Baseball a way of life for Taiwanese, American families
BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI
Chandler City Councilman Jack Sellers climbed aboard the tour bus with woodcarved trophy in hand, marking the Chandler National Little League All-Stars’ first place win at the Giant Cup 2015 International Little League Championship in Tainan.
“My highlight was really seeing the sportsmanship of our team in general,” Sellers said after the fact. “You put 15 12-year-olds together like that and you don’t know what’s going to happen. There’s an awful lot of pent-up energy in them— particularly 15 athletes.
“I felt really good about how our kids acted, how they performed and the sportsmanship.”
Sellers said he credits the coaches and the parents for instilling that respect in the children.
“I thought the coaches were just excellent; really good leaders,” Sellers said. “You have to give the parents credit, too, because instilling that kind of attitude in kids isn’t all together common these days.”
The highlight for Sellers was watching one of the “friendly” games.
“During that game, they mixed the kids from Tainan and Chandler and then had the mixed teams play each other,” Sellers said. “At the end of that, they exchanged jerseys.
“I thought, ‘Who could ask for anything better than that?”
The kids will be honored during the Monday, Nov. 16, City Council meeting when Mayor Jay Tibshraeny will present the Chandler team with the trophy, according to Sellers.
“It’ll allow us to celebrate the team on our Channel 11,” Sellers said.
Learning curve
The boys had a quick history lesson during the games as well. According to former ASU student Kenny Chan, a Taiwanborn translator for the boys, in 1971, the Tainan Giant team took first place at the 25th Little World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
“The players of the Tainan Giant team in 1971 were mostly from the Sie-Jin Elementary School Baseball Team,” Chan said.
“The team won a series of the games in order to attend the Little League World Series. The team did not only win the first prize at the Little League World Series, but also let the Taiwanese people united together. Overall, baseball became a civil sport in Taiwan.”
Tainan Mayor William Lai couldn’t agree more.
“This is the first time we have kids from United States to Tainan City to play baseball,” he said.
“It can (extend) the meaning of the friendship of the two cities. Chandler is a similar city.”
consider the two “friendship cities.”
“At the time, we agreed to create a friendship of two cities by baseball,” he said. “Tainan City is also a baseball city in Taiwan. Many famous baseball players come from Tainan City. This city wins many times, several times of championships in sports.”
Previously, the Tainan City team visited Arizona to play baseball against the Chandler National Little League All-Star team. When the Tainan delegation traveled to Arizona, Lai said, Tainan signed a memorandum of understanding to
Lai said he, himself, is a big baseball fan, however, “I’m a very bad baseball player.”
“I cannot throw a baseball well,” he said with a shy smile. “But I can be a good baseball fan. When I was a student of Harvard, I went to Fenway Park. Originally I was a fan of the Red Sox.
One year, I don’t know what year, but as a congressman I went (on the) invitation of the state’s government.
I visit L.A. At the same time I went to the baseball field to see the game.”
He was depressed because Randy Johnson lost Dodgers vs. “Arizona Diamondsocks,” as he called them, in Los Angeles.
“I came to see Randy Johnson and he lost,” he said.
Chan, a
translator with the Chandler team, said after the Lai became the mayor of
Tainan, he started working on making the municipality a “City of Baseball” in Asia. Therefore, he would hold a series of baseball events, games and even meetings.
Challenging games
Marcanthony “Chacho” Trejo said the biggest challenge of the experience was hitting.
“I played pretty good,” Chacho said. “Their pitching was challenging. Some of the kids do it underhand. It was weird.”
The pitching didn’t seem to affect Brok Liu, who hit a home run in one of the games. Brok, whose dad has family in Taiwan, enjoyed the experience as a whole.
“Taiwan was really fun,” he said. “It was a really good experience. I liked the food and hanging out with the Taiwanese kids and my friends at the hotel.”
Brok’s mom, Gina, was thrilled that he was able to experience baseball this way.
“It was a great experience for the kids— not only playing baseball, but interacting with the other kids and figuring out how to communicate when they don’t speak the language,” she said.
More than just baseball
Beyond baseball, the boys and their parents had a crash course in Taiwanese delicacies, popular dishes and culture.
Fish—complete with head, teeth and eyes—were served on a regular basis.
“I thought it was great,” said Ethan Ludwig, of the fish. “Having fish here is different than having fish there. Fish here, it’s sometimes beer battered. There are all these other flavors, where in Taiwan, it’s just fish with heads, eyes and teeth. It was cool.”
Toward the end of the trip, the boys and accompanying parents were offered, what Ethan’s dad Heath Ludwig called, the best meal of the trip.
“It was a whole chicken—feet, head, beak,” he said with a laugh. “They give you gloves so one person can pull the meat off.
Chandler and Taiwanese athletes, their coaches and city officials show off their paddles that they had autographed during the tournament. As a goodwill gesture, the Chandler National Little League All-Stars gave jerseys to their Tainan counterparts. Photo by Bob Liu
Ethan Ludwig takes a swing during one of the games. Photo by Katie Ludwig
Chandler National Little League All-Stars take part in a meet and greet with students at Sie-Jin Elementary School. Photo by Katie Ludwig
Traveling with the Team
Tourism flourishes in Tainan
BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI
Tainan is the ancient capital of Taiwan and offers an abundance of spots that tourists and locals alike will find interesting. Here is a quick glance at some of the attractions we visited.
• Chimei Museum. This is a comprehensive museum with wide collections of Western art, musical instruments, weaponry and natural history. There are four exhibition rooms, one temporary exhibition gallery and a sculpture hall in the main building. The kids seemed to really enjoy “The Vastness of Life: An Evolutionary Journey,” which outlines the evolutionary process after significant
extinction. Think giant stuffed animals.
• National Museum of Taiwan Literature. The entrance was being renovated when we were there, but the gorgeous National Museum of Taiwan Literature provides a nice respite from the humidity after visiting the Taiwan Confucius Temple. This museum details the progression of Taiwanese literature since the Japanese occupation. Keep your voices low, when you visit the museum. Many students study on the first floor.
• Taiwan Confucius Temple. The oldest Confucius Temple in Taiwan, the Tainan location sits in the middle of a quiet, vast park, with a bubbling creek.
Visitors meditate, learn about the life of Confucius or buy kitschy souvenirs to remember their trip. The day we went, a groom and his beautiful bride wearing a long, silk red gown were having their wedding photos taken. Go during the week when tourists are few.
• Tainan Science Park. Tainan Science Park of Taiwan is located in Xinshi, Shanhua and Anding districts of Tainan City with a total area of 2,565 acres, and is a part of the Southern Taiwan Science Park. The park, similar to Chandler’s Price Road Corridor, focuses on optoelectronics, integrated circuits, biotechnology and precision machinery industries. Tourists will
find the yellow ribbon art installation to be interesting. Designed by CECI Engineering Consultants Inc., the yellow ribbon is inspired by the song “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree,” during which Tony Orlando sang about a prisoner. After several years, he was finally released. Thus, he asked his wife if she would still welcome him home. If so, please tie the yellow ribbon on the old oak tree. According to officials with the park, which was also the site of an archaeological dig, the yellow ribbon art piece welcomes visitors. It also encourages youngsters to come back home, find a job in STSP and settle down here for a long time.
Entrepreneur encourages youth international relations
BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI
Born in Tainan, Taiwan, Frances Huang is a firm believer in expanding the horizons of youth. Thirty years ago, she founded the company Union Brushes in her home country and, even before finding success, she has made it her goal to help others explore the world the way she did.
“I was born in Tainan and have always tried to help my hometown,” said Huang, who now lives in Chandler.
“I first helped bring the Tainan little league team to Phoenix (in 2014) so they could see and experience another country and have that educational experience. Bringing the Chandler little leaguers was an obvious continuation of that. With my immigrant background I have always valued the perspective that comes with travel and cultural interchange. I hope to encourage these teams to cross borders and cultures, and hope this is the first of many such experiences for all of these students.”
Huang founded Union Brushes at the beginning of Taiwan’s industrial movement after finding there was a need for products like these.
“Industrial brushes were a basic necessity for most forms of manufacturing and surface finishing, so it was a product to meet emerging demand,” said Huang, who formerly lived in Tempe and Gilbert.
The brushes are still necessary, for everything from automotive manufacturing to gun cleaning. Huang said she feels accomplished.
“We are proud that we have built a company with a great reputation with our customers,” she said. “Our ability to
custom make our brushes to help solve our customers’ biggest problems and our dedication to surpassing their expectations has built long-lasting relationships with many companies.”
The 55-year-old businesswoman has seen the ups and downs of the industry, but she takes the good with the bad.
“Balancing family and work is more difficult” than being a woman in business, she said. “On the other hand, it sometimes felt like I was treated with more courtesy and more respect as a woman.”
Union Brushes has several locations in Asia, but has yet to expand to the United States.
“We are always looking for new markets, but with limited time we cannot pursue all of them,” Huang said.
“Our products are used extensively in manufacturing, and with the historical movement of manufacturing out of the U.S., other markets have been higher priorities. We are very happy to see some manufacturing moving back to the U.S., and are certainly interested in following the manufacturers back to the U.S. market.”
Frances Huang. STSN photo by Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
Inspired by the song “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree,” this yellow ribbon art piece greets visitors to the Tainan Science Park. Submitted photo
Traveling with the Team
Business, political meetings prove fruitful in Tainan
BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI
Tainan Mayor William Lai is seeking a Sister Cities relationship with Chandler after an early October meeting with City Councilman Jack Sellers, the City’s Economic Development Director Micah Miranda and local businesswoman Michelle Chang.
He said he was hoping to have the relationship secured by the time the Chandler delegation left Taiwan, but there’s more to it than that.
Leah Powell, Chandler’s community resources and diversity manager, said residents must initiate a Sister Cities relationship.
“In Chandler, we really always had the philosophy that the Sister Cities program needs to be community driven,” said Powell, who added Chandler has a Sister Cities relationship with Tullamore, Ireland.
“There were attempts to have Sister Cities before the Tullamore group.”
The City requires that citizens form a 501(c)(3) organization and research whether or not the other city desires a relationship. The next step is to bring the idea to City officials for discussion.
The Sister Cities idea was one of the discussions that came out of several business and political meetings attended by Sellers and Miranda, who were in town to see the Chandler National Little League All-Stars compete. The trio visited a plant that manufactures parts associated with solar panels, the Southern Taiwan Science Park, Union
Brushes (see related story page 40) and an LED firm.
“I guess my biggest takeaway was how similar some of our industry clusters are,” Miranda said. “There is a lot of overlap on the advanced manufacturing, semiconductor and solar industries as well as the biosciences. There are opportunities from strong collaborative relationships.”
But first, Sellers said, friendly relations must be established to forge successful business relationships. But Tainan and Chandler are well on their way.
“They treated us like we were celebrities,” Sellers said. “I was just kind of overwhelmed by that. I was flattered but overwhelmed by the treatment that we received.”
It was delicious, though. For me, the head wasn’t as bad as the feet.
“If you wanted a drumstick, there was a burnt claw attached.”
One meal was particularly memorable for the boys—a visit to T.G.I. Friday’s, where they noshed on hamburgers, mozzarella sticks and assorted other appetizers. It was there that the kids used a translation app to communicate with the Taiwan players.
“My favorite part of the trip was having the dinner with the other team,” said Ethan, whose brother Eli also made the trip.
“They were all really well mannered. The kid who was sitting across from me, he got his burger first and then he gave it to me. He poured my drink, too.
“We’d have conversations, too. It was really cool. We talked about like what schools, what they do, their favorite baseball player and just basic questions. Most really respected Americans. That’s what they said.”
Throughout the trip—which also included visits to a salt museum and an art museum—the kids felt like rock stars, Heath said.
Impressive effort
Chandler National Little League AllStars went undefeated during tournament play, only to fall 17-6 against the Tainan Little League Baseball Team in posttournament play. Here are the results:
• First game: Chandler took on Sie-Jin Elementary School’s baseball team (Tainan City) and won 9-6.
• Second game: Chandler played Li Sing Elementary School’s baseball team (Taichung City) and won 5-1.
• Third game: Chandler’s opponent was
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“During our visit to a school, there were 1,100 kids and they all wanted to shake their hands or high-five them or give them hugs,” Heath said. “It was a cool experience.”
Xin Jin Elementary School’s baseball team (Tainan City) and the hometown heroes won once again 15-0.
• Fourth game: This one was dubbed a “friendship game,” in which the teams were blends of students from Chandler and Shun Shun Junior High Baseball Team (Tainan City). The Chandler team won 3-0.
• Fifth game: In post-tournament play, the team lost to Taiwan Little League Baseball Team (Tainan City 2014-2015 U12 official team), 17-6.
—Kenny Chan
❑ Baby
• Poor weight gain
• Non-effective latch
• Prolonged feeding times
• Gassy, colic, and reflux
❑ Mother
• Severe pain with latch
• Plugged ducts
• Mastitis
• Cracked and bleeding nipples
Dr. Katherine Cotton, DMD, MS Member of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry
Taiwanese baseball players hold the U.S. flag during the National Anthem. Photo by Katie Ludwig
City Councilman Jack Sellers and Tainan Mayor William Lai pose for photographers during a meeting in early October in the Taiwan city.
STSN photo by Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
Traveling with the Team
‘Talking Baseball’
Chandler National Little League baseball players enjoyed their time with their Taiwanese counterparts during a two-week visit to Tainan. Not only did the kids play baseball, they went bird watching, learned how to catch oysters and visited an art museum and a local school. The Taiwanese children said they were honored to have such esteemed guests. Photos by Bob Liu and Katie Ludwig
