MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- The Boys and Girls Club Youth and Teen Center here hosted a baseball clinic for local children 7- to 11-years-old at the Penny Lake pavilion here July 17.
Major League Baseball envoy coach David Palese was on-hand to teach the children proper techniques used in swinging a baseball bat.
“He’s teaching them the way they teach in college and in the major leagues,” said Keith Joseph, the Youth and Teen Center manager. “He’s teaching them proper hitting techniques.”
Palese spent the afternoon with the local Japanese children demonstrating exercises and drills the children could practice to improve their balance, power and coordination when swinging the bat.
“There’s no one way to teach children and another way to teach professional ball players. There’s only one way to teach both,” Palese said.
To give the children a better understanding of what he was teaching them, Palese gave them some hands-on training and handed the children the bat.
Palese recommended the children practice their skills every day to improve, the same way they practice math and arithmetic.
“A lot of the time with the kids, they’ve got a lot of moving parts ‘cause they don’t understand the basics of the swing and then, as they get older, they got all these moving parts that are out of whack,” said Palese. “What we try to do
is keep it simple and just give them a few skills to work on.”
Many of the children who attended the clinic were excited and ready to practice the new drills they learned from Palese.
“It was fun,” said 8-year-old Satoshi Takata, an event participant. “I learned the right way to stand and how to swing my bat.”
Satoshi, who wants to play for the New York Yankees one day, said he looked forward to practicing the new drills he learned on his own.
Some of the parents who came to watch their children during the clinic were impressed with Palese’s teaching skills.
“He’s a really good teacher,” said Akiko Takata, mother of Satoshi. “He was very generous in coming out here and teaching the kids.”
Palese has been a part of the Major League Baseball International Envoy Program since 2002 and has traveled to approximately 10 countries teaching baseball basics.
“I heard about the program and I thought it would be an interesting way to see the world, and kind of learn about different types of people and just help share what I know,” said Palese. “It’s just a real thrill showing these guys how
to do something, and we don’t even speak a common language. That’s a real rush to me. I can achieve success by putting a smile on a kid’s face when they do something the right way.”
Aside from baseball clinics, the Boys and Girls Club Youth and Teen Center also provides National Basketball Association and National Football League clinics with professionals from both sports on-hand to teach.
“If parents have any questions they can just come by the (Youth and Teen Center),” said Joseph. “It’s all done by the Boys and Girls Club and they provide it for free.”
Anyone interested in finding out more information on the various sports clinics provided by the Boys and Girls Club can call the Youth and Teen Center at 253-6454.