Nov. 10, 2015
Every Tuesday, the Nevada athletic communications department will post a feature story as part of its Wolf Pack Weekly series. These stories will provide fans with an inside look at the Wolf Pack, and will focus on athletes on the field, in the classroom or in the community.
By Tara Park
Special to NevadaWolfPack.com
RENO, Nev. - For most people, knowing the game of baseball and softball is a given-that is, of course, if you grew up in America. If you are from one of the fifty-four countries in Africa, then chances are high softball and baseball is a completely foreign sport.
This past summer, Nevada softball assistant coach Josh Taylor and two Wolf Pack student-athletes, Chase Redington and Amanda Weis, taught twenty-five individuals from the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders about baseball and softball. After instructional and demonstration time, the Fellows took part in a softball game, and later that night, Redington and Weis went with the group to watch a Reno Aces game.
The Fellows ranged from 25-35 years old, with both men and women. Their program includes coming to America for a six-week academic and leadership education experience at a university or college. The group reached out to Nevada softball and Taylor did not hesitate for a second when agreeing to run the clinic.
"It was actually a lot of fun. They had a great time, great group of people," Taylor said. "That's what it was designed to do, kind of get them a more in depth look so they understood what they were watching when they were watching the Reno Aces game."
"They really were intrigued by the players, watching Chase pitch the ball underhand as hard as she does, watching Amanda hit the ball as far as she does," Taylor said.
As interested as they were with the student-athletes, they had extensive questions about how the games worked.
"They had a lot of great thoughts, they were wondering why rules were a certain way, questioning certain things," Taylor said. "It started to get way too in depth where we had to pull back and say, 'hey let's just keep it simple' because the questions they were asking we literally could have spent two full days just doing that, but we only had a few hours. We ran out of time."
The majority of the group did not have any sports background. Redington addressed how they tried to compare it to cricket at first.
"They would ask, 'why run if no one is chasing you?'" Redington said. "It took a while to get the concept, but once they had it they would go full blown, all out. Some of them were sliding and running bases."
"It was exciting just because you could see the excitement in their eyes. The joy they had in playing once they started playing was a lot of fun to watch," Taylor said.
While the experience of learning the two sports and playing the game was exciting, it was the one-on-one interactions and cultural exchange that made the clinic memorable.
"It's an eye opener," Redington said. "It was an exchange; we shared baseball, softball, American culture and they blew our minds with African culture, their interactions, and society."
Redington realized that day how much she did not know about the different cultures in Africa. She shared about one individual that was half black and half white. He explained to her the struggles of not being accepted in either community. Along with the knowledge that the two groups exchanged, they also brought smiles to everyone with many funny stories.
"I just remember one of them crashing my golf cart, which was kind of funny," Taylor said. "They asked to use the golf cart to take better pictures. An older gentleman was on a rascal scooter so he couldn't get around well enough to take the pictures, so I let him use my golf cart to get places to take pictures of different things happening. He didn't know there was a break so he went right into the dugout. It was actually funny, no one got hurt. It was just a great experience. Everyone was laughing about it."
Even at the Reno Aces game that evening, the student-athletes and Fellows continued to make memories.
"In the beginning they were super into it and really starting to understand how the game worked better watching the Aces play," Redington said. "But, by the end of the game in the later innings, we were all just goofing around sharing stories and taking pictures. They would talk in their native tongues which was super cool and we would talk about their businesses."
"It's an eye opener. I got a whole different appreciation for the game and approach, but also the cultural exchange. It was incredible. I would definitely do it again," Redington said.
Wolf Pack Weekly Archive - Last Five
Oct. 20, 2015 - Women's Basketball
Oct. 13, 2015 - Niki Silveria, Rifle
Oct. 6, 2015 - James Butler, Football
Sept. 29, 2015 - Khoo sisters, Women's Golf
Sept. 22, 2015 - Meagan Wood, Cross Country
