Karlene Headley-Cooper of the University of Toronto Varsity Blues fastpitch team will represent Great Britain at the 2009 European softball championships, July 27-August 1, in Valencia, Spain.

Great Britain is pooled with the Italy, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Spain as they vie for a berth to the 2010 World Cup of Softball. For more information on the European softball championships visit http://www.fbscv.es/europeansoftball2009/eurosof09e.html

This will be Headley-Cooper’s (Toronto) fifth year on the Great Britain team and her third appearance at the European championships. At the 2006 World Cup in Beijing, China, she hit a solo home run to help Great Britain defeat Korea 1-0 and reach a number 10 ranking in the world.

Headley-Cooper has won an Ontario Intercollegiate Women’s Fastpitch Assocation (OIWFA) bronze medal (2002), silver medal (2006) and gold medal (2005) during her eight-year career with the Varsity Blues.

Currently completing her Master’s of Science in the area of athlete-centre coaching, Headley-Cooper has been in Europe since May, and recently led Great Britain’s national girl’s team to a fifth-place finish in the U-16 European championships in Holland.