Okinawa boasts a sub tropical climate meaning it stays fairly warm year round. For Japanese Major League Baseball, Okinawa is like Florida to American Major League Baseball. Many of the Japanese teams come to Okinawa for a month of Spring Training before the season officially starts.
We were very fortunate to learn that the Yokahama Bay Stars (right outside Tokyo) were trainning near us. Every year they take an hour out of their training to do a baseball cinic for the local little league baseball teams. I received a flyer last week saying that the American children were invited to atend. All I needed to say was the word Baseball and all three of the men were in the van in their uniforms!
If you have ever lived in Japan, you know that parking is a virtual NIGHTMARE. It is so limited for one and the spaces are very small when you concider parking my monster Delica! We got to the park in no time but were sitting in a LONG line of cars waiting to find a coveted parking space. We could see the field from where we were sitting, but could not find a spot to save our lives. My veiw looked like this....
We were very fortunate to learn that the Yokahama Bay Stars (right outside Tokyo) were trainning near us. Every year they take an hour out of their training to do a baseball cinic for the local little league baseball teams. I received a flyer last week saying that the American children were invited to atend. All I needed to say was the word Baseball and all three of the men were in the van in their uniforms!
If you have ever lived in Japan, you know that parking is a virtual NIGHTMARE. It is so limited for one and the spaces are very small when you concider parking my monster Delica! We got to the park in no time but were sitting in a LONG line of cars waiting to find a coveted parking space. We could see the field from where we were sitting, but could not find a spot to save our lives. My veiw looked like this....
We sat for nearly an hour before I had the bright idea of calling the American man in charge of organizing the event for the American kids. Only in OKINAWA would I EVER do this, but I sent all three boys out of the van to walk to the field and look for a man in a grey sweater whose name was "Mike" and if all else fails, look for the American kids... "Mike" has some good parking advice and within about 15 mins of dropping my boys off I had found a spot that was only a five minute walk to the field. Whew. What a relief to find them right where they were supposed to be. I promise, I am not a bad Mom... It is just really that safe here. That is not to say I was not nervous, but I knew they would be fine... Needless to say, they were easy to find. Does the song "One of these things is not like the other" sound familiar???
We were able to watch some of the local little league teams receive their trophies from a recent tournament. Very interesting... it was so serious and no one cheered. Just lots of bowing going on. After the trophy presentation the Yokahama Bay Stars walked on the field. This would be like the Cardinals or Oakland A's or name whatever MLB team walked on the field. There was just polite clapping as each player was introduced and removed his cap and bowed. It was sureal!!! They set ups stations all over the field and you could go to what ever lesson you wanted work on from catching to pitching to batting etc. Mike reccomened that we stay withe the 2 American players who spoke English so the kids could receive instruction in English... Good plan. What a treat! The boys got to paly with two Major League Pitchers with only about 15 other kids! They had a blast ! These players were here in Japan for a year before heading back to play in the States. Dave Williams played as a starting pitcher for the Mets last year and Mike Wood was on the pitching staff of the Texas Rangers last year! So FUN!!! I looked them up when we got home and realized now why Dave Williams rolled his eyes when Sam asked him if he ever played for the Yankees:)
Here are some fun pictures of our pitching with the pros...
Yokahama Bay Stars
Getting instructions from our Players
Andrew playing catch
Kevin playing catch
Great catch Sam!!!! 
Andrew gets to play catcher with the Big Leagues!!!
We made the Japanese news!!!
Aren't these little Japanese players the cutest things!?! They could pitch like nothing I have ever seen in an 8 year old!!! (Except maybe Kevin!!!) No doubt, the Japanese are SERIOUS about baseball!!!
Getting autographs...
This will truly be something they will not forget. They just LOVED it and look forward to doing it again next year!
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