MICHAEL Trask is one of the bright young stars of baseball and at 13 he has been selected to play for the Great Britain under-15 side in the European Championship in the Czech Republic.

The trip to the Czech city of Brno takes place from July 17 to July 25, and a month later the 13-year-old is set to represent Great Britain at a baseball development tournament in the Netherlands.

The star from Tadley is no stranger to playing for GB as he has represented his county at the European Championships in the Czech Republic, and the World Championships in Japan, both at under-13 level.

Michael said: "It was a fantastic experience to go to Japan as we stayed with Japanese families.

"We didn't do too well there and the one thing that really surprised me was how hot it was."

In the European Champions this year, GB will be up against the Netherlands, France, Russia, Austria, Hungary and the Ukraine.

The Dutch are the reigning European champions and Russia and France will also prove stiff competition, but GB are hopeful of a top-four finish to keep them in the top group of the tournament, which will undergo changes after this year's championships.

As well as playing for the national side, Michael is a member of the Bracknell Pony side, having last year played for the very successful Bracknell Broncos, who were national champions.

In the final they met their local rivals Windsor and won a thrilling game 10-9.

Michael said: "We were losing by four runs and came back to win, which was great, and I scored a couple of runs."

His coach for Bracknell and Great Britain is Darren Muller, who rates the young man highly.

Muller said: "He is in the top 10 per cent of his age group."

He added: "Michael will definitely be a starter for the GB team as he can play in every position, which is very rare for a player of his age."

Baseball as a sport suffers from a lack of funding because they do not play in the Olympics and it makes it that much harder for players.

Muller said: "To get the necessary funding we need the senior team to be playing at a higher standard, but it is a vicious circle as we need the funding to make it happen."

Michael's family seem to have baseball in their blood as his older brother Ryan is a former Great Britain international and younger sister Amy is also into the game.

Michael has to pay for all his trips himself and is on the lookout for sponsorship. Anyone who can help this young star is asked to ring 07866 464961.