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April 15 Coach Bastian Update

tfs 2 — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 21:45:36 GMT

Yesterday and Today were great days in Beijing. I would call them official Chinese Ceremony/Event Days. Many Cultural Decisions. Saturday started with the Opening Ceremonies of the Beijing University Softball & Baseball Association. There was the traditional speeches and ceremonial hand shakes. I was honored with a seat at the front table. There were Beijing Government Officials, Major League Baseball Officials and University Officials from all across Beijing. I was humbled to be asked to sit and be recognized with them for my work. After this ceremony we moved to the Baseball Playing Field for Ceremonial First Pitches. Rick Dell from MLB CHINA through out the first pitch. He was able to throw a strike. Many of the Chinese were impressed. Then 5 more Chinese Officials through out first pitches. I saw some very interesting throwing mechanics. But it was a great deal of fun. MLB CHINA had set up the sound system. And they were playing traditional Baseball music over the system. Many of the Chinese did not recognize the music. But after missing MLB opening day in the USA. This music and environment gave me a great sense of happiness. It is amazing what the game of Softball/Baseball can do for fun and enjoyment. I was able to to watch several University Softball Games. I was amazed at the level of play that I saw from the female University Softball athletes. It was a very low level of play. I then asked some questions. And found out that many of these players were playing softball for the first time in there lives. I saw many big smiles. And I tried to help as much as I could.

The future/potential of Baseball and Softball in China is huge. When young players learn the game. They seem to enjoy it very much. I am very excited and happy to know now that Softball is being taught and played in elementary and college institutions.

On Monday I will head back to the USA. I am very excited to go see my sister. It has been a great trip to China and Asia.

April 13 Coach Bastian China Update

tfs 2 — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:04:24 GMT

The last two days have been spent conducting clinics for Beijing youth Softball Teams. And teaching at the training for North China University of Technology Softball Team. The girls are so very excited to learn. The language barrier is there but we find a way to communicate. The potential for Softball and Baseball in China is huge. We must find a way to share our great game with more young people in China.

Tomorrow is opening day for the Beijing University Softball & Baseball Association. I was asked to stay and attend the opening ceremony by MLB China and the local Universities. I am excited and honored to attend this event. There are several Beijing University Softball and Baseball Teams that will be competing here this weekend.

Sean Morley from Hong Kong is flying in tonight to Beijing. And we will have TFS product division meetings on Saturday. I am excited to see my friend and business partner.

It will be an exciting weekend.

Yours in Softball!

Coach B

April 10 Coach Bastian China Update

tfs 2 — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 02:40:45 GMT

Today I was able to spend the day on a large Universities Campus in Beijing. Observing the Chinese educational system is so interesting. There system and style is so different from what we see in North America. You can feel the discipline and structure. And the foremost task is to get the best grade and or test score. Have not observed any interaction between a professor and student. It is so fun to analyze the memorized learning that is taking place versus the analytical learning.

Also today I led my second clinic with the North China Technological University Team. These young ladies are a lot of fun and so interested in learning. The language barrier is still a major issue. But I have learned to use my shut up and show/teach coaching style and it is fun.

I have introduced my TFS Crick-HIT swing and hitting system to this team. They are a perfect group to introduce this system too. We have been able to eliminate excessive rotational movements. And place a major focus on getting to a proper
connection point and delivering the maximum energy in to the ball. The results have been a amazing. The girls are giving me a lot of Waa's...! Mandarin for WOW!

On a personal note. I have not consumed any NOTTEA for the entire trip here. No carbonated soda. Amazingly the caffeine withdrawal has not been bad. I am wondering if the Chinese Tea is providing that fix?

I received my Ultimate Pitching Plates from our factory. I am very excited to get this new TFS product out and being used.

The rest of the week I will spend some time assisting with the opening ceremonies for the Beijing Universities Softball and Baseball Opening Day and Opening Ceremonies. This will be fun!

Until My next blog. Keep Grinding!

For the LOVE of the GAME!

Coach B

Start of Softball- Chenxi Jiao 3/14/2012

tfs 2 — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 02:25:13 GMT

Sorry I didn’t write blog for long time. I been pretty busy and I have a hard time to keep my schoolwork up with softball.

We started our season in Feb. 11th. There were lots of things going on before the season. Our 4th batter didn’t come back and our pitching coach was gone after three weeks of practice. I started the first game against Charlotte. I did pretty well until 7th inning. I wasn’t strong enough to finish that game. So we lost 3-4 but coach Wohlbach and me both felt good about the game. The week after that we went to Florida Gulf Coast tournament, I did pretty well over there. I relieved two games, against Boston College and FGCU. I pitched totally 6 innings without gave any run. The tournament we went in Norfolk, VA didn’t go well for me. It was really windy, and freezing cold.

Then we went to Stockton, CA. I was sick before we went, I was really worry about I won’t get the chance to start against Washington. Fortunately， my coach trust me enough to put me on the mount. I wasn’t doing well when we start, they hit fore hit straight in the first inning. I was mad about myself and ask myself am I really not good enough to pitch against Washington. So I claimed down try to focus more. Then I did pretty well until the forth inning that they kinda figure me out since our calling pitches was kinda too easy. Then I relieved a inning against Pacific without run. The next day, I relieved against Sacramento State. I didn’t do well on defense. After we lost all of three games, we have to play Washington again. Since the first game, I learned I have to mix my pitch more to make them guess what is coming. We did way better job. I give up 5 hit for the entire game but still gave 5 runs since I hit two batter and they both scored. Overall, it was an awesome weekend. I proved myself against the team who is NO.3 in the nation. And also I was really happy to see Coach Bastian and Donna. I learned a lot from the game and Michael. Also, my coach and me had more communication about the game.

Last weekend is really rough. We went to Miami play against DePaul and FIU. It was rough not because I wasn’t pitch well. It was because of umpires. I’m not really a pitcher like to talk about umpires that much, but the umpires I had last week are absolutely the worst umpires I have seen in America. The first game against DePaul we made some errors in first inning and then because of the umpire won’t call my pitch, which break from the plate to out of the plate. And he only gave me outside corner and middle between waist and above knee. I gave 3 runs, 2 runs scored by walk. After that two walks, I learned about the umpire strike zone better. I pitched entire game gave two earn runs. The next day, second time against DePaul the umpire was even worse. He will not give me anything. I gave up a homerun in 1st inning but in normal strike zone I had already strike her out twice. I was really mad and feel hopeless. Coach and me had a conversation after the game that she gave me a complement about what I did against DePaul. She told me there are only amount things I can do, and I did my job pretty well. However, I still think I can do better. I should not lose to DePaul even if they are ranking 25 in the nation.

After the game against Washington and DePaul, I gained a lot of confidence and also know myself better about what I can do. And also I know there were a lot of problem I have to solve about my pitching. I have to start off stronger and close the game stronger.

This week we will start our home game, against Temple on Wednesday and home tournament on weekends. I want to get my first win in UD this week so bad. So please wish me good luck.

Summer 2011 Blog- Chenxi Jiao

tfs 2 — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 03:32:11 GMT

I had a great summer. After the performance at National tournament, I got offers from University of Delaware, Iowa state University, Utah State University, Hawaii University and UTEP. It was crazy! I can’t image after 4 month that no one gives offer to five D1 school wants me at same time. After the whole week discussion with Coach Bastian, I decided to go to University of Delaware.

After I decided to be Blue Hens, I got another great news. I got NJCAA 2nd Team All-American. I finally achieved both my goals. I don’t know how to describe how I felt.

I went back to home on June 1st. My high school coach helped me got the internship from Chinese Softball Association. I love work there. I had great experience there. I worked World softball day in Beijing and also the national slow pitch tournament opening ceremony. I met a lot new people who works in this field and also met a lot my old friends that I haven see them for a while.

During I worked for CSA, I met the president of the sports school that Beijing Softball team at, he invented me to train with Beijing team. I stayed there for two weeks. It was really hard practice.

The best part of the summer is when I was in national team. I get invented to practice with the new China national team for a while. It’s great to get in touch with the highest-level player in the world. However, I wasn’t able to show my strength to the coach. I was really upset about that. I’m not as fast as Wang lan or Li qi, maybe I’ll never be that fast but that’s how I play. People always confuse what I’m pitching to make the hitter cannot hit off me. Just like today, I had a one-hitter game against Temple. I hope I can get another chance to show them how I play.

A CSF and TFS Dinner and Movie Evening

tfs 2 — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 04:28:00 GMT

By: Coach Bastian ~ Saturday, September 3, 2011

Today was again a day of Chinese Softball Foundation (CSF) work, softball and human development. Zhou Yu, Bailu, Yichun Chang, Lan Su (Chang Xiaoxue’s father and mother) and I went to dinner in Beijing, where we had some of the best authentic Hot Pot in all of China, I am told- most definitely the best in Beijing- and we drank wine that Yichun Chang brought back from Italy. It was fun for Zhou and Bailu to get to know Xiaoxue’s parents. Her parents presented me with gifts of a Chinese moon cake and ancient Chinese coins. The Chinese Fall Festival begins later this month and those are traditional gifts given during that time. Those were great gifts from them, and I was honored to receive them. Xiaoxue’s parents are very excited about her life right now. I shared with them that Xiaoxue has told me that she may stay in the United States to live and work, and they are ok with that and excited for her. It has been a wonderful journey for Xiaoxue and the work that we have done- that is what the Chinese Softball Foundation and The Fastpitch School stand for.

After dinner, Zhou, Bailu and I went to a cinema in the French market, which is close to their home, and watched Cars 2. The movie was very expensive- close to twenty dollars. Movies have gotten much more expensive in China! It was interesting to watch a movie with Chinese people, the accents, use of the English language (Larry the Cable Guy?!). It was fun to see if the people understood some of the subtle humor involved.

Overall, my time in China so far has involved some great communication and learning experiences. We will see what my final three days have in store!

Coach Chen and Massage

tfs 2 — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 04:34:00 GMT

By: Coach Bastian ~ Friday, September 2, 2011

Another eventful day in China- the day ended up being spent with Qi Yan and Coach Chen, who is Chen Ying Yi’s father. He drove from Tianjin to Beijing to see me. We had a lunch of Peking Duck with Coach Chen out close to Zhou Yu’s house. It was the first time on this trip that a Chinese person wanted me to drink with them, so I drank Pijiu- which is beer. I told him no Baijiu because it was 12:30 and too early, so I drank Pijiu and plum juice with him and we talked and discussed many things in life: softball, what he is doing in Tianjin. He asked me to come visit him and help him coach, but I declined politely because of my schedule being busy. He is a wonderfully nice man and is excited about Chen Ying Yi coming to America and wanted to learn more about that. Chen Ying Yi right now is training with the Chinese National Softball Team in Nanjing, China, and we confirmed that she will be coming to the USA at the completion of the Asian Games in Chinese Taipei, so our next CSF student-athlete will arrive in America on or around October 1st. She will be going to Highland Community College in Highland, Kansas, and Coach Jordan and the Scotties softball team are very excited- so that was good news.

After we finished lunch, Qi Yan had to leave. I thought I was going back to the apartment, but Coach Chen had different plans. He ended up taking me to a massage, and I had one of the most interesting days of my Chinese life. I proceeded to get a foot massage like none I’ve had before, which included a deep tissue of the plantar fasciitis area (bottom of the foot) which made me holler and cry, which the little girls laughed at, and then they decided to beat me and pound me with hammers. Also, I’m laying there and watched them get out the glass cups, fire and fuel for the fire (alcohol) and they started cupping Coach Chen, and I realized they were planning and preparing to cup me! So I took as much video and pictures of Coach Chen being cupped as I could, and then, for the first time, I had my back cupped for the first time in traditional Chinese cupping style. That was one crazy and amazing day at the spa. The two Chinese spa therapists were 20-22 years old, and they were funny- wanted to speak English and know where I was from and talk to me. It was another fun and cultural experience.

After we got done with the massage, Coach Chen took me to a market and wanted to buy me a bunch of food- basically, this is his way in the Chinese culture of saying “thank you” for what I have done. I am honored to help him and his daughter- they have worked hard. I want to say “thank you” to Coach Chen and his family.

After that I came home tired and sore and watched the English movies that I bought earlier.

International Softball Development, Cultural and Language Barriers, Emotional Reunion

tfs 2 — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 01:55:00 GMT

By: Coach Bastian ~ September 1, 2011

Well, hello… It’s only 10 minutes after 2am now in lovely Beijing, China.

Last night as I was sending the last message, there were major thunderstorms and lightening, and today was one of the most beautiful, wonderful days that you can have in Beijing- no humidity, no pollution, no dirt- just sunny, blue skies and temperatures around 78-80 degrees. It was a gorgeous day.

I started off with a lunch meeting with Madam Jiang, who is the President/Leader of the Chinese Softball Association, and who hired me to coach the Chinese National Softball Team. I affectionately call her my Chinese mother and she calls me her American son- her crazy American son. We met today and she bought me all kinds of jiaozi. We had a great lunch today of Chinese dumplings and some other Chinese delicacies from a local restaurant. Interesting that none of her interpreters were available except for a young man that works for the Chinese Field Hockey Association; Jiang- same family name – he did a great job and I would like to thank him for interpreting. Our subject today was life- lots of things. We talked about the past, the state of softball in China today and what they are doing for development. Madam Jiang was on her way to Nanjing, where there are going to be 21u games for the Chinese provincial teams playing at the Nanjing University of Technology. The Chinese National Women’s Softball Team is in Nanjing, too, training for the upcoming Asian Championships being held in Chinese Taipei later this year. One of the biggest things that Madam Jiang wanted to talk about was my trip to Europe and my communications with the European Softball Federation. I was trying to share with her what is happening with the European Softball Federation, just as I tried to share with those in Europe what is going on in China, and also tried to explain to her what is going on in America. It is an interesting and challenging role to try to be an international softball ambassador and to try to share information with the different leaders of the different federations. It is very humbling and hard work because of the cultural difference and the language barriers, but I was able to get most of that information across.

The International Softball Federation will be holding their council meetings coming up in Oklahoma City in October. I know the leaders are looking forward to meeting there. Hopefully, I will be able to get a credential to be a part of those meetings so that we can continue our development of international softball, trying to get softball back on the Olympic Programme.

After having the lunch meeting with Madam Jiang, I headed off for another experience of trying to hook up with another interpreter for the day. I went back over to the Pearl Market and gave Xin Miao, my interpreter for the day, a tour of the black market. We walked around the Pearl Market, and it was interesting to note that Xin Miao was very interested to see the black market because they don’t like to let Chinese citizens in there because of the security leaks that can take place, and I guess “ratting out” their information. We were able to enter, but one of the most interesting things is that Xin Miao and I were treated much differently than I was when I was alone. I was treated much differently with a Chinese citizen with me- they were suspicious and tried to understand why she was there with me. That was culturally interesting. After that, we headed out to one of the most emotional experiences for me on this China trip. I hadn’t seen Zhou Yin for a while. Xin Miao contacted Zhou Yin on the phone and Zhou Yin decided to that she wanted to drive in her car and come pick us up. While we were waiting, Xin Miao and I found a Chinese Chess game. What is interesting culturally is that all throughout China in every province you will see groups of men gathering in big crowds. When you get down to what is going on you will find the Chinese Chess board and two men squared off playing this game. Sometimes hundreds of men will like to watch and cheer. One of the things I learned culturally is that the Chinese like to watch the game because they believe it stimulates good brain processing and good thinking, and that it is healthy for the mind to think the game and understand the game of Chinese chess with all the strategy and forward moves and anticipating what is going to happen.

Zhou Yin drove up in her car, and it was fun to see a 6’1”-6’2” Chinese girl get out and give me a hug. She knew Xin Miao from the Beijing team. It was great to see her and we hugged and had fun going off on a drive through Beijing. It was fun to see Zhou Yin’s driving skills- she did very well. We didn’t get in any wrecks and safely made it to the Chinese Hot Pot- to a restaurant where we and her mother had eaten before, and had some very delicious Chinese Hot Pot of beef, pork and spices and vegetables- its one of their favorites. I had the peanut sauce and Zhou Yin had the seafood sauce, but you can get a lot of different sauces- its amazing. The true Chinese food is so outstanding and has great flavors. Today I can call my day of Chinese cuisine because I got to have Chinese dumplings for lunch and got to have good Chinese Hot Pot for dinner- it was a perfect day for Chinese food and I’m definitely feeling fat and happy tonight as I go to bed.

It was fun telling stories with Zhou Yin. We talked about her time in the USA and California and about her time with the National Team. We talked about her experiences with the Beijing Team and her experiences playing softball in America and in China. It was a lot of fun reminiscing. She said to make sure she sends her hello and love to all her friends and family in Northern California: To Lance Whittaker, Paul Moore, and Glenn Yonan and to their families. She wanted to make sure to say hello to Natalie Yonan and Glenn Yonan’s wife and also to Lance’s wife and family also. She got tears in her eyes when she talked about Reno, Susanville, Chico and Lassen College- it was fun to see her think about that and to remember those good times. She wants to come back someday. She also said to say hello to Sarah and Donna. I finally found out what she is doing. She has a good paying security job now working for the Chinese government in Beijing. She has a contract/sworn agreement to not tell anyone what she is doing, but is in security. I can understand why the Chinese government would hire a big, strong girl like her for security.

The Black Market, Chinese Spa, Pizza Hut and Friendship

tfs 2 — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 02:03:00 GMT

By: Coach Bastian ~ August 31, 2011

Well… It’s 4:30 in the morning and I’m listening to the Chicago Cubs/Giants game. I’m not sure what my body’s clock is doing…..

I’ve lost a little track of time. The last couple of days have been somewhat eventful. I chose to do a shopping day at the Hongqiao Pearl Market area. Interesting to note that they have the area of the international market that is open to the public and everybody, but through relationships and friendships, I’ve been able to find kind of the black market/underground Chinese market, which is highly secured. You have to walk through the back streets of the hutong area of Beijing until you come to basically a warehouse that has armored doors and cameras outside, and if you know which door to walk up to and knock on, they will look at you and decide whether or not they want to let you in. The reason for this is they sell a lot of products there that are trying to be protected by copyright and trademarks, but they are still having the products made at the factories and they sell them any way they can. When you walk into this warehouse, it’s amazing what you will find in there. There is a jewelry and watch department where you can get some very high quality watches and jewelry. My favorite place to go to is the movie/CD department- which I’ve been told by the Chinese is changing a little bit because of the ability to watch movies for free online right now. I still enjoy picking up the CD’s for 5 RNB, which is very, very cheap and I was able to pick up some of the newest releases- copies of the American movies, but they are very high quality and they will actually replace the CD if it doesn’t work well, so they actually have some quality standards there. They also have a high quality golf club department. They have an amazing shoe department where you can get converse, Nike and all kinds of sporting shoes, flip flops, dress shoes, leather shoes of very high quality. I picked up some Air Max shoes- I guess I’ll call them Nike’s- I thought they looked cool and they’re not like any other Nike’s I have seen. They also have an optical/glasses department with corrective lenses and also an amazing selection of fashion sunglasses- Oakley and all the different companies and brands are in there. They also have purses and clothing of all kinds. Interesting to note: I purchases a couple of shirts that play on the Chinese/USA relationship with a facial photo of President Obama superimposed on the outline of Hu Jintao’s with a background of the Chinese military surrounding it, basically written in Chinese script on the shirt is “To serve the People”, which should tell you a lot about the China/USA relationship right now and their evolving sense of humor and also their understanding of the economic and political challenges that the two countries have. On the back of the t-shirt I think it says “Mao Bama” or “Hu Bama”.

It is always interesting to see the items the Chinese have and to see the “Made in China” quality issue being addressed and changed. It gives you a real understanding of how many products are made in China.

Also on that day, I decided to do my “spa day” and spent several hours in the spa. I was able to get a Chinese massage- which is amazing. Their spas are so inexpensive still. My favorite part now is to get a pedicure because they always look at my feet and then send out a male pedicurist, who will look at my feet and grunt because of the challenge of the skin on my feet. They use, basically a set of knives- they don’t clip anything on your feet, they basically cut your feet. They peeled my toenails and the skin on the bottom of my feet basically like a potato. A Chinese pedicure is always a treat and my feet feel much better and I’m amazed that they can tear into my feet with basically knife blade and never cut me. Their skill level is amazing.

Also, I had a dinner with Qi Yan and her son, Lu Jun Qi “Little Qi”. It’s always great to see Qi. She is no longer working with the Chinese Softball Association, which she said she’s really happy. It’s kind of sad and very educational and speaks for itself that Zhou Yu and Qi not longer work for the CSA because of losing trust and respect for the CSA leadership. Had a wonderful dinner, and it’s kind of funny to note that we spoke again about where we wanted to eat: Did we want Chinese food, Italian, American? It was chosen last night that we went to Pizza Hut! It was a crazy night at Pizza Hut. The menu is completely different than in America. It had some interesting salads, French fries, some appetizers that were crazy, the pizza… it is hard to explain what they do to it, but the meal was interesting.

CSF, TFS, Family and Friendship

tfs 2 — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 02:09:00 GMT

By: Coach Bastian ~ August 29, 2011

It’s 3am and I’m still wide awake right now…

The last three days have been spent touring Beijing with friends, and working on a new product for the TFS Product Division.

Some exciting news: I talked to Zhou Yin, a CSF student-athlete that came over to America. I spoke with her and we set up a date when we are going to spend the day together. It was exciting to talk to her about her life and her family a little bit. She is doing ok. Her English is very, very bad now- as I said to her “very bu hao”- so we spoke some broken “Chenglish”, but she is doing ok. I also was excited to talk to Qi Yan. She was basically the lady that was responsible for getting me to come to China and coach the Chinese National Softball Team; she was also my first interpreter. Qi was an officer with the Chinese Softball Association in the past and is now working with the General Administration of Sport for the whole offices of the Chinese Softball Association. I spoke with her about how she is doing in her life and how her son is doing- he is my Chinese son- and we also set up a meeting to get together with her and hopefully Madam Jiang, who is President of the Chinese Softball Association and a Vice President with the International Softball Federation.

I got to tour around with Zhou and Bailu a little bit in Beijing. I was excited and laughing a little bit that I got to eat some Chinese food in the International Plaza Mall, but the Chinese people that I was with wanted to eat at McDonalds and Subway. I was a little bit humbled and didn’t know if I should be embarrassed or proud that they wanted to partake in the American fast food establishments that were there in Beijing, China. I thought it was pretty funny that they wanted to have American food- McDonalds and Subway while we were there.

I’m looking forward to seeing some more friends here in Beijing, and will still be doing some work on a product for the TFS Product Division. We are looking to have that out early in 2012.

Beijing, China Arrival

tfs 2 — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 02:12:00 GMT

By: Coach Bastian ~ August 26, 2011

Arrived Beijing, CHINA! Hot and humid! Zhou Yu picked me up at the airport! Zhou prepared a pasta dinner- kind of funny after Italy cuisine! Went for a walk after dinner with Zhou and Bailu-felt an instant peace in the environment. Funny though that I almost fell twice. Chinese foot traps on the ground still. Noticed quickly that CCTV-Chinese television-has evolved a great deal. Much more production in their shows. Warmed up my Mandarin and Chenglish. I spoke with new CSF student athlete Chen Ying Yi. She is with CNST in Nanjing, but is still planning her USA arrival for January 2012. Wide awake at 2:48 AM! Lovely.....Jia You!

European Softball Experience; Training With Tex Town Tigers in Enschede, Holland; European Cup- Caserta, Italy

tfs 2 — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 01:44:00 GMT

By: Coach Michael Bastian ~ August 25, 2011

I just finished an eventful, amazing, exciting- and culturally humbling at times- two week trip to the European countries of Holland and Italy. I also spent time passing through Germany.

The first week there I was back with the Tex Town Tigers and my friend from Enschede, with Coach Monti VanBrunt, who has coached there before. We had an awesome week of training with the girls. One of the things we tried to do as coaches was try to change the culture and mentality of the players as quickly as possible in the short time we had. They had gone through a series of change and had many different coaches throughout the year and a kind of frustrating year, but with the talent we had going into the European Cup, I felt like we could play well. Basically we had some great defensive practices, and great pitching workouts with Lindsey Meadows, Jenna DeLong and some of the other pitchers. One of the most exciting things we focused on was making the hitters be aggressive and decisive. The word they didn’t like was I said “no kinda swings/no maybe swings” make it be yes or no. I’m proud to say that work paid off. Again, it was fun spending time with my friends in Enschede. Had fun with Bertil. On my way to go to Caserta, I made the mistake of leaving my bag in the back of his van- I thought he was helping me with my bags, but that’s my fault. My bag was left in Enschede as we were on the road to Düsseldorf to fly to Naples. It was a wild journey then to get my bag to me from Enschede to Caserta, but thanks to one of the Dutch National team member’s parent from Sparks, we got the bag from Schiphol in Amsterdam-got to the bag in early morning and they were able to carry it to me in Caserta, Italy. Everybody gave me a hard time about that- because I travel so much and lost my bag. With the Chinese girls, they always took care of my bags, and I always take care of my bags, but it was just a crazy situation on our bon voyage. Overall, it was a good week of training in Holland.

European Cup was a totally amazing experience, lots of fun, lots of good softball and lots of culture, many Americans there. We had a duel passport person Dutch and American in Lindsey Meadows, Jenna DeLong and Elena Leon from Drake University. Fun connection there with my coach, Rich Calvert, that I coached with at The Ohio State University, and Stephanie Clayton that went to Drake and is from Roxboro, NC. It was kind of a small world with all that coming together in meeting Jenna and Elena in Enschede through our relationships with Rich Calvert at Ohio State, and Stephanie Clayton through Roxboro. As you know, we ended up winning the European Cup and played very well. Jenna DeLong and Lindsey Meadows pitched well. Jenna was great offensively, and Karin Tuk was named the MVP and did a great job hitting. Overall it was a wonderful experience. We beat Sparks in the championship game, and had great wins over Caserta. Caserta was coached by my good friend Enrico Obletter, and they also had UCLA star pitcher Angelica Selden, who is from Northern California, where I grew up. Also, Kristie Fox, who played at the University of Arizona, but I also coached her on the USA Junior National Team in the World Championships in Nanjing, China. It was fun catching up with her. We also played the team Jourdes, from the Czech Republic. Some of the players I remember from doing clinics in Prague.

It was an interesting experience understanding the European softball status from coaching to management to players- I learned a lot trying to help. I had some disagreements with the umpires- I voiced my opinion and they made theirs known also. I was called “An American” a couple of times, which was interesting to profile me as a “bad guy coach from America.” Hopefully, we can all learn and grow from that. The Dutch softball culture and culture is different from the American culture and different from the Chinese culture. It is amazing to see the affect culture has on people and sports and how that culture affects relationships and communications if people are happy or unhappy. I was able to learn quite a bit from European Softball Federation Executive Ami Baran, who has a background at Ohio State and lives in Tel Aviv, Israel right now and travels around the world. Hopefully, I developed a great relationship with him.

Moving forward, it was great working with the young players and the players in Tex Town. Time went by too fast. I would like to thank the Tex Town Tigers for helping me to come. Hopefully I helped them develop in Tex Town and in Holland and Europe as a whole.

Also was able to see Caroline Powell in Olympia Haarlem and go to a practice one day. Was able to do some front toss and talked to the girls. Olympia Haarlem is in 4th place and qualified for the playoffs. They actually had a game with Tex Town Tigers right after the European Cup- lost to a score of 6-2, but Tex Town had to win by a +7 run margin, so Olympia Haarlem qualified for the Dutch playoffs. I would like to congratulate Coach Caroline Powell, a Team TFS athlete and Fastpitch School Student. I am very proud of her.

My summer 2011

Xing Lu — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 03:58:08 GMT

This is the first time I spend the entire summer here in the States. At the beginning of the summer I thought it will not be very boring, because I will took 2 classes and do a severe weather research. I thought those things will keep me very busy so I will not miss home. But actually after about 2 months, I started missing Beijing really bad...Yes I was busy every day, but I just felt like something is missing. I miss my family, my friends, my softball team, the food, I just miss everything in Beijing. I have never had this feeling before...so I decide to go back to home during Christmas break, I can't wait any longer.

I gave jj a ride to Detroit in late May to pick up her passport. There was some issue with her Canadian transit visa. We made a round route, so we got the chance to see some famous places. We went to see Mizzou softball game and St. Louis in our way to Columbus, spent a night at Donna's home. Donna's kitty was really cute. I played with him a long time that night. : ) Then we went to Niagara Falls the following day, but we just stayed there for half an hour...we needed to hurry to go to Cincinnati so we can catch up the office hour to pick up jj's passport next day. Niagara Falls is really beautiful, really cool, I will take my parents come to see it some day, and I'm sure they will love it.

In our way back from Detroit to home we stopped by our friend's home for a night. I must say that Illinois highway gave me a very bad impression. We got stucked in the road for 1 hour right after we enter Illinois. I don't know how long we moved during that 1 hour, maybe 1 mile? After we got out of the traffic I decided to speed a little, otherwise it will pass the midnight when we arrive our friend's home. The consequence is...I got my first ticket for speed over 14 miles. Well I was really unlucky that day.

We had a great dinner with our friend. She made very good Chinese food for us. However, we need to say goodbye to her very early the following moring because jj needed to go to see Iowa State. We spent about 4 hours in there and had Applebee for lunch. The most unforgetable thing is the severe storm we encounterd near Ames. In our way home from Ames, we met the worst storm in our life. It was really dangerous driving in that weather. I can see nothing but dark and the emergency light from the car ahead of us. All the cars were moving 5 miles per hour on highway. And the crazy thing was jj was on her phone! I don't know what she was thinking, but I hope she knows phones sould be extremely prohibited in this kind of weather...

Finally we got back safe in Lincoln. The following day we got on a plane head to Seattle. I really want to go to University of Washington for my Ph.D study. The campus is really beautiful, really nice. The climate in Seattle is just what I like. Not too hot in summer nor too cold in winter. We also went to Olympic National Park. There we saw snow in late May and several deers with black tails. We went to Safeco field to see a Mariners' game. Ichiro played very well that day. I was lucky enough to see him steal base. The outlet in Seattle is jj's favorite so we can't miss it. We spent half day in there.

We spent the night at the airport before we fly to our destinations. I came back to Lincoln get ready for classes and jj went back to Beijing. I went to see Coach Revelle to set up my job in softball team this year. I enjoy staying around with the team. I have been in three teams in the U.S. and I think the husker is the best. The team is a family for me.

Starting from June my summer was pretty boring. Class and research, these two things filled up my life. I kept talking to people back home hoping to hear some interesting things from them. The best thing I heard from them is my softball team is getting stronger and stronger, and we won the Youth National Champion. This year is the first year I can't go to the game with my team out of the recent 8 years. I hoped I could be there when we won the Champion. What made me very happy is my coach started realizing he need to make some change to bring the team up. He hired an assistant coach from one of the professional team. I want to say that the girls in team now are so lucky. I would like to go back to home to teach them all I learned from UNL softball team during the passed year to make the team even stronger.

I asked myself what I want to do as my job in the future. After thinking for a long time I'm sure I can't leave softball. Although I'm interested in studying climate change, I can't say I love it. But I love softball. I think I want to be a college teacher for climatology and teach softball during my leisure time. I don't know if it will change in the future, but this is the first time I have a such clear goal for my career. I'm on my way to make it.

Sophomore year is over!!

Chenxi Jiao — Fri, 20 May 2011 13:31:02 GMT

After this weekend, my sophomore season is over. As my last blog said, I have been work really hard on the mount for our second regional championship and All-American. I have a really good start this season. I was rank 1^st in the nation but after I knew that I started to panic. I want to keep it so bad, so I start to afraid to pitch. I straggled for two games until Coach Dai helped me out. He told me the way to make my mind stable. After the straggle, one of the biggest games for me came up, against Iowa Western where I went to before Highland. I pitched really well that game and showed they how good I am now. In the whole season, I have four one hit game, until our last home game, I got my first no hitter game in my college career. I break school lowest ERA and most career strikeouts records after the regular season. I also lead conference ERA and strikeouts. As right now, I’m rank 5^th in the nation for ERA and 4^th on Strikeouts leader. Since that, I got 1^st All-Conference and 1^st team All-Region, and I also get the chance to be All-American.

I started my school research for next year since fall. However, it wasn’t go well in the beginning. My goal is play D1 but only Utah State showed interested about me. I went to try out before our season started. It was fun, and Coach K told me she likes me. I was so excited and waiting to hear from her back. However, Coach B told me she wouldn’t make an offer for me until their season done. I was really nervous but coach B just tells me to wait. Coach B came to watch my games in April and told me I need to go to Nationals because a lot coach wants to see me there.

In regional, we won first game 3-2 in the 7^th inning. I pitched second game against Cowley the team that was rank 4^th in the nation when season started. We won 6-1 and I have 7 strikeouts. In the championship game, we against Cowley again, I relief the game from 5^th inning, we won it in 10^th.I didn’t give any runs in 6 innings. We won 2-1. I’m the winning pitcher for this two years regional championship, but it feels so different. Last year, we scored 9 runs. It was no pressure on me.

On the way to nationals wasn’t a good experience. Our catcher has kidney stone that hurt really badly, so we need to stop by the hospital drop her off. Then the bus has some problem that we need to change the bus. I was really nervous about my catcher because we need her so bad. She is a really good player. I feel really confortable when she is behind the plate. She came the morning before the game started. She still in pain but work her ass off for the team.

The first game in national, we against Kirkwood, the team that rank 3^rd in nation with a girl rank 1^st in home run leader in the nation, another two girl in the top 25 and also four girls have BA over .400. I knew that is a tough game right there. Also all the coaches will come to see me. It is really important for my whole life. I was kind nervous before I came to Normal. But I felt more excited the night before. I told myself don't think about we win or lose this game, just focus on every batter, every pitch. I just need to show real me to the coach, than is their job to decided wants me or not.

I did really well in the game. I give 4 hits in the whole game and two of them were bunt. The only hard hit they hit off me was that homerun in the 7^th inning, but that was catchable. It's sad that we lose in the last inning by that. Good thing is I showed how I pitch to everybody there. After the game, their AD talked to me and told me he really enjoys the game and I’m a pitcher fun to watch. For a Athlete, nothing is more important than people enjoys to watch your games.

We still didn't get our first win in nationals, but we have good chance in both of games. It is a really good experience to play in Highland. However, I got say bye now. Thanks Heidi and Scott, thanks all my teammates, thanks all the people been helping me in Highland, thanks my American family let me know about Highland.

Sophomore year is over!!

Chenxi Jiao — Fri, 20 May 2011 13:30:49 GMT

between spring semester and summer session

Xing Lu — Thu, 19 May 2011 03:12:00 GMT

It has been a week and a half since the end of spring 2011 semester. It was a success semester, as I finished with 4 A+ and 2 A for my 6 courses. Our husker softball team is heading to Stanford today and they are going to play the regional this weekend. We all believe that we can win the regional and the following super regional to advance to World Series.

I will go to Seattle to visit University of Washington from May 25th to June 1st. I want to go to graduate school there. The atmospheric sciences program in UW is very strong and very difficult to get in, but I will try everything I can to get scholarship from them. JJ is going with me. She's heading back to Beijing on June 1st, and I'm coming back to Lincoln to get ready for summer session.

I have alread started my research project this week. Right now I'm only collecting the data I need for the study. It is a big work. I have to find precipitation data of all stations from 5 states for the recent 50 years.

Quick Update

Xing Lu — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 05:31:00 GMT

I'm watching Japan's Koshien these days, and this big high school baseball game makes me think about China's youth softball. After a few minutes I decided to write a paper about my thought of the development about China's youth softball, and I have already finished it. It is just my wish that China set up a good and complete youth softball system in the future. In my idea it could be youth club softball. Softball club could teach girls from when they are very little to age 18. By having this system we could send more student-athletes to America if they want, and those students could bring more softball skills back to China to help China's softball. It is also what I would like to do if I have enough money. Unfortunately I don't have this much of money right now, but I will try to make it in the future.

Busy time end for right now.

Xing Lu — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 01:21:00 GMT

I have been very busy since last semester until today--the GRE test took me tons of time. Because my native language is not English, I need to memorize lots of new words in order to get a good grade on it. Everyday my life was just filled up with class, homework, and GRE. I planned to take it this May, but I felt like I was already exhausted by preparing for it, so I changed the test date to today. It was amazing when I see my score on the screen. My goal was 1400, and I got 1500 indeed.

Last weekend I went back to Highland to help the catching camp. I didn't have any chance or time to play softball since I made the decision to take GRE this year, so it felt so great to put the gear up again.

The huskers is having a great start of the season and ranked 21 by last weekend. They are 10 and 1 right now and the freshman catcher broke the record by homering in 6 consecutive games. Hope they have another great weekend this weekend in California. The huskers is going to play against Nevada, Xiaoxue's school, let's see who will win.

I'm going back to help the huskers as soon as I know my GRE writing score. I should receive it in 10 business days. I hope the score is not that low...The GRE issue topic is too hard that I can't even write something good about it in Chinese...

Also I applied for a research topic earlier this semester: The variations of extreme precipitation over Great Plain US. It will be the best if the school can accept my research idea and give fundings for it so I can make it as my research experience and use it to apply for graduate school.

So I think I can relax for a while and waiting for the coming of spring break...

sophomore year

Chenxi Jiao — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 05:19:00 GMT

It seems life gonna be easier in the sophomore year, but actually I feel it is really rough. In the freshman year, I don't know how good I can do in the season, so this year I really feel the pressure that I want to and people expect me do better than last year. I been been struggling with my pitches because we don't have solid catching staffs. Last year our catchers was amazing.

Not only pitching but the atmosphere just drive me nuts. I don't feel happy and enjoy to go to practice at all. I thought about quit several times. But I cannot do that. I cannot being stupid to let other people stop me on my way.

Now it's the time to play ball. I hope everything can turn better during the season. Before the first game, coach ask us "What you can do to help the team win?". I said "Pitch like myself". I know I can achieve what I did last year again. And I believe I can do better.

When I started to play college ball, I saw my old roommate's name on the wall "Toni Dance-All American". From that very first day, my goal is to get All-American. I'll try my best to go for it this season.

2011 season START!!

Chenxi Jiao — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 04:13:00 GMT

Today we againsted Benedictine College at Highland scotties park. We won both of them.

I pitched 5 innings with 11 strikeout and 1 run. If catcher not throw the ball to left field, then the runner shouldn't score. But anyways, it was my fault to put runner on base. After, 5th inning we tie 1-1.

After I pitched, on 6th inning they hit a 2 run homerun from us. But we has a 2 run homerun in 7th inning to tie the game and finally won.

It's a good start for both my team and me. I hope we can keep doing well and go to national again.