Olson and Malakowsky, junior classmates at Maple River High School in Mapleton, are both are extremely honored to be named to the team, which will compete at the ISF Junior Mens’ Championship June 24-July 3 in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada.

  “It’s pretty cool,” says Olson of the honor.  “You get represent your country.  That’s an honor, a big honor.

  “You get to travel on your own and we get a lot of free stuff,” Olson says referring, to the amount of apparel Team USA members receive.

  Malakowsky echoed that statement, “It’s pretty cool.  We were both named to the team pretty early so we knew early.”

  Malakowsky, 16 and a resident of Wells, and Olson, 17 of Amboy, join a number of Minnesotans who were named to the Junior National Team in recent years.  Dan and David Berthiaume, Marty Schimmele and Tom Roth were named to the team in 2001 and Judd Berthiaume, Damon Laliberte and Cory Thompson were on the squad in 1997.

  Both players are self-confessed ball yard junkies.  It doesn’t matter if it’s baseball or (it’s) fastpitch, they just want to be on a diamond.

  “So much fun to play,” Malakowsky says of “ball” in general.  “Doesn’t matter which game, it’s just fun to play.”

  “I just want to play,” adds Olson.  “Love playing.  Just love to play.  We’d play everyday for the love of it.”

  The two, who have been friends for 4-5 years after attending different middle schools, were introduced to the game in different ways.  Olson’s father Randy has played the game for a number of years and introduced Bob to it at a young age.

  Malakowsky’s introduction to fastpitch came when the coach of his and Olson’s summer baseball team, Jeff Annis, asked the kids to play fastpitch in a couple of youth tournaments.  Annis’ son Aaron was a pitcher, so all the young baseball players gave it a try.

  That summer, in 2000, Olson was named the leading hitter of the ISC’s 12-Under North American Championship.  A year later, in only his second year playing fastpitch, Malakowsky earned the same honor as the Krengel Brothers team won the title.

  While their summers are filled with time on a ball diamond, both playing youth fastpitch and Legion Baseball with Olson adding time on an amateur baseball team and his father’s Fisher Group mens’ fastpitch team, they are far from being one sport athletes.

  But the two are far from being one-sport athletes; both are great all around athletes.

  Malakowsky has been on the varsity baseball team as an outfielder and left-handed pitcher since his freshmen year and played both varsity football, as a wide receiver and cornerback, and varsity guard in basketball since his sophomore year.

  Olson has been the varsity baseball catcher since the eight grade.  He’s also a quarterback and free safety in football and has played on that varsity team since his freshmen year.  He was also a varsity basketball player as a freshman, but gave that up last year, saying an ankle injury on the hardwood nearly cost him his baseball season.

  So instead, Olson’s, wrestling this winter, after wrestling varsity during his eight grade year.

  Their athleticism is something their Team USA Coach Tim Lyon was looking for when he choose this year’s team.

  “In years past we’ve had great athletes but they might not have been the best ball players,” he said.  “This time around, we looked to get athletic with guys who were great ball players and Brian and Bob both fit that bill.”

  Olson will see time at catcher and designated hitter says Lyon.  “He has game leadership, which he gets from being a quarterback and a coach’s son.”  Randy is the Head Coach in football and baseball at Maple River.

  Malakowsky, Lyon says, “has great speed, very great speed and is a great defensive outfielder.  He’s very young in terms of age on this team, but they both are. 

  “But they are both very mature for their age.  They’re both athletic, they’re great kids and they come from strong families,” Lyons added.

  Lyon gathered his squad in Chula Vista, California at the ARCO Training Facility over Christmas break, the first time his team was together since the team was named in September.

  Olson and Malakowsky have both attended a handful of USA Softball Camps at ARCO.  Olson even attended a Pitcher and Catcher camp that was grouped with the National Team.

  “Catching Michael White was different,” he says.  “His ball moves but he always hits the glove.  Pretty cool though.  They all talked with us all the time.”

  There will two Pitcher-Catcher Camps, one in March in Chula Vista and one in April or May in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

  Lyon will not see his full team again until June 1-5, when they regroup in Chula Vista.  Even then all the players won’t be present.

  “I told them I’d screw up other sports, but I promised them I wouldn’t screw up baseball season.”

  So after the five days in June, with a somewhat partial squad, they will return home.  Some will graduate high school, some to recoup before the “season” starts for them.

  They will all converge on Chula Vista once again, from June 16-20 before heading off to Canada for the competition.

  How will finishing up baseball season then going to play fastpitch, possibly as little as two weeks later affect the pair of Minnesotans?

  “Not that much of an adjustment,” states Olson.  “Take a day or so, couple of at-bats.  Catching will take a little bit (of adjustment too).”

  “We’ll take batting practice and we’ll be fine.  No real change,” adds Malakowsky.

  “They’re both good enough to adjust to the pitching,” says Lyon.

  At the last ISF Junior Worlds in 2001, Team USA finished seventh.  Lyon coached that team and he sees bigger things this time around.

  “We’ll be the most athletic team there, the most athletic USA team ever.

  “We won’t have the best pitching, no dominant pitcher, but we’ll have good pitching.”

  And Lyon likes his team’s chances.  He sees anywhere from 7-16 teams playing in the event, and guesses there will be around 10 when the field is finally set this spring.

  Australia is the two-time defending champions, and then are followed by New Zealand, Canada and Japan.  The tournament format is round robin with the top four teams moving onto Double Page bracket play.

  “If we beat everyone else and beat one of the four favorites, we can get into bracket play and potentially medal.”

  Lyon is the first to admit that his team’s experience in the game of fastpitch will pale in comparison to that of other countries.  Why?  “They (other countries) play fastpitch when they are young instead of baseball.”

  But Lyon’s commitment to athleticism, which is led by Olson and Malakowsky, is also helped by the ASA National Office.  The Junior National Team is working with the National Team their camps and development.

  “We are looking to expand as we become more successful,” says Lyons of the future of USA Softball.

  When Olson and Malakowsky, return from their whirlwind tour this June, life will go back to normal for the two of them.

  Both are looking forward to a summer with a number of days and nights spent on a ball diamond.

  Malakowsky will be play Legion baseball and play with the Mapleton Eagles as they look to defend their ASA 16-Under National Championship. 

  Olson, who was a member of the Mapleton team as well, will move up to play 18-Under ball with the Lake Crystal Legion club. 

  Then, they can start worrying about college.  Both want to play college baseball, preferably at the Division I or II level.  Then, after that who knows.

  When asked about any decisions relating to college, Olson replies, “My mom is after me all the time.  I just want to pass the 11^th grade,” he says laughing. 

Lyon says the future of both Olson and Malakowsky in fastpitch is “limitless because they are both so athletic but they both still have to graduate from high school and then go to college.”  And both players would like to take their respective fastpitch careers to the highest possible level, just like they plan to do with their baseball careers.

  “I just want to keep playing, for as long as I can and play at a high level,” Malakowsky says, about both baseball and fastpitch.