 |
| The Hungarian baseball and softball federation's logo. |
My first three months in Hungary has certainly been an adventure, one packed with memories that I’ll take with me well beyond my days coaching baseball.
In my role with the Hungarian National Baseball and Softball Federation, I have worked as a coach, run summer camps, conducted recruitment clinics as schools in Budapest and towns just outside of the Capital city, and have even played a bit for one of the country’s club teams.
The federation’s main objective here is to increase the participation among young children throughout this country of 10 million people, then develop them through Little League Baseball, which is set to become an affiliation here in the coming couple of years, and its junior program. The hope is that the cadet, junior and senior national teams will benefit from this youth movement as they look to improve their standing at the International level.
There certainly is some raw talent here among young children, however the challenge is to convince kids here that they can enjoy themselves while playing baseball, a sport which doesn’t boast as much constant action as in soccer, handball or water polo, which are the most poplar sports here. Baseball is a thinking man’s game, and that doesn’t often appeal to American kids that grow up with the sport all around them, nonetheless Hungarian kids whose only exposure to the sport may have come via the Internet or an occasional few innings they may have caught of a game on ESPN America.
That’s an obstacle that the federation is struggling to overcome. It’s hard to pull someone away from the “cool” thing to do in school or in extra-curricular activities after school or on weekends when all of their friends are doing it. The best athletes here have been recruited to play the popular sports since they were old enough to kick a ball, swim or throw the handball. For Americans, think trying to pry a basketball out of a kid’s hands and telling him to try out cricket or squash. It’s going to be a tough sell.
It’s a sell, however, that a select few here in Hungary are willing to put the time and effort into ensuring happens. Those on the federation’s board as well as some natives and Americans in towns throughout the countryside are doing what they can to establish and grow youth programs despite a glaring lack of equipment and resources. Often, kids can be seen practicing or playing in sneakers, gloves that are entirely too small for them, or with baseballs that look like a German Shepherd used as a chew toys the previous night.
It’s an uphill battle, but one that I have no doubt the baseball folks here in Hungary will eventually win, and the sport that I have grown up on and love so dearly will one day become household here.