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of Educational and Cultural Affairs Ripken Baseball And U.S. Department of State to Host 11 Youth Coaches From South Africa
Baltimore, MD – Ripken Baseball, in partnership with the United States Department of State, today announced it will host 11 youth baseball coaches from South Africa, seven men and four women, at its youth baseball academy in Aberdeen, Maryland. The coaches will be in the United States from July 12 through the end of the month and will learn coaching skills from Cal and Bill Ripken as well as the Ripken Baseball instructional staff. In August of 2007, Ripken was named an American Public Diplomacy Envoy by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. This is the latest effort in that role by the Hall of Fame ballplayer. Last summer Ripken Baseball hosted coaches from China and that was followed by trips to China on behalf of the State Department by Cal Ripken and former teammate B.J. Surhoff in October and Bill Ripken earlier this year. While there the former ballplayers taught the game to kids and coaches throughout the country. Ripken is scheduled to travel to South Africa in the spring of 2009. Dates are yet to be determined. During that trip Ripken will work with the same eleven coaches who will visit the Ripken youth baseball academy this summer. “I have very much enjoyed my role as a Public Diplomacy Envoy and I am thrilled that we have been able to do so much with the Department of State. Our experience with the people of China was so special and the fact that we will have the opportunity to do the same with kids and coaches in South Africa is amazing,” said Cal Ripken, Jr.
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