Saturday Baseball

Saturday Charlie had a baseball game in Brussels. His team is named the Phoenix, and they were playing the Brussels team, the Kangaroos. Charlie's club is actually in a southern suburb of Brussels called Louvain la Nueve. You can check out their website: http://www.llnphoenix.be/ but it's in French, so you'll just have to get the idea.

Charlie's coach picked us up from the hotel about 1:30 and drove us to the game. In the morning we had made a last trip into town for final items and food, and stopped at an internet cafe to email mom and dad.

We arrived at the field a bit after 2, and the weather wasn't very nice. Light rain and cold. Not good for me, since I'd be sitting in bleachers for about 4 hours. Right as we arrived, the rest of Charlie's team arrived too and I was introduced to everyone. Now remember, it's very common on the continent and especially French-speaking countries to kiss on the cheek as part of your greeting. Charlie is great and has quickly adapted to the custom, kissing his teammates on the check as they reciprocate. So I received many kisses and Bon Jours from his teammates. I think it's great!

They warmed up for an hour or so, and the game was underway at 3:30. They were playing a full 9 innings and it was just a pre-season game. I'm not sure how many total Belgium baseball teams there are, but I do know that each team can only have two foreigners on the team. So Charlie is one of them, and a guy from Mexico is the other, although he wasn't there yet. On the opposing team, there were at least two Americans and it seemed obvious there were a few others from somewhere else. So would be interesting to hear how they claim there are only 2 foreigners. Also on Charlie's team is a guy named Wesley, and he's American and Belgium. So he doesn't count as a foreigner.

The guys on the team all range in age from early 20s to Wesley at 41. It's the senior team, so there is no exact age limit or range, just all based on ability. Many of them speak some English, and many more at least understand it being spoken, but are not comfortable speaking. At least Charlie has Wesley to talk with and to help interpret. Charlie's coach, Salim, coaches and plays on the team too. When they play the game, they all try to speak in English, but of course, they fall into French since it's what's they all speak. So some things are different, but overall the game and rules they play follow along American baseball.


Charlie played short stop and was able to bat. He hasn't played these positions in awhile since he's been a pitcher, but he fun and did well. The team is excited about his pitching since he's so fast and accurate. Since it was only pre-season, they didn't want the other team to see him pitch yet! They want him as the secret weapon further in the season and especially during tournament time.

I was able to meet Wesley's Belgium girlfriend and his two daughters. They came to watch the game and were a few of the only other people there. Her name was Laurence (but it's pronounced very differently than spelled here - like La Honce). She spoke a bit of English and Wesley said it was good for me to get her to practice speaking English. His daughters were 9 & 7 and fluent in both English and French.

I also met the president of the Phoenix organization, Carlos. He's Canadian by birth, but his mother is Brazilian and father French, so he moved around the world all his life. He's settled in Belgium and followed American baseball all his life. He founded the club about 7-8 years ago and found corporate and government funding to build their field and clubhouse. But mainly, all the players' families' support themselves financially and contribute to the Phoenix organization. So it was great to meet Carlos and ask him a lot of questions about baseball in Belgium!

That evening, the organization was holding a spaghetti dinner at the Phoenix clubhouse, down in Louvain la Nueve. It was part fundraiser, part informal banquet, part season kick-off get together. The organization is made up of about 6 baseball teams and 2 softball teams. So the dinner was for all players and families involved in all the teams.

It was great to be in Belgium when the dinner happened, because it gave me a sense of the group Charlie is playing and working for and I was able to meet many of the people involved. Carlos also introduced Charlie to everyone as a new coach and player. Luckily Carlos told us what he was going to say ahead of time, because he gave all his announcements in French, and we had no idea what he was saying! At one point everyone started to laugh, and Carlos leaned down to tell Charlie that he told everyone Charlie was a single guy and looking for a girlfriend to help him learn French quicker! Was pretty funny.



We relaxed at the club house and enjoyed more beer and desserts, and visited with Charlie's teammates. I also met Charlie's host family that evening, and they are incredibly kind, warm and friendly and great people to take Charlie in for some time.

As the dinner wound down, we went with a few of the players to nightclub/bar/cafe place in town, and the guys played some pool. When the night came to a close, they gave us a ride to the new hotel we were staying at in Louvain la Nueve. We wanted to check out the town on Sunday, and figured it was easy to stay in town for the night.

At the hotel, we finally figured out how to call mom and dad. It was pretty late for us, but we knew they would be up. So the calling card finally worked. And the guy behind the reception desk gave us a free basket of salty bar snacks - so a good top off to the evening!