There is a widespread belief that baseball game was, is and will be played and embarked upon only by Americans and in the United States. Many people think that Saudis are only fond of the game beloved by millions — soccer. However, Mazen Azjaji, a young Saudi employee at Saudia who studied aircraft maintenance in the States may yet dispel this common perception.

During his stay in America, Mazen loved baseball – not like many Saudis – and attended live games and leagues. By watching, attending and reading more and more about baseball , he has become an expert and familiar with the rules of baseball and he is considered by many local baseball fans and players as a “self- taught” baseballer – he never practiced the game officially nor took part in any league notwithstanding.

His keenness and passion for this game grew in the States while attending local games, following related Youtube channels and reading relevant books. He kept this fervor until he returned home and decided to put his passion and love of the game into practice .

He joined the Jeddah Youth Baseball League (JYBL), a non- profit group established by some Americans and other expats around 30 years ago where the games and trainings take place on Saudia City grounds. Soon afterwards, Mazen became a coach of some emerging talents, beginning and promising players of different nationalities. Then he became the vice president of the JYBL board.

Arab News met with Mazen at one of his on-the-ground trainings at Saudia City to closely follow the young Saudi man’s story with the game.

He said the one thing that appealed to him about this game is that it is family-oriented sport compared to soccer which is mainly played and practiced here by men. “To me , I think that baseball is considered as the only family game seen in the Kingdom when it is compared with many available sports here especially soccer where family members are not involved with the game,” he pointed out.

The second thing, he went on, is that baseball is not all about physical strength and does not only rely on body power but it focuses more on mental strength and the power of mind.

“Baseball game requires more concentration on intelligence and agility more than just physical — 10% of physical power is more than enough to cope with the game, ” he said.

Mazen said that these two major things would also attract many Saudis here who just tried the game one time and in turn became addicted to the game. ” Try it once , you will love it all the time”

“You can see all families on the stands here during the games of the league where everybody is involved — players and the families. This would really make many Saudi families like the game. By the way , my two daughters are members of a team in the league.”

Of JYBL and the teams, Mazen said that it was started by some American expatriates here 30 years back with around 600 players mostly Americans and Europeans.

“We practice the game here around three times a week and I used to be a coach for the last three seasons. Nevertheless, I quit coaching to be a board member because they need much more support in running the league.”

Since Mazen joined JYBL more Saudis both male and female students have been seen in the fields. The Saudi players now comprise around 15% of the league.

” I think that being a Saudi coach or vice-president would be a major factor in attracting many Saudis into the game and promote the game in the community.”

JYBL accepts players to join from the age of 6 to 14 for kids and up to 18 for youth. The beginners at the age of 6 are trained on some rudiments of the game like something called “T-ballers.” Then they move to more advanced phase which is called “Coach Pitch ” for the ages 8 to 11. And finally, the “majors” for players 10 to 14. The progress along these three level depends on how fast the players gain skills during trainings.

Mazen said JYBL board members would like to see more Saudis take up the game and help grow the league. Presently, we have now six teams and we plan to raise the number up to 12 in the future by bringing more emerging interested kids and teens into the game, he said.

“Most of the league expenses are shouldered by volunteers and board members with some little help and financial support from sponsors.”

Mazen is calling on governmental bodies and others from the private sector to support this league and make it stronger when the next season opens in November.