets and natural-food stores in America and elsewhere. As The Salt reported back in 2012 these Technicolor spuds are sometimes the work of geneticists tasked with rebranding the potato as a health food the marketability of uncommon potato breeds is low "These recent blue varieties will be like a specialty item," she explains The humble potato — brambor — gets a lot of love in the Czech Republic where it's a staple crop that can endure its long winters have Czechs built an extensive vocabulary around their tubers Founded as a private institution in 1920 and assumed by the Czechoslovak state three years later the PRI functioned primarily as a center for research and as an adviser to potato growers for the better part of the 20th century the Institute underwent a process of modernization including the adoption of unconventional breeding procedures that continued into the first decade of the 21st century the Institute's researchers focus on potato genetics and breeding plant conservation and growing technologies In a refrigerated room filled with finger-sized test tubes of sprouts and seeds the PRI's in-vitro potato gene bank houses the genetic material for some 1,300 different varieties of potato — including the Val Blue — plus hundreds of other hybrids The vast majority of these breeds are kept in the bank for long-term research and conservation purposes and are not available for commercial use of the approximately 1,500 varieties of potato grown in the European Union the Val Blue belongs to a rare cohort: "The ones with colored flesh — they're actually very limited," the geneticist says "Maybe the reason for this is that big [growers] need to have big markets," she adds noting that consumer interest is currently limited It's possible that the new potato will end up in supermarkets one day or that the PRI will sell the tubers themselves "So far we haven't worked out the business strategy," she says And how will a growing interest in Western or international diets change Czech agriculture and the work of the PRI because people have begun to eat more things that they don't have to prepare .. "So there was a little bit of a departure from potatoes to those foods." Fortunately she doesn't believe eating a blue potato should take a leap of faith for Czech consumers "If someone had a big pile of blue potatoes on their plate it wouldn't be easy on the eyes," she concedes Morgan Childs is a freelance journalist based in Prague. You can read more of her work here Become an NPR sponsor Metrics details Understanding pedestrian movement remains crucial for designing efficient and safe transportation structures such as terminals The significance of conducting a granular analysis in pedestrian mobility dynamics research is evident in refining crowd behavior modeling It is essential for gaining insights into potential terminal layouts all of which enhance safety and efficiency we offer an original empirical dataset of 24,000,000 samples of trajectory spatial movement at traffic terminals in Havlíčkův Brod and Pardubice The dataset was collected using a high-resolution camera system installed at the railway station algorithmic post-processing was applied to extract anonymous data on the spatial movement of recorded pedestrians researchers can delve into the distances between pedestrians in a transportation terminal considering factors such as group composition high-resolution camera systems installed in public places under security or other circumstances may serve as a valid source of anonymous high-quality data about human movement in specific areas offering detailed spatial and temporal insights for building services it aids in understanding how the built environment influences pedestrian conduct we fully describe and fully provide an original empirical dataset comprising trajectory spatial movement data extracted from video-recording pedestrians at the traffic terminals in Havlíčkův Brod and Pardubice The recording aimed to generate a valid dataset comprising spatiotemporal trajectories of terminal passengers This dataset was intended to and now holds potential for diverse applications such as predicting human pedestrian behavior and optimizing agent-based models of pedestrian mobility data was collected through a camera system at the public train station with the maximum ecological validity of the pedestrian behavior the methodology encompassed collecting and evaluating data related to implementing evacuation procedures emphasis was placed on validating and implementing innovative approaches for analyzing image and spatial data we acquired essential traffic flow characteristics and classified different agents according to their evacuation modes To ensure the reliability of the measurements the camera setting utilized a pilot phase at the previous location A comprehensive pilot test for both the measurement and data processing system transpired from March 2021 until September 2021 enabling the precise methodology to be subsequently applied at the designated location in Havlíčkův Brod and Pardubice The collected data aimed to derive several specific metrics and the filtering of these metrics was examined during the pilot measurements One task involved detecting static individuals while purchasing tickets a validation achieved during participants’ registration Another validated task encompassed recording individuals waiting in the station area on benches and seats monitoring individuals’ movement between two defined profiles constituted another task The pilot measurements allowed the evaluation of various variables it became possible in waiting rooms to track the duration individuals spent in the waiting area including the distribution of waiting times in space providing insights into more and less utilized areas the walking speed of visitors in corridors was assessed enabling subsequent placement of detection gates in the detection area with the speed on Gate 6 recorded at 6.75 km/h and Gate 7 at 5.3 km/h The intensity was comparable on both gates averaging approximately 172 individuals per hour Microscopic characteristics of individual trajectories were also evaluated providing valuable data for the detailed calibration of agent-based models The pilot measurement conducted at the vaccination center affirmed the effectiveness of the proposed measurement system for its intended purpose It proficiently identified all the variables essential for calibrating evacuation models as directly illustrated on models representing specific scenarios These findings could be extrapolated to analogous scenarios in designated train stations there was a focus on optimizing the initial examination process and this analogy can be extended to assess the capacity of controlled evacuations or ticket purchases All statistical analyses applied to generate the present dataset about human movement were conducted using methods validated in a pilot study at the vaccination center Signals were recorded from unidentified passengers navigating the train station halls of Havlíčkův Brod and Pardubice All data were collected at both train stations from 5th September 2022 until 4th August 2023 during regular operations The camera signals were entirely anonymous and subsequent processing involved the anonymous transformation of video recordings of moving individuals into spatiotemporal movement trajectories represented by vectors a total number of 24,788,881 trajectories were recorded and processed employing state-of-the-art technology directly transcribing video recordings into anonymous spatiotemporal trajectory datasets in real-time avoiding storing any identifiable or otherwise ethically relevant content all the presented data are provided anonymously making it impossible to identify any specific individuals Since the data collection was conducted in cooperation with the national organization for Administration of Railways written consent on cooperation was done to legitimize any recordings The image of the spatial layout of the train station in Havlíčkův Brod Direct platform access from the hall and an external entrance enhanced overall accessibility Two-sided galleries within the hall facilitate easy monitoring of all movements preparations for camera installation began followed by the commencement of measurements The experience in processing and evaluating data from the vaccination center (described above) allowed for fast data evaluation immediately after collection Strategically positioned cameras on poles on both sides of the halls effectively covered nearly the entire area aim to optimize and expand the camera coverage to ensure comprehensive surveillance of the whole station Hikvision camera unit used for the video stream (left) and Computing Unit used for subsequent processing capable of servicing multiple cameras and facilitating simplified installation was successfully acquired and employed for various purposes including the requirements of this data collection The DFS system operated with the FLOW system a graphical programming environment enabling the creation of intricate virtual detectors This allowed for a broad spectrum of analyses ranging from basic categorization to the comprehensive evaluation of trajectories and distances between tracked objects The system required a power source and wired connections for cameras and computing units with message and data transfers managed wirelessly through WiFi and 4 G networks This wireless capability was feasible because the video signal underwent processing within the unit Spatial distribution and orientations scheme of cameras placed at Havlíčkův Brod (top) train stations and Pardubice (down) These trajectories were downloaded with a temporal overlap of 1 hour and were divided by individual days it was necessary to eliminate distortion and transform pixel coordinates into a local coordinate system in standard length units a process known as perspective transformation detailed in the following subchapters Distortion removal and Perspective transformation utilized the OpenCV computer vision library Example of image distortion removal on a camera PB-CAM6; manually anonymized Example of perspective trajectories transformation on a camera PB-CAM6 CSV files represented the captured data for every day within the measuring time interval Each file for a specific day has 5 columns with the following names in this order: id The sample size in each file varies depending on the number of detected trajectories In this chapter, we present summary statistics for speed and trajectory length. Histograms for both stations are depicted in the Fig. 7 in terms of the mentioned metrics. Histograms describing the data distribution of movement speed and trajectory length Subsequently, position measures are listed in Table 1: average (arithmetic mean) The final dataset structure is shown in the diagram in Fig. 8. The dataset includes the camera name, acquisition date (month and day in this order), and the extension “trans,” indicating that the data is transformed into a local coordinate system. Folder structure of published data (left) and structured data (right) example The technical and statistical validation of the measurement system and collected data was performed using data from the pilot measurements conducted at the vaccination center where the same technology for measurement was used and tested Details regarding the pilot phase of the project are described in greater depth in the Methods section The technical validation is based on the data from this pilot phase because no video recordings were retained during the measurements conducted at train stations—only the trajectories were stored SD = 11.21) and automatically detected passage time (N = 34 No significant differences were identified between recorded and automatically detected times of passage The images depicting error types in pedestrian detection (red labels show correct pedestrian detection the white labels show false positive and false negative errors); manually anonymized by the threshold values set for the neural network determining the classification of the image Other parameters playing a significant role include: Static objects or other pedestrians in the camera’s field of view: Objects such as trash bins and advertising items have a notable negative impact on detection accuracy When an object is positioned between the pedestrian and the camera lens detecting the pedestrian becomes practically impossible (resulting in a false negative error) This situation can lead to disruptions in pedestrian trajectory and further complications such as assigning two identifiers to one pedestrian objects resembling the human body’s shape may be detected (resulting in a false positive error) The image depicts a group of mostly sitting pedestrians that the algorithm failed to detect Vertical position and tilt of the camera: Adjusting the camera’s position can influence the observed area enabling the avoidance of static objects or enhancing detection at longer distances Increasing the camera’s height can also help prevent the overlap of pedestrians Regarding the completely anonymous form, academic and commercial entities can use the dataset for research and development. The final data may be affected by the discussed detected errors. On some days, there were measurement outages. Measurements are missing on these days. These days are summarized for each camera in Table 3 tracing one person with a unique ID across multiple cameras was impossible one person may have multiple IDs within individual cameras that capture them The dataset is designed to develop microscopic evacuation models tailored explicitly for transportation structures focusing on passenger buildings within railway stations and terminals its applicability extends to similar transportation infrastructures such as bus terminals or airport open spaces These structures differ significantly from other civil buildings diverse approaches are required to prepare evacuation models mainly due to the multitude of possible evacuation scenarios Considering the complexity and interdependence of these structures with other infrastructure elements the preparation time for evacuation models is typically longer compared to other cases The evacuation parameters need to be validated at various stages of project documentation This dataset finds utility internally within the project teams of transportation infrastructure investors/operators and externally when public contracts are issued The dataset functions as a fundamental framework for creating mobility and potential evacuation models in both contexts the application of the dataset does not entail additional costs for users its use allows for the parameterization of the evacuation model potentially enhancing the efficiency of financial resource utilization The collected dataset is influenced by various environmental factors which play a critical role in shaping pedestrian movement patterns can significantly affect the flow and speed of pedestrian traffic pedestrians tend to move at slower speeds and maintain smaller interpersonal distances their movement is more fluid and unimpeded introduces obstacles that force pedestrians to adjust their trajectories often leading to more complex and nonlinear movement paths These environmental factors are important to consider when interpreting the dataset as they directly impact the spatial dynamics of pedestrian mobility researchers can better refine crowd behavior models ensuring that they more accurately reflect the real-world conditions of transportation terminals This code was used to transform raw anonymized trajectories detected from camera systems into a local coordinate system and to remove camera lens distortion which generates calibration data for the transformation and distortion removal where data is filtered by seconds and aggregated by individual days where the actual transformations take place Pedestrian Safety and the Built Environment Bridging the Gap in Planning Indoor Pedestrian Facilities Understanding Urban Mobility and Pedestrian Movement Towards Sustainability: New Tools for Planning Urban Pedestrian Mobility Using Space Syntax to Model Pedestrian Movement in Urban Transportation Planning Modeling Pedestrian Flows: Agent-Based Simulations of Pedestrian Activity for Land Use Distributions in Urban Developments Analysis of the use of behavioral data from virtual reality for calibration of agent-based evacuation models Modeling pedestrian mobility in disaster areas Multi agent simulation of pedestrian behavior in closed spatial environments 2009 IEEE Toronto International Conference Science and Technology for Humanity (TIC-STH) Can Walking Behavior be Predicted?: Analysis of Calibration and Fit of Pedestrian Models Agent-based pedestrian evacuation modeling: a one-size fits all approach Inferring Pedestrian Motions at Urban Crosswalks IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems 20 The Impact of Data Quality in the Context of Pedestrian Movement Analysis Automated pedestrian data-collection and flow analysis in public spaces RCE SYSTEMS. DataFromSky. Online. Brno, 2014. Available at: https://datafromsky.com/ Apeltauer, T., Uhlík, O., Apeltauer, J. & Juřík, V. Spatiotemporal Trajectories of Pedestrian Mobility at the Train Station: evidence of 24 million trajectories. figshare https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.27058384 (2024) Uhlík, O., Apeltauer, T., Apeltauer, J. & Juřík, V. Spatiotemporal Trajectories of Pedestrian Mobility at the Train Station: evidence of 24 million trajectories - custom code. Scientific Data. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13784462 (2024) Download references The project was supported by the project CK01000015: Increasing resilience and safety of railway infrastructure and minimizing impacts on other transport infrastructure sectors funded by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic and project FAST-S-24-8572: Optimization of computational processes using machine learning methods and transfer matrices Institute of Computer Aided Engineering and Computer Science and all authors reviewed and edited the final version of the manuscript The authors declare no competing interests Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-04071-9 Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: a shareable link is not currently available for this article Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) General Manager Mike Grier announced today that the club has acquired forward Patrick Giles from the Florida Panthers in exchange for goaltender Vitek Vanecek has spent the majority of the 2024-25 season with the Charlotte Checkers of the American Hockey League two assists) and 39 penalty minutes in 39 games He also has appeared in nine games with Florida during the season was originally signed as a free agent by Florida before the 2022-23 season going 3-10-3 with a 3.88 Goals Against Average (GAA) and .882 Save Percentage (SV%) second-most by a Sharks netminder in a game this season while backstopping San Jose to a 2-1 overtime win over Columbus on Nov Vanecek has amassed a record of 94-52-20 with a 2.82 GAA and .903 SV% Czechia native was acquired by the Sharks along with a seventh-round selection in the 2025 NHL Draft from New Jersey in exchange for goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen on March 8 the Sharks have recalled Georgi Romanov from the San Jose Barracuda Czech champion HB Ostrov Havlíčkův Brod will play in the Champions League after six years And in addition they host one for the groups of the 1st stage of the competition Birell Arena will welcome the Spanish team ASISA Borges Vall the Italian Top Spin Messina Fontalba and the Portuguese GDCS Juncal There will be a big fight for one promotion spot to the 2nd stage Havlíčkův Brod played in the European Cup last season and finished in the quarterfinals Before the new season however he strengthened his line-up and will also play in the Champions League with the Czech representative Pavel ŠIRUČEK Another new player in the HB Ostrov jersey is Tomáš MARTINKO the trio of Tomáš TREGLER Michal OBEŠLO and Dmitrij PROKOPCOV remained from last season  “Since only the winner of the group will advance to the next stage of the tournament I am satisfied with the draw The group does not have any big favorites and the chances of promotion are even ” said club manager Miroslav JINEK The fans are especially looking forward to the match against the Spanish ASISA Borges Vall who the Czech club eliminated last season in the quarter-finals of the European Cup after the “golden match” The two previous ones ended with a ratio of 3:2 Viktor BRODD will be the support of the Spanish club again this year other players on the roster are Marc DURAN Joan MASIP Alberto LILLO and Jose Louis ANDRADE The Italian Top Spin Messina Fontalba will also be a tough opponent Last season he won the second title in the club’s history Portuguese Joao MONTEIRO and Ukrainian Jaroslav ŽMUDENKO left the team but two new reinforcements arrived The Italian international Matteo MUTTI will have his older brother Leonardo by his side as well as the Polish Robert FLORAS Other members of the team are Marco Rech DALDOSSO and Marcelo PUGLISI Portugal’s vice-champion GDCS Juncal will be the fourth team in Group A Last year in the European Cup in Havlíčkův Brod they lost 0:3 to the home team but this year everything may be different The team consists of Kirill SCHVETS and the pair of Romanians Eduard IONESCU and Mihai SARGU The European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) is the governing body of the sport of table tennis in Europe and is the only authority recognized for this purpose by the International Table Tennis Federation The ETTU deals with all matters relating to table tennis at a European level including the development and promotion of the sport in the territories controlled by its 58 member associations and the organization of continental table tennis competitions The Chicago Blackhawks jumped into the Connor Bedard-era with a big opening-night win over Bedard's hero Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night and the Rockford IceHogs hope to be right behind them The Hogs start the season on Friday in San Jose The Hawks' opening day roster included six former Hogs: forwards MacKenzie Entwistle, Cole Guttman, Reese Johnson and Lukas Reichel, defenseman Alex Vlasic and goalie Arvid Soderblom. Now, as the two teams embark on their seasons, here is a look at some of the players starting off the season in Rockford who hope to end up playing for the Hawks: More Blackhawks and IceHogs: 5 reasons to get excited about the Chicago Blackhawks and Rockford IceHogs seasons DThis star defenseman for the Hogs for the past three seasons now was the last player sent down from Chicago to Rockford before the Hawks opened the season on Tuesday night and he had six goals and 17 assists in 51 games with the Hogs last year He also played 16 games with the Hawks last year and had a goal and four assists He has 57 points with 18 goals in 142 career games with Rockford This sixth-year pro out of Orland Park is running out of time to find his way into the NHL Some thought he was poised to start the season with the Hawks but he was sent down to Rockford on Sunday Gust was the leading scorer for the Hogs most of the way last year was another who appeared ready to stick with the Hawks but he was returned to Rockford late last week and will try and work his way back up quickly Teply is a skilled puck handler who has played two full seasons and a portion of another with the Hogs and he has 22 goals and 39 assists in 134 games the reserve goalie for Team USA at the world championships in May and a member of the 2022 US Olympic team was a 2020 second-round draft pick of the Hawks which was the highest Chicago had taken a goalie since 2001 He left after three strong years at Boston University and is now a rookie He was in net for the Hawks' prospect showcase win FHardman was another late send-down from Chicago to Rockford and he could get a call back up at any time He has a goal and four assists in 37 NHL games in his career but he will have to be sharp to stick the next time He does have 24 goals and 26 assists in 101 games with the Hogs Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and follow him on Twitter at @JayTaft. Sign up for the Rockford High School newsletter at rrstar.com since the turn of the century at the Register Star HERSHEY, Pa.—Ilya Samsonov is the Capitals’ undisputed No Vitek Vanecek is intent on disputing that As a former first-round draft pick playing in his first season in North America it is Samsonov who has garnered the most attention when it comes to the future in the crease The netminders are a talented 1-2 punch honing their skills with Hershey of the AHL and in the early going it has been Vanecek making headlines the door was open for Vanecek and the Havlickuv Brod Vanecek helped right a listless Bears squad to start the season by posting a 2-0-1 record 1.62 goals-against average and .949 save percentage in three games and was recognized as the CCM/AHL Player of the Week “Vitek wants to show people what he can do because I think he is getting a little bit lost behind Samsonov,” Bears vice president of hockey operations Bryan Helmer said. “He’s like, ‘hey, I’m still down here, too.’ He has that little bit of motivation to make himself better and … if he keeps going the way he’s going, he’s going to be successful in the NHL it’s a pretty good one-two punch with Samsonov and Vitek down the road I think (Vanecek’s) ceiling is right up there with Samsonov He’s getting better each year he has been over here.” Vanecek joined the organization as a second-round selection (No 39 overall) in 2014 and spent the past three seasons with the Bears When Samsonov left the KHL to come to North America the Russian became the likely heir apparent to current starter Braden Holtby “Vitek knows what’s going on,” Bears coach Spencer Carbery said “He’s a fourth-year guy and (Samsonov) is a rookie (Vanecek) isn’t oblivious to that but that doesn’t mean he’s just going to concede starts He’s a pro athlete who wants to play in the NHL and he’s pushing Samsonov at any opportunity and Samsonov is pushing him Vitek had a great week while Samsonov was hurt and I think that’s a perfect example of that.” Vanecek credits becoming more acclimated to North America — both on and off the ice — with his continued development His English was limited to “hello” when he arrived from the Czech League in 2015 but Vanecek now speaks the language well enough to do interviews without the aid of an interpreter he has also adjusted to the smaller ice surfaces in North America “My first year was a little bit tough for me because it’s a different rink than Europe,” Vanecek said “There’s more shooting and screening here and you don’t have too much time to do things I need a little bit more time before I’m in the NHL Both Helmer and Carbery pointed to Vanecek’s calm demeanor as the goaltender’s best attribute with Helmer saying that “nothing phases” the 22-year-old He’s very under control with his movements He doesn’t flail all over the place or come flying out at shooters and then get caught out of position to where he has to dive back The puck might have jumped around and the next thing you know comes to a guy and Vitek is square and right there His movement or lack thereof is a real asset.” the friendly competition to be the Bears’ No 1 will continue beginning Friday night against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Vanecek said he is “just trying to stop the pucks The defensemen and forwards are blocking shots for me and that’s a big thing for me.” (Top photo: David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) Australia named a 29-athletes preliminary roster for the WBSC Men’s Softball World Championship World Nº 4 Australia named a 29-athletes preliminary roster for the WBSC Men’s Softball World Championship members of the Australian World Champion team of 2009 aiming to win their second World Championship ever All 17 players are returning from the World Championship 2017 silver-medal roster. Australia lost the final game played in Whitehorse Among those named to the preliminary roster are three members of the 2018 Junior Men’s National Team that crowned World Champions in Prince Albert See the full roster here Laing Harrow leaves his position as Aussie Steelers Head Coach Softball Australia also announced that Laing Harrow will step away from his Head Coaching role with the Men’s National Team to focus his efforts on the Women’s Softball National Team Harrow guided Australia to its fourth medal (silver) at the last WBSC World Championship in 2017 Softball Australia will begin the recruitment process for a new Head Coach of the Aussie Steelers in the coming days because of [Czech Republic attacking midfielder] Tomáš Rosický and I believe they were the best football team on the ball and he is someone I have followed all of my career because I was there since I was ten years old It was my hometown team FC Slovan Havlíčkův Brod as it was impossible for us to go to Prague because it was quite far away I went on two loans for six months to Viktoria Žižkov and Slovan Liberec I actually started playing as a striker for my hometown team I played as a centre-back for two years and then became a centre midfielder It was Tomáš Rosický who was my first football hero I remember having a Luís Figo kit from Portugal and my parents bought me this kit from the market My Dad was my first mentor because he was the coach when he got me into football at four or five years old He was a goalkeeper and played a few games for Havlíčkův Brod but the rest he was in an even lower league and only played for fun It was against Viktoria Plzeň when I was playing for Slavia Prague in the first round of the season in 2015 I was lucky because I remember that I clearly handled the ball inside our own box We still lost the game because Slavia were not the best team in the Czech Republic when I arrived there I managed to stay in the squad for the rest of the season.  but I do remember my third or fourth goal when I scored a hat-trick at nearly 21 years old in my first season for the club I also scored a hat-trick for the Czech Republic against Estonia and then I managed to finally score just before half-time to make it 1-1 I think this game saved us in the [Premier] League because it changed the whole course of our season Site designed & built by Other Media, powered by Clubcast Mexico aims to return to the playoffs after a 22-year absence: its last appearance was back in 1996 in Midland 9 Mexico unveiled today the 17-player roster to compete in the WBSC Men’s Softball World Championship Head Coach Alfredo Lerma has chosen a mix of veterans and youth for Mexico’s return to the World Championship after four years The pitching staff will be full of young arms with all four hurlers making their first appearance in a flagship softball World Championship Adan Dueñas and Jhonatan Muñoz are veterans from the 2012 Junior Men’s World Championship team while Carlos Ordaz and Jose Ricardo Hernandez pitched at the Central American and Caribbean Games Barranquilla 2018 when Mexico finished fourth place The offensive will be led by lefty sluggers Edgar Lopez and Ruben Delgadillo You can see the Mexican roster at Comisión Nacional del Deporte – CONADE’s website — fed mex softbol (@fmsoftbol) May 25, 2019 Mexico was drawn in Group A and will open the tournament against Japan on 14 June, in Havlickuv Brod. Then they will play against host Czech Republic, New Zealand, Cuba, Botswana, Argentina and Philippines to complete the group’s stage (full schedule) It will be the 13th participation for Mexico in the Men’s Softball World Championship; the team has earned two medals in history: a silver in 1966 when they hosted the first ever flagship event and a bronze medal four years later in Oklahoma City West Ham United have signed a proven winner who has performed consistently at the highest level for club and country who joined the Hammers from Slavia Prague on Tuesday is the reigning Czech First League Player of the Season having inspired Slavia to a domestic double in 2018/19 The Havlíčkův Brod-born player is also an automatic pick for his national team having started 12 of his country’s last 13 matches including the impressive 2-1 UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying win over England in Prague in October 2019 he has 25 caps and is looking forward to representing his country at his first major tournament this summer when the Czechs will take on England again at Wembley in June That would be just the latest chapter in an impressive career that has also brought Souček two Czech First League and two Czech Cup winner’s medals Since making his breakthrough into the Slavia first team at the age of 20, Souček has appeared in 185 matches and totalled more than 16,000 minutes of action In those 185 games, Souček has scored 40 goals and registered 16 assists suggesting he is a far more complete player than the ‘defensive midfielder’ description he is given on a number of leading football websites suggests he has come into his own at the attacking end of the pitch scoring 12 goals in 26 appearances in all competitions prior to the Czech First League’s winter break Eight goals came in just 17 top-flight appearances as Slavia opened up a 16-point lead two-thirds of the way through the regular season Souček has also clearly had a huge influence on his team defensively too as Slavia have conceded just four goals in the 17 matches he has started Despite his relatively tender years – he does not turn 25 until 27 February – he was appointed Slavia’s captain at the start of the current season leading his team to victory in all but one of the 13 First League matches in which he wore the armband He also captained Slavia in their opening five group-stage matches in this season’s UEFA Champions League where the Czech champions were drawn in Group F alongside Inter Milan Souček started and finished all six matches helping Slavia gain creditable draws away at both Inter and Barcelona and scoring in defeats at home to Inter and away to Dortmund It was not the first time he had impressed in Europe either. Souček is a veteran of more than 30 Champions League and Europa League appearances and helped his team reach the quarter-finals of the latter competition last season he was outstanding in Slavia’s thrilling 4-3 second leg defeat at Chelsea scoring one goal and assisting two more in what was a true captain’s performance West Ham United have signed a player whose quality is beyond doubt and one who will undoubtedly bring leadership attacking intent and defensive resilience to the Hammers’ battle to remain in the Premier League bruises and the drunk tank last Saturday as the inebriated newlyweds started a fight outside a restaurant "The bride and the groom attacked each other and they both ended up with bruises," police spokeswoman Jana Mazourova told Agence France Predsse The incident between the 31-year-old bride and the 22-year-old bridegroom occurred in the central Czech town of Havlickuv Brod about 100 kilometers southeast of the capital Prague The police were afraid she would keep attacking her husband," said Mazourova The couple is facing a fine for the incident handled by the police as a minor offence Mazourova said she had no information about whether divorce proceedings were under way