Day 4: Los Padres de San Diego

Today I spent the day with my favorite childhood baseball team, the San Diego Padres. While it's impossible to be fully objective, I think I can safely say they have the nicest facility in the entire country. I walked onto the complex and felt like I was back in Southern California. The architecture was stunning and the field looked out onto the ocean. The offices were huge, with state of the art furniture and equipment. They call the place where the players stay a "hotel", and it is definitely far nicer than any other academy accommodations I've seen (and for that matter, better than any place I've stayed this trip). Whereas other academies have 4-8 kids sleeping in bunk beds in a room, each room has two beds, complete with air-conditioning. The Academy Director told me that they want kids to feel like they're living in the US; job well done.

They immediately gave me a tour of the facilities, and then handed me off to the ESL/intercultural coordinator. The Padres are making a huge effort to not only teach English to the kids, but make sure they learn about US culture and customs before going to the Minor Leagues. They're trying an innovative program; every 2 weeks the kids listen to speeches about everything ranging from nutrition to US laws to American girls. In addition, they are separated into four groups for English, and get taught once a day. Antonio, my guide for the day, coordinates this process, and talked about how much he loved his job.

We took off for the local town, a place called Najayo, located almost directly on the beach. In stark contrast to the multimillion dollar Padres park (which is what they call it), it's a poor town, thatched houses, dirt roads, etc. Recognizing this juxtaposition, the Padres have made a very real attempt to make a difference in the community; they spent 13,000 (matched by USAID) to help rebuild a school. I visited the school, and interviewed the Director. Although the school wasn't nice according to American standards, the Director assured me it had gotten a lot better; the Padres had built a library, brought books, constructed whiteboards, made floors, etc. He was very appreciative of their efforts. He did say, however, that their help had cooled considerably after their inauguration (end of April) and he hoped that they would continue their support (I was told later that the Padres will, but the money for this year had run out in the budget).

I then spent some time talking to people in the community; everybody had positive views of the Padres and knew about the school. Additionally, because the academy is so close, most people had attended games (indeed there were about 100 people watching the game when I went, first time I had seen that there) and were proud of local players that were now playing for the Padres. I talked to about 15 people; young and old, male and female; they all knew the Padres and were very positive.

I then had a long interview with the Director of the Academy, Cesar Risik. He re-enforced the idea that the Padres are making a very conscientious effort to work with the community, and will budget more money during the coming year. Interestingly, they go through the US Chamber of Commerce, which helps them carry out their projects, to make sure they do a good job. They are also very serious about player development and hope the glamorous academy will not only help them get talent, but form active citizens. Cesar confided to me that they're looking to budget for a program for players that don't make it to the Minors (players they release straight from the academy). They would pay for them to go to a technical school, so they could become a mechanic, plumber, etc, and be a functioning member of society. This would be incredibly innovative, as most teams do nothing with players they release.

It was a really interesting experience; the Padres, in addition to their huge, glamorous academy, really do seem committed to making a difference in the community, and may have created a model for the rest of the country. It made me proud of the team, despite their god-awful record at the big-league level.