CHANGZHOU, China - With a summer spent in China and Taiwan working for Major League Baseball International, four Broncos are helping to spread the joy of the worldly game through coaching.
Bill Thomas, who served as a Cal Poly Pomona assistant coach from 2005 through 2009, accepted a new position in February as the MLB Academy Director in Changzhou, China. He received help this summer from three more Broncos, including current CPP assistant coach
Jimmy Ramos (Class of 1972) along with recent student-athletes
Manny Navarro and
Robert Palmer (Class of 2009).
"It's tremendous that our alumni are involved with baseball at the professional and international levels," Broncos' head coach
Randy Betten said. "I know that the four represented our program and our university extremely well. We're certainly proud of what they've accomplished."
The summer trip started in Beijing during mid-June, with the first project being a MLB Roadshow that brought baseball to the city in a festival-type atmosphere. The Broncos coached young players at different stations for hitting, throwing and defense. There also was a wiffle ball field at the Roadshow, giving visitors a chance to put their newly-acquired skills into action.
"The MLB Roadshow provided an opportunity for people to see first-hand the skills that are needed to play baseball," Ramos said. "We met some Little League players coming through the stations and we also met a lot of people who were totally new to the game of baseball."
The Broncos also visited a number of Beijing tourist sites, such as the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.
During the month of July, the Broncos split their coaching time between the Changzhou and Wuxi MLB academies.
"Many of the kids that we coached are between the ages of 12 and 17," Navarro said. "They've only been playing the game for a few years so it was important for us to reinforce the coaching of fundamentals."
Although Ramos returned to California in late July to resume his coaching responsibilities at CPP, Navarro and Palmer continued their Asia trip to assist with the MLB global outreach.
"Manny and Robert brought a lot of energy to the academies and development centers," Ramos said. "Being it was their first coaching trip to Asia, they understood how incredible the opportunity was."
On July 31, Navarro joined Thomas in traveling to Taiwan to complete a historical feat, with the pair organizing and managing the first MLB Academy in Taiwan over the following few weeks. During that time, Palmer directed the Changzhou academy operations in Thomas' absence.
"Robert and I were coached by both Jimmy and Bill," Navarro said, "so we have been able to gain knowledge through them and are now able to help both of them share that knowledge. We were the only coaches from California there so in a way we were representing baseball for the entire state."
