Windham 14-15 year olds play Japan Team in international baseball game at Hadlock Field in Portland.

Scroll Down for the Story about this international event.

Windham 14-15 year olds play in international baseball game at Hadlock Field in Portland.

Every five years student athletes from the Greater Portland Area travel to Shinagawa, Japan for about ten days to compete against Japanese student athletes. Then the Japanese student athletes make the trip to Portland.

This is part of the Sister City program between Portland, Maine and Shinagawa, Japan that was established in 1984.

While about 65 players from each country compete in Boys Baseball and Soccer and Girls Basketball and Tennis games, the program is more about the cultural experiences than about the games, or sports themselves.

The American players stay in host family housing while in Japan and the Japanese players stay with American Host families when they travel here.

Brett Bailey was the lone Windham Baseball player to travel to Japan as a part of the program. His family is now hosting two Japanese players.

Brett's father, Bill Bailey, was asked to put together a team to play one of the five exhibition games against the Japanese team. That game will take place on Monday August 13th at 1:00PM at Hadlock Field.

The two Japanese players staying with the Bailey's attended the Windham Team's last practice and were instrumental in helping the Windham team put together the program for the big game. Even with the language barrier they were able to "speak baseball" by pointing to the players as the Windham Team asked about each position. 

Coach Bailey said, "We have been as inclusive as we could to let all of the players and their siblings have a piece of the fun. We have 5 bat boys."

Coach Ken Sawyer of Windham said "One of the interesting aspects of this game is we have to use their ball, which is smaller, lighter and made of rubber."

According to the Kenko Website The Kenko Air Safety Baseball, pictured on the left "is constructed with a durable rubber cover and an air cushion center."   "The Kenko Air Safety Baseball compresses upon impact to absorb shocks and reduce injury. The surface features aerodynamically-designed surface and a raised seam to stimulate the characteristics, flight and bounce of a regular baseball."   "The Nagase Kenko Corporation is the market leader, supplying 60% of the Japanese Market. It has sold six billion balls in 70 years without a single serious injury."

The Windham team has been practicing with the ball to prepare for the game. Coach Sawyer added that "the ball is hard to control when pitching." and added that "It almost changes into the shape of an egg when hit."

The Windham Team will present the Japanese players with gifts (souvenir T-Shirts and Photos) after the game. The Windham Players worked hard to earn the money for the gifts. They emptied an American Legion Attic by going up and down three flights of stairs early on a Sunday morning. They swept the Portland VFW parking lot and raised money through a bottle drive.

Come on out to Hadlock on Monday afternoon and cheer on both teams in this rare international event.

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