One of the architects who helped establish Bangladesh in the baseball world, Sean Moore has been coaching the national team for eight years now and recently guided the men in red and green to 61st place in the rankings, which is the country's highest till date. The 37-year old also works as the athletics director of International School Dhaka. The USA-born baseball coach, who has worked selflessly to improve Bangladesh team without any wages, gave an exclusive interview to Dhaka Tribune where he talked about the prospects of the national side and the general state of the country's baseball scene. Here are the excerpts from Thursday's interaction which is the first feature of the special three-part series on Bangladesh baseball:
How did you get involved with baseball?
I played baseball at home and got into coaching after my playing time ended. I started coaching at the high school level, worked my way into the US college level and then signed with a team in Canada.
I coached college baseball NCAA at Johnson & Wales University and in Canada as the import signed head coach for the Moncton Mets. I was also the head baseball coach of Crandall University in Canada for two years.
Baseball is something that has been a part of my entire life, a part of my family's lives and it will always be something I will be a part of until the day I die.
With no wage structure in place, why did you join the Bangladesh baseball team, and what is your goal?
There is no wage for coaches. This is all done to give back to Bangladesh, which has given so much to me over these 12 years of living here. My goal is to put Bangladesh on the baseball map, and that goal has finally been accomplished. Now, it's time for the second goal, to make Bangladesh a top baseball team in Asia. Also, another goal is to grow this national team for my son, Cian Shakiba-Moore, who was born here in Bangladesh and my goal is one day if he wants to play baseball at a higher level, he will have more than just the option of playing for the USA, he could come back here and play for Bangladesh.
Cricket, the top sport in Bangladesh, is similar to baseball in many ways…
Cricket and baseball are similar. The skills for these games are transferable. Cricket is a fun game to watch here in Bangladesh, they have a strong team and have been doing so well lately.
Baseball will never compete or try to compete with cricket in Bangladesh, my hope is one day the programs can help each other as the defensive sides and some of the hitting techniques are similar.
Moore has worked tirelessly alongside Hiroki Watanabe to put Bangladesh on the baseball mapWill a good baseball player be a good cricketer? What about the other way round?
They are similar as they are strike and fielding games, different in rules and how it is played. Baseball is one of the hardest sports as hitting a baseball has been one of the tougher things to do in sports. I think any athlete could play both, but it takes time practicing and years of dedication if one were to play at a high level in both cricket and baseball.
You joined Bangladesh baseball in 2015. How much has it changed over the years?
It has changed so much over the years. Today's team is organized, has players who have played now for more than three to four years, we have dedicated coaches in myself, Hiroki (Watanabe) and Kano (Tetsuro) and have been able to make it an Olympic certified sport here in Bangladesh.
How do you evaluate the current national team?
We have a fantastic pitcher in Faizan Ehsanul Haque who is hoping to pitch for a professional team this year. Additionally the leadership from players like Salam Chowdhury, Imran Khan, Shahid Ahmed and Jony Haque will help keep the game alive and well in the country. We have such a good group of players. I can name them all for all the hard work and contributions they have made for Bangladesh baseball.
How fast can the Bangladesh pitchers pitch the ball? Do any of the pitchers have a good curveball?
Mostly fastball, between 75 and 85 [mph]. All pitchers we have throw three to four different pitches. Fastball, curveball and changeup.
What are the prospects you see in the team?
We have a good team right now. However, in order to build our program to higher standards and compete with the bigger nations we really need to get the youth of Bangladesh playing baseball. The current team will be strong for the next few years but we need to add more players to the roster, developing like the current team did. We need to develop our Under-18 and U-16 programs for the future of this game in Bangladesh.
What more needs to be done in future?
Additionally, we need a field, an actual baseball field/stadium. Pakistan and Sri Lanka both were able to do this and with the help from the country and/or sponsors we hope this will happen for our program as well.
There are only two dedicated baseball teams (Police and Ansar). Don't you think there should be more?
There were a few teams over the past few years other than the Police team. At this time, the players from this program have been the ones training regularly. We do hope more teams are able to form so there are more player options to draw from for the national team.
Can anything be done to improve the competition?
For Bangladesh, it is important that we play in more friendly matches and tournaments against stronger teams to challenge us. The final game we played against Sri Lanka in the West Asia Baseball Cup this year was our best match we have played, and against a good team. If we are able to play against India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka more it will be great for us as we can learn and grow into a better playing team. Overall, playing against any country nearby, if possible, such as Nepal, Bhutan or even Malaysia or Thailand - not usually teams we play in conference - would be a great experience for our program.
Bangladesh jumped to highest 61st place in the latest rankings. How can the team reach the top 50?
We are one of the top five climbers in the world. It shows that the hard work and dedication has paid off. To get to the top 50 it will mean building from the bottom up, getting the youth of the country playing the game and developing our youth programs. To do this, we need more coaches to help with these programs and field space to run practices and training sessions.