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Universal language of sports
“Universal language of sports”. “Baseball brothers” from Russia playing against local teams in scrimmages”. “East Polk welcomes Russia’s little leaguers for Friendly Competition”.
Those were front page headlines in the local press in Lake Wales area, Central Florida, when a Russian Little League Team Svyatogor-975, ages 9 to 11, from Brateevo, Moscow came to Lake Wales on March 19, 2007 for two weeks of practice, scrimmages and games with young Americans of their age group.
The visit was initiated by the CTEC’s Educational Programs group who contacted our old friend and a Board of Directors Member of the Council John Connor, a resident of Mountain Lake in Lake Walls, Fl., now portfolio manager of the Third Millennium Russia Fund, a US mutual fund successfully investing primarily in Russian securities. He and his wife Susan, a lawyer who is also a member of the firm immediately began contacting people in Lake Wales. The response as Susan said “was typical of the open hearts of this area, representing the best of the American spirit, and a great trip for the Russian boys was quickly put together”.
For 3 days the Brateevo School 975 students attended Babson Park Elementary School and were hosted by American families. They had a team trip to Disney World sponsored by the US Amateur Athletic Union and spent a delightful day at the Cypress Gardens, an amusement park.
The heart of their tourwas the baseball which they had an ample opportunity to practice and play in Florida. They stayed at the Flaming Arrow Boy Scout Camp where a baseball field was fixed for them. The Barranco Field was opend for the Russian team by the Lake Wales Little League’s president Chris Farrar. Ray Borglund of the Vanguard School donated a school bus to transport team around the area. They played with the reigning National Champion for boys of 11 years and younger the Team Prodigy, sponsored by another Mountain Lake resident Charles Henry, president and CEO of Florida Food Logistics, Inc. and with John Carpenter’s Hains City Sharks. They also played with Richard Carlton’s Lakeland Bulldogs.
Courtesy of Steve Pruitt of the city of Winter Haven Landscape Services at Chain of Lakes Stadium the young Russian players were given an opportunity not only to see two Cleveland Indians’ spring training games, but even to get a private tour of ballfield and meet with the professional players for an autograph session.
Program for the visit of the Russian Little League Team to Florida, March 19 – April 2, 2007.
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