Extra Innings in Rosedale Looks to Export Baseball to Russia

The universal language of sports was never more evident than Friday afternoon at Extra Innings on Rossville Blvd, where Ade Parkes, an Englishman, taught six Russian baseball players and coaches contemporary training techniques.

The training at Extra Innings was one part of a 12-day visit to the United States to learn from the American baseball community. The trip also included an Orioles game, a visit to Little League headquarters in Williamsport, PA, and a tour of the Cal Ripken Academy in Aberdeen.

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, the Russians are hoping to gain knowledge, which will allow them to raise their level of play to American standards.

The trip also commemorates the centennial anniversary of the first baseball game played in Russia; sailors from the visiting American naval vessels the USS Kansas and North Carolina played an exhibition game in St. Petersburg.

The game reminded the Russians of Lapta, a traditional Russian folk game that also features a batter, pitcher and fielders.

The visiting Russian players and coaches are part of a program called "Helping Baseball Take Root in Russia," which looks to copy the American baseball model and implement a similar program in Russia.

“I fell in love with baseball because it is a very intellectual game,” said Denis Novokshonov, president of the St. Petersburg Baseball Federation in Russia.

“I also like how it brings nine men together as a team. We are looking to take what we learn here and use it to teach our teams. We really want to set up something similar to Little League,” he said.

The exercises Parkes demonstrated weren't the traditional exercises associated with off-season baseball training. They looked more like yoga or Pilates exercises.

“There has really been a revolution in thinking in the last five years when it comes to how to best prepare the modern athlete for competition,” said Parkes. “Core strength training with an emphasis on developing stabilizer muscles is starting to replace traditional weight training and static stretching.”

The training the Russians received is a part of the Next Level Sports Performance program offered at Extra Innings, which tests athletes through a series of scientific evaluations to determine what the athletes' strengths and weaknesses are.

Then a progressive training program is developed and implemented with a professional, certified trainer. The program focuses on injury prevention through dynamic mobility and flexibility exercises and performance enhancement to improve speed, agility, strength and power.