In İstanbul the Baseball Academy will be running the program, which brings baseball to over 3 million children worldwide.

Little league baseball is acknowledged as one of the biggest organizations for children's sports worldwide, with over 3 million children playing baseball around the globe.
Baseball is growing rapidly in Turkey -- so fast that Little League Europe decided to talk to Alper Bozkurt, president of the Baseball Academy and head coach of the Turkish national team, about bringing little league baseball to Turkey. "After hosting the European Cadets Qualifier 2008 [13-15 year olds] in Antalya successfully, little league was the natural step to take for us," Bozkurt said.

On assignment by the TBSF, Bozkurt attended the annual congress of the European Baseball Federation held in Malta in late March 2008. "Representatives of Little League US approached me immediately. They knew about the fast progress we were making in Turkey in terms of development. The rest was just bureaucratic details," Bozkurt said.

After signing the little league charter agreement, Bozkurt immediately applied to participate in the 2008 Little League European Championship in Kutno, Poland. "We wanted to see where we stand in Europe with the 11-12 year olds with no specific expectations." After losing to England and Germany, the academy team (representing Little League İstanbul) managed to beat Sweden 7-6 in extra innings and Ireland 6-5, finishing 10th out of 14 countries. Italy won the tournament and went directly to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, to play in the Little League World Series. "Once we start the league in İstanbul we expect a lot of American, Japanese, Korean, Canadian and other kids with baseball experience to join the program. After all, there are no citizenship requirements in little league. Everyone can play. This will make our team stronger next year," Bozkurt said.

Little league focuses on children between 10 and 18 years of age in four different age categories. Tryouts will be held at the Baseball Academy Ballpark in Sefaköy on Sept. 14. "We are not looking for baseball experts. We are looking for kids who want to play ball and adults who would like to coach on a volunteer basis," Bozkurt added.

The Baseball Academy has been busy over the past two years, developing baseball primarily in İstanbul, but also in İzmir and Antalya. "We want to have little leagues in every major city in Turkey, with İstanbul being our pilot area. Now that we have our own ballpark, regular practice and games on the weekends will start."

Bozkurt is keen on starting the fall league no later then mid-September this year, right after the tryouts on Sept. 14, and play another spring league in 2009 before going international at all age levels. "The kids will be playing every weekend from mid-September until mid-November and then again from March to May 2009. We will have an all-star team from İstanbul representing Turkey in the Regional Tournament 2009 where they will be playing against Greece, Israel, Italy and Georgia."

Everyone interested in playing/coaching baseball can contact the Baseball Academy via email, their Web site or by phone.

Todayszaman