The Zürich Eighters were founded in 2008...hence the name. On Sunday afternoon we play our last games of the 2009 season (our first) in Lausanne.

To continue to improve through the winter and prepare for the 2010 season, we eagerly seek an experienced pitching coach. As baseball-lovers know, pitcher is the most difficult position to develop, and as general coach of the Eighters I have reached the limit of my skills and experience when it comes to pitching.

The team consists almost entirely of young Swiss guys (mid-twenties to mid-thirties) with little to no baseball experience until we began training a year ago. Everyone is unbelievably enthusiastic, eager to learn and improve. It is wonderful what these guys are doing for baseball in Switzerland.

I was a walk-on last August and after unsuccessfully pursuing a few other coaching options through the 2009 season, the team's leadership installed me as coach 2 weeks ago as the American guy with the most know-how. However, my know-how consists mainly of little league almost 20 years ago, a few softball teams in Chicago in my mid-twenties, and a lot of watching the MLB. To this point it has been sufficient, but I could really use a hand. Needless to say, it is difficult to find baseball coaches in Switzerland who aren't already associated with one of the many already existing teams.

We train every Monday evening in Oerlikon, and once it starts getting too dark too early, not to mention too cold, we will move our training indoors to the KV Business School at Escher-Wyss Platz, also on Monday evenings.

The pitching coach would not be expected to be present at each and every training, but motivation, enthusiasm and a good rapport with the team are highly valued and the more you include yourself the better. Myself and one or two other players handled all the pitching responsibility during the 2009 season, but my goal is to familiarize every player with the fundamentals of pitching. Lack of relief options has been a major handicap, and general knowledge of pitching techniques would (needless to say) also improve our batting.

The position does not pay. We are a brand new team and so far we have all paid our own way (league membership, players licenses, uniforms, equipment, etc) outside of a few nominal sponsors. What we have to offer is a fun group of guys, and baseball baseball baseball. This might be a really fun freetime option for somebody new to Zürich or to Switzerland. It has been a great social and athletic outlet for me so far!

German proficiency is not a must, but would be helpful. I speak fairly well, and when the jargon gets too thick I will lapse into English, but the levels of English comprehension among team members is variable. For a newcomer this would be a great way to brush up!

If anyone is interested please respond to this thread and we can exchange information and discuss further details. More information is available at www.eighters.ch (team site) and at www.swiss-baseball.ch (Swiss Baseball and Softball Federation site).

Thanks!
Ed Sutton