My name is Aaron Caughlin, and as many of you know my parents are from Great Britian, they moved to the US in 2000. Last year, while watching the Great Britian baseball team play in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. It made me wonder if, there was any way that I would ever be able to play for them in the future. So, I did some research, and, as it turns out, I can!
I completed a short questionnaire about myself and was added to the U18 Talent Pool Group on their Team App. A few weeks ago, I received an email from the U18 Head Coach, Coach Henson asking if I could send him some more information and videos about my playing ability - which I did. He then asked to have a Zoom call with my parents and I. During the call he asked if I would be interested in playing for the GB U18 National Team in the European Championships in July 2024. He went over the details with us and explained what an amazing experience it would be, and, as you can imagine, I was hooked. Last week I got an offer letter offering me one of the five international roster spots he has on his team (20-man roster)!!
I would need to fly to England for some practices with the rest of the team and stay with them until we fly to Munich on 3 July. While in Munich we would play some warmup games/scrimmages against some of the other European teams - French, German and Dutch. We would also have a tourist day to explore the historic city before we travel to Regensburg to participate in the U18 European Championship. This runs from 7/8 to 7/14 - 7 games in 7 days. The goal is to win the tournament to gain points in the World Rankings. The final goal is to participate in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
There will be lots of Scouts from schools and MLB teams at the games. The GB U23 Coach will be travelling with us and will be looking at players who he may want to bring up to the U23 team in future.
As you can imagine, all this comes with a price tag, unfortunately only the U23 and the Senior National team are funded - the U15 and U18 National team are not and - only subsidized. Even with the subsidy we have worked out that the cost of me being able to participate is approx. $5,000 (still less than some of the school trips that we are offered to participate on).
Please, if you are willing and able to donate to make this dream a reality, I will be so grateful - this is a once in a lifetime chance.
Yours, Aaron Caughlin
Teams & Rosters - U-18 Baseball European Championship 2024 (wbsceurope.org)
