Sumy wins first Little League championship in Ukraine
by Basil Tarasko
KYIV - The first Little League Baseball Country Championship of Ukraine was held here on July 1-4. Teams with players age 11 and 12 were invited to compete at one of six regional sites, with the winners advancing to the finals in Kyiv. The regions were: Western Ukraine (Rivne), Northern (Sumy), Eastern (Donetsk), Crimea (Symferopol), Central (Kirovohrad) and Capital (Kyiv).
Organizing the Ukraine Country tournament required much planning. Just two years ago this writer learned that Little League Baseball Inc., headquartered in Williamsport, Pa., was going to expand its World Series participants from eight to 16 teams.
Of what significance is this to Little League baseball in Ukraine? With the expansion of the tournament to 16 teams, Europe will now be entitled to send two teams, instead of one, from its region to the World Series. Since 1960, when a Little League team from Berlin, Germany, was the first European representative to Williamsport, the composition of every team has been primarily American.
Starting in 2001 the European Little League Championships will be divided into two groups: an International group, comprising teams with players of American background; and a native group, with teams of players born in their respective countries.
I thought: Wouldn't it be great if Ukraine was that first native team to come to the World Series? Imagine the positive publicity that the Ukrainian baseball program would receive - Ukraine baseball in the U.S.A. Why not?
The challenge was there. I had to prepare our Ukrainian coaches and players for the European Championships in Kutno, Poland, in 2001. The first step was to bring in all the youth baseball coaches in Ukraine to one place and at one time.
That in itself was not an easy task. I knew that money was going to be a major obstacle. I spoke with Vitaliy Lizogubenko, executive director of the Ukraine Baseball Federation, and also a staunch supporter of the Little League program, and pledged that I would find the financial means to reimburse travel and housing costs for all the attending coaches. More than 25 coaches arrived from across Ukraine.
The dates of the first Little League Conference were set for February 20-22; the host city was Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. The sponsors of the conference were the Self Reliance (NY) Federal Credit Union and its president, Dr. Bohdan Kekish, and the Ukrainian Sports Federation of the United States and Canada (USCAK), and its president, Myron Stebelsky. These two sponsors have always been there for me; they support my work with the youth of Ukraine.
The featured speakers were: Bob Mann, European director of Little League operations from Kutno, Poland, who spoke about the excellent training facilities available for all Ukraine teams in Kutno; Mr. Lizogubenko, who explained how the Ukraine Baseball Federation would support the Little League ideals in Ukraine; and Harold Weissman, district administrator of the Little Leagues in Queens, N.Y., who expounded on his ideas about how to organize a Little League program and spoke about volunteerism - a new concept in Ukraine.
I had the opportunity to explain certain key Little League rules, which differed from common practices in Ukraine. For example, in Little League all players must play a minimum number of innings each game. Also, pitchers are limited to the number of innings that they can pitch in one week. These restrictions were new to the coaches.
Next I focused on the structure of the first Little League regional and country championships for Ukraine for the year 2000. Each Little League team in Ukraine had to compete in a regional tournament; the winner of that tournament could form a regional all-star team, or the winning team could advance to the country tournament in Kyiv intact. The winning team in Kyiv would then qualify to represent Ukraine at the European Little League Championships in Poland in early August. The prize for winning the European title was an all-expense-paid trip to Williamsport, Pa., for the World Series in late August.
The discussions then turned to money issues. This was to be expected. Who would pay for the expenses to hold the regional games? Who would fund the country tournament? I pledged to raise enough money for housing and meals for the country championships in Kyiv for the six regional winners, but I asked that the hosts of the regional games cover those expenses.
To raise awareness of the Little League baseball program in Ukraine I scheduled the championship game for July 4 to coincide with the American Chamber of Commerce festivities in Kyiv. I had formal discussions with Jorge Zukoski, the executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce, in an attempt to get some financial backing from the American business community. After three meetings, Mr. Zukoski decided not to help me promote the Ukraine Little League tournament to the American community in Kyiv.
I turned once again to the Self-Reliance (NY) Federal Credit Union to help fund the country tournament. They did not disappoint me and came to the rescue. Without their last-minute infusion of help many Ukrainian boys would have been greatly disappointed.
Little League Inc. helped by donating more than $8,000 worth of baseball uniforms. These new uniforms were flown into Kyiv and were accepted by the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine on the behalf of the Ukraine Baseball Federation. Wilson Sporting Goods donated baseball equipment to all the participating teams. McDonalds-Ukraine presented each team with a meal voucher for dinner on July 4. Little by little, all the details were put into place for a successful tournament.
The six regional winners were set to arrive on Friday, June 30. The day before a call was received from Symferopol. The Crimean regional winner could not participate due to lack of transportation funds to Kyiv. What to do? The schedule was published, the newspapers were informed, television coverage was set. A decision was made to add a second Kyiv team.
The U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Steven Pifer, agreed to attend the championship game on July 4, and he agreed to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. After months of exchanging electronic mail, the cultural attaché at the U.S. Embassy finally made all the arrangements for the ambassador to attend.
On a beautiful Tuesday afternoon, as a gentle warm breeze allowed the red-white-and-blue flag of the United States to wave proudly next to the blue-and-yellow flag of Ukraine, the ambassador, a former Little League player, threw a perfect strike to Maksym, a young catcher from Kyiv.
Dozens of fans and parents witnessed the final game between Sumy and Kyiv. The weather cooperated, all the boys wore smiles, the sound of baseballs striking aluminum bats echoed off the apartment buildings on the left bank of Kyiv. Shouts of encouragement motivated the local Kyiv team to play harder, but the team from Sumy was just too strong that day. Final score; Sumy 17, Kyiv 8.
Thus, Team Sumy captured the first Ukraine Little League title. Next stop: Kutno, Poland.
The presenters of awards included Volodymyr Kulyk, vice-president of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine; Alexander Nikulyn, president of the Ukraine Baseball Federation and mayor of Kirovohrad; and various representatives of the Sports Committee.
Mr. Kulyk, a 70-year-old Ukrainian patriot, witnessed his first baseball game. He sat there asking me baseball questions and remarked: "I cannot get over how much these boys from all over Ukraine look so good and how much they enjoy this game." I could see that there were tears in his eyes when he said this.
Yes, those smiles of enjoyment from our young boys were the final payment for all our work. I wish that all of our sponsors could have been there to witness this youth event. Rest assured, these boys will never forget this day.
Next, the Sumy team traveled by bus to Kutno, Poland, to represent Ukraine at the Little League Baseball European Region Tournament on August 5-14. With a 3-1 record - wins against Germany, Nigeria and England and a loss to Romania - Ukraine advanced to the quarterfinal game.
The result: Ukraine 1, Poland 10. Poland advanced to the semifinals.
Ukraine finished with a record of 3-2 - just two victories short of Williamsport and the World Series. Congratulations are due to all the boys and to Roman and Dima Karavay, the two coaches of the Ukrainian team.
Ukraine also sent a team from Kirovohrad to the Junior League (age 13-14) Baseball Europe Region Tournament in Kutno, Poland, on July 28 - August 5.
After defeating the Netherlands and Bulgaria, and losing to Belgium, England and Russia, Ukraine had a final record of 2-3.
Little League baseball is growing in popularity in Ukraine. Much more equipment is needed to expand the number of participants. Many Little Leagues in the United States have sent me baseball equipment and have pledged to send even more.
All donated baseball equipment is classified as humanitarian aid and is shipped directly to the National Olympic Committee in Kyiv and distributed to schools, Little League teams, National teams and, in the future, to orphanages.
The Ukrainian firm MEEST is the official carrier of baseball goods to Ukraine, while I sell baseball shirts and Little League baseball pins to pay for the cost of transportation.
I am looking for financial assistance to continue my work in Ukraine, where I have traveled 18 times since 1991 as a volunteer to help develop the sport of baseball and to help the youth of Ukraine.
For information or to help call this writer at (718) 428-8592 (evenings); e-mail BT4UKRAINE@aol.com; or visit the websites http://www.myteam.com/go/1Ukraine or http://www.cometo/ukrbb.
Results of Ukraine's Little League Championship
A two-group European round-robin-style format was set up. Group A included Sumy, Kirovohrad and Western Ukraine, while Group B was composed of Kyiv (1), Donetsk and Kyiv (2).
The tournament results were:
In the final round on July 4 Donetsk beat Western Ukraine 9-2 to take fifth place, Kirovohrad defeated Kyiv 13-3 to take third place, and Sumy was victorious over Kyiv 17-8 to win the championship.
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, November 12, 2000, No. 46, Vol. LXVIII
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