If you are a regular, you might have noticed my post that indicated HaverSon negotiated a deal to coach and play in Europe this spring and summer.
Now that the start of all that is less than 2 weeks away, I thought I'd share the basic details.
HaverSon will be the assistant coach at the International School (of) Brussels (ISB). He will also be one of two American player-coaches for the Brussels Kangaroos.
Countries that were occupied by Americans at the end of WWII tend to play the best baseball. The Dutch for example, are among the best Europeans and top level dutch teams could play at least at the upper-mid DI level. Eastern europeans tend to be less skilled. Most major league teams use some level of european scouting. Permier/National level european baseball leagues also limit the number of non-european players to a maximum of two, or sometimes three. Top level Belgian teams are allow two non-euros on the field at any one time.
The Kangaroos, like nearly all euro teams are a true club in the sense that they offer baseball to all ages, from the very young to seniors, and even old-timers softball. The Kangaroos have experimented with north american and caribbean players for over a decade. Overall, the results have been mixed. They have also imported several ex-minor leaguers without the desired results.
The Kangaroo management's evolved thinking now holds that the best overall player-coach yield comes from top level D3 players, often from liberal arts schools, who had exceptional (on-the-field) senior seasons. Their experience shows that, for the most part, successful adaptation to life in another culture and coaching of non-english speaking players requires high academic achievers. Baseball-wise the best results seem to come from all-star type D3 players who were clearly still improving at the end of their college years.
Assuming there are HSBBW folks who might be interested in this sort of after-college opportunity, I'll try to write about this scene a couple of times each month during summer 2007.
NOTE: Although it isn't yet "populated" with the 2007 schedule, roster etc, here is a link to the K'roo website. To get a feel for how all of this organization has developed, far from American turf, you might check the "history" section.
http://www.brusselskangaroos.org/
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