Baseball is a sport that is popular the world over. In the last 10 years, the sport has surfaced in Vietnam, and has attracted interest from many people, especially the youth.
With a passion for this sport, former pop star Ngoc Thuy and her husband attorney/coach Thomas J. Treutler established the Hanoi Youth Baseball Club to create conditions for Vietnamese youth to participate in this international sport which emphasizes teamwork, patience and high skills.
 Skilful ball hitting by athlete Tran Gia Hy. |
 Members of Hanoi Youth Baseball Club. |
 Coach Thomas J. Treutler instructs the kids on techniques of hitting the ball on the field at Chu Van An School in Hanoi. |
 The technique on throwing the ball of Quang Minh, a member of U-12 baseball team. |
 The kids are eager to participate in the match. |
 Celebrating the victory. |
 Athletes of Hanoi Youth Baseball Club (in white T-shirt) during a competition in Singapore. |
Ngoc Thuy is one of the pioneers in promoting this international sport right in the capital city of Hanoi. Beginning with her own son’s love for the sport and when seeing friends of her son passionately reading stories about the cartoon character Doremon playing baseball, Ngoc Thuy and her husband sprung the idea of establishing a baseball team for kids. So, they began looking for a field. At first, there were just 6 kids, and then others saw that this sport was pretty neat, people started to watch, and then let their kids go out on the field to participate. In 2008, the Hanoi Youth Baseball Club was established with Ngoc Thuy as the chairwoman and her husband as the head coach.
According to Ngoc Thuy, the Club’s members are trained free of charge, excluding the money paid for renting the field. In nearly two years of development, the Club has now 70 members aged between 8-14 who are divided into four teams. Under-8 and-10 teams practise on Wednesday evenings (6.30pm) and Saturday mornings (6.30am), while the under-12 and-14 teams practise on Friday evenings and Sunday mornings under the direction of coach Thomas. Every week, the teams compete with each other from 9.30-11.30am on Sunday. The Club also invited expert coaches from the Major League Baseball (MLB) to help raise the skill level of the Club members. Under the guidance of foreign coaches rich in experience and some local coaches, the Club has practised with passion and has step by step affirmed its position.
Practising the sport, all kids learn to concentrate and to have discipline. Following practices, enthusiasm increased, the rules of the game were learned, baseball skills were gradually improved, and skill in speaking English was much improved. The players also learn to respect the game, respect their teammates and opponents, learn to be courageous and honest, and to become goods citizens, which is the lesson that all of its coaches want to give to them through baseball.
Visiting the Club’s baseball field at No.10 Thuy Khue Street, Tay Ho District in Hanoi, and seeing the kids practising and playing together, people will understand why the kids like the sport. For them, it is not a sport of high competitiveness. It simply brings them joy, helps them make more friends and gives them a chance to play together.
The Club started participating in competitions in 2009, such as Little League Asia – Pacific Minor League Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia in June 2009 and Southeast Asian Youth Baseball Tournament in Singapore.
For her contributions to developing the movement of practising baseball in Vietnam, Ngoc Thuy, Head of the Hanoi Youth Baseball Club, was appointed as the chairwoman of Vietnam Pony Baseball by Asian PONY Baseball on January 16, 2010 in Manila, the Philippines. It was good news for the Club members.
Despite all their hard work, Ngoc Thuy, her husband and other coaches of the Club feel very happy when seeing the joy and passion the kids have to the sport and are proud of how the club has developed. They hope that the Club will train the first Vietnamese generation of professional baseball players and help develop the sport in Vietnam.
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“Hanoi Youth Baseball Team is the baseball team of the future. By 2019, under-12 athletes will be 21-22 years old who will probably bring the country its first major achievements in the sport. The preparation for the development of the baseball in the future of the Vietnamese sport sector in general and the couple of Thomas J.Treutler in particular is worthy of praise.”
(Hoang Vinh Giang, General Vice Chairman cum General Secretary of the Vietnam Olympic Committee)
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By Hoang Ha
