Watanabe Kosuke, a Japanese worker living in Guangzhou, believes every Japanese child has a secret dream to become a professional baseball player.
In his youth, he rushed to the diamond field and practiced every day after school until sunset. And yet, even now that he is fully grown and working in the PRD, he still plays baseball every weekend with Japanese, Chinese and American friends. So, last Sunday, I joined them for a game.
Wearing a helmet, I became a batter. The bat was said to be only 800g but it seemed really heavy in my hands. I was also nervous as hell. "Play ball!" Kosuke San shouted, and threw the ball toward me. "Pong"! Unbelievably, I hit it clean. Not as difficult as I imagined! A few more swings later,I finally saw that it wasn't so much to do with your vision as your senses.
Later, I attempted to pitch while Kosuke San became
batter. He told me I had to throw the ball "super-
fast" so that my opponent could not strike it. I imitated his throwing technique, lifting my left leg in a poised way and then speedily hurling the ball at him. Would you believe it? This experienced baseball
player missed my ball. I just smiled and kept the secret that it was only coincidence. But I have to admit: baseball is incredibly addictive. Hopefully it's not too late for me to get into the game on a regular basis. And so can you...

Where to play 
Mitsui Teenager Friendship Baseball Field, in Tianhe Sports Center(天河体育中心三井少年友谊棒球场), and Huangcun Training Base(黄村训练基地), are the two primary baseball venues in Guangzhou. Almost every Sunday, you will find people playing baseball here.

Tianhe Teenager Baseball School
Under the guide of professional trainers from the National Baseball Team, and some Japanese and American visiting trainers, over 30 students have been chosen to be the national first grade players
(and some trainers are even preparing for the Beijing Olympic Games.) Classes are open only to teenagers from ages 7-15 at 9am-11.30am every Sunday. 50RMB/class, 400RMB/10 classes.
Call 020-38798609-82/81 to join.

Go, Cheetahs!
The Cheetahs are the Guangdong Provincial baseball club. Set up in 2001, members are from Korea, Japan, Chinese Taipai and Chinese mainland.Also, because of the majority being Koreans, a Cheetahs Korea Team was also founded at the club. Each year they join the National Tournament and some professional leagues. Call 13902200801 and ask for Mr Lai for more details.

Go, Wolves!
The wolves always keep second place in the Guangzhou Annual Title Matches. Set up in 1995, it has 15-20 trainees at an average age of 28-years old. They once represented Guangzhou at the Hong Kong and Guangzhou Baseball Match (and even beat the Hong Kong Team!). Call 13808865142 and ask Mr Wang for more details.

Go, Cojcking!
This is a club for adults, teenagers and children. Exclusive Canadian trainers teach here. It once won third place in the First Guangzhou After-hours Tournament and fourth place in the Shanghai Children's Baseball Match in 2001. Call 020-3353 0008 and ask Mr Zhuang for more details.

Go, Shenzhen Calgary!
This club consists of national athletes, foreign students,
trainers from various schools and your average
baseball lover (of which there are legion). Their team once won the Shenzhen baseball champion and took second place in the Guangzhou baseball tournament. Call 13510199147 and ask Mr Yu Liang for more details.

THE RULES
Nine players make up a defence team with one picther, one catcher standing behind the batter, and the other 7 players standing at or near the bases around the diamond field.
The batter is the only opponent team member on the field, at first. If he can strike the ball, and also if no one can catch the ball, he can drop the bat and run to one of the bases. Obviously, the next batter hits the ball and the process repeats itself, with each batter
trying to make it around the diamond without being run out.
If the batter strikes the ball over the "homeland",the offence team directly get home run points throughout the bases. If the catcher behind the batter can get the ball three times, or if the batter fails to strike the ball upon three clean attempts the defence team get one "out". After three "outs", the defence team exchange roles with the offence team.
There are nine rounds in a match. Whoever get the more points wins the game. Simple!