The European Massimo Romeo Youth Trophy (EMRYT) will not take place in 2021.

Together with the organisers, Softball Europe decided to cancel the European Massimo Romeo Youth Trophy for 2021. The ninth edition of the Festival of the Youth EMRYT will not be played in the upcoming summer. The U-13 and U-11 tournaments were scheduled from August 11 to 14 in Collecchio, Italy. 

"This was a hard decision to take." Softball Europe President Gabriel Waage commented on the reasons behind the cancellation: "we came to the conclusion that we would not have been able to achieve the goals of the event. To ensure the safety of the tournament and respect the COVID-19 procedures, the Festival of the Youth would have transformed into a nightmare for kids under the age of 11 and 13.".

Elisa Peri, one of the organisers from Collecchio, also commented the postponement of the event: "the EMRYT must be a moment of sharing and exchange between the participating teams. The health restrictions would not have allowed the teams to fully experience the spirit of the event.".

All the other tournaments scheduled for 2021 are on, and it is Softball Europe's goal to restore International Softball throughout Europe. 

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Softball Europe is currently discussing with Italy, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic the specific conditions of organizing SE tournaments in their respective countries or regions and what the local requirements would be for holding the events. 

SE prepared and circulated Covid-19 Protocol to protect the health of all the people involved in SE events. 

As announced before, the notification deadline for cancelling any Softball Europe Competition will be 45 days before the start of the tournament. As this is an unprecedented situation, SE is accepting withdrawals without penalties or further consequences up until 30 days prior to the start of each competition.

/ Elda Ghilardi
Photos courtesy of Giacomo Canali - Elisa Peri