OTTAWA-The World Children’s Baseball Fair has been uniting children from all over the world through the game of baseball since 1990.
This year, five lucky children from the province of Alberta along with one chaperone will head to Mie, Japan July 22nd-30th to participate in a cultural exchange, while learning the fundamentals of baseball.
“I can only imagine how excited the kids must be, and it will be an incredible feeling to be able to share in that excitement with them,” said chaperone Bob Dyck who hails from Okotoks, Alberta. “I feel this will be an amazing experience for me, as I plan on bringing back the experience and knowledge gained, and sharing it with as many of the kids in Okotoks as possible.”
The idea of the World Children’s Baseball fair was the brainchild of Japanese Home Run King Sadaharu Oh and MLB Home Run King Hank Aaron. The fair has been held mainly in Asia, but has also taken place in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada for the first time in 2000 when Regina played host.
Each year a different province has the opportunity to send children to the event and this year Baseball Alberta was given the task of selecting five youngsters to attend.
“The kids all went through a sort of ‘application’ process, in which they all presented letters to Baseball Alberta stating what baseball meant to them and what it would mean to be selected for the WCBF,” explained Dyck.
Once all the applications were scoured over, Baseball Alberta selected 10 year old Braeden from Okotoks, 11 year old Sydney from Stettler, 11 year old Donovan Edmonton, 11 year old Cooper from Edmonton and 11 year old Daniel from Armena.
“I was really really excited (to be chosen),” said Braeden.” As soon as I found out (which was on my birthday) I jumped onto the computer to learn some Japanese words.”
Braeden has been playing baseball since he was four years-old and enjoys travelling to tournaments and making new friends.
“Last year my team went to Las Vegas for a tournament where we played against teams who could be the best in the world,” he said. “My teams have gone to tournaments in British Colombia too and now I’m off to Japan. Way cool!”
While in Japan, the kids will be outfitted with new uniforms and cleats before taking part in daily instructional clinics with the emphasis on learning and having fun, not competition. Each evening a cultural exchange will take place where children will be exposed to other cultures, while at the same time teaching others about Canada and Canadian culture.
