It’s been more than three decades since I first fell in love with international baseball. Watching the game in its infancy on the old continent in the early 1990s was intoxicating. However, the same problems plaguing the sport 30 years ago are still preventing the sport from reaching its full potential all across Europe and SE Asia.
It is not my intention to criticize the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). Heck, I began writing about world baseball when the organization was still known as the International Baseball Association (IBA). But there are some “hard” truths regarding online coaching courses, Baseball5, and why baseball continues to grow at a snail’s pace around the world.
First of all, I support the mission of the WBSC. The IBA was a joke and my website — BaseballdeWorld — had more monthly visitors than the world baseball organization. The WBSC is world-class at promoting the games of baseball and softball. But the body that governs baseball around the globe needs to become proactive instead of reactive. Both sports could really explode in numerous countries with unimpressive football programs. But not with today’s status quo.
Nobody listened to me in the early 2000s when I predicted that European baseball would never enjoy significant growth. But my six years in Switzerland taught me that it’s impossible to develop elite baseball players with non-competitive leagues and part-time training. Iron sharpens iron, which is what happens in the United States, Japan, Dominican Republic — you get the point.
I do not know how much the WBSC spends on its online coaching courses, but I do know how ineffective these classes are. I’ve trained individuals who have passed these online coaching courses, and they didn’t learn much. I love the idea of online coaching classes. But these courses have to be effective.
I am still baffled at why the WBSC came up with Baseball5. Sure, football has futsal and basketball has 3-on-3 hoops. But, Baseball5 competes with baseball and softball for youth players. Make that make sense?
While my Filipino kids will be training in baseball and softball, kids in Bhutan and Nepal — where the sports are still in their infancy — are wasting time and money practicing Baseball5. I witnessed the Nepal Baseball and Softball Association (NBSA) spend significant funds to host a Baseball5 tournament, while its youth baseball program was underfunded and in disarray. Make that make sense?
It’s no exaggeration that I spent literally thousands of hours thinking of ways to grow the games in Bhutan. But the challenges facing the Bhutan Baseball and Softball Association (BBSA) are daunting. How can the game realistically grow in a country with limited funds, if the sport struggles to grow in a wealthy country like Switzerland?
Little has changed in the Swiss League since I left in 1998. This year, Switzerland’s top league featured six teams and three squads finished the regular season with a combined 16-44 card. But that is the same problem that 99 percent of European Leagues must endure. Imagine how the level of baseball in Switzerland would take off if the league had 5-6 teams capable of winning the championship?
The only way to grow baseball and softball in Bhutan, Nepal, and other countries without waiting decades is to bring back a version of the Major League Baseball Coaches Envoy Program. If the WBSC can partner with MLB, NPB, and the KBO to send three qualified coaches to different parts of Bhutan for 6-8 months a year, baseball and softball would enjoy significant growth in the highest country in the world.
The sports of baseball and softball will never reach its full potential in most countries with the status quo of online coaching courses, Baseball5, equipment donations, coaching seminars — you get the point.
The Bohol Coconuts Baseball and Softball Club will be a test project for international baseball. How fast can the game grow in a region when a baseball coach begins training youth players? When Bohol Island becomes a hotbed of elite youth baseball and softball players in five years, the WBSC will have to take notice.
Marvin “Merv” Moore is the head coach of the Bohol Coconuts Baseball and Softball Club. He has coached in both Europe and Asia, and helped start the Mister-Baseball and BaseballdeWorld international baseball websites.
