From Hong Kong to China, Valcke returns to Asia
Long-time scout and baseball executive Tom Valcke will be working in China in 2019. Submitted photo
Zhongshan, China - Following a couple of treasured months back home in Stratford, Ont., Tom Valcke will be flying back to Hong Kong on Jan. 7, where he spent most of 2018 coaching their national men's team.
Both parties knew that agreement would conclude on Sept. 30, 2018 as it was based on a special grant from the HK Olympic and Sport Federation that led to a work visa with the Hong Kong Baseball Federation. While there was interest from both sides to continue HK's upward climb in the World Baseball Softball Confederation world rankings, which shot up from #41 to #28 in just seven months, a similar grant in 2019 still hadn't materialized by the time December rolled around, so Valcke began to consider some similar opportunities for the next chapter of his 33-year career in the baseball industry.
As a result, this upcoming stop at the Hong Kong International Airport will just be in transit this time around, as Valcke will then board a ferry to mainland China en route to Zhongshan, a city officially designated as "China's Baseball City," where Valcke just visited from December 12-26 to sign his next contract.
The Zhongshan Panda Baseball and Softball Corporation has been a pioneer since the nation's long-awaited decision to finally take a serious interest in baseball. With the world's largest population base of 1.4 billion people, it shouldn't take China long to catch up to Asia's big three, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, ranked #1, #3 and #4 in the world, respectively.
“China's mission is to contend for a medal at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games,” noted Valcke.
"Major League Baseball International has taken a strong interest in seeing China join the global baseball family, and there is a deep competitiveness in all sports between those four countries in particular, whose passion for baseball resembles Canada's passion for hockey.”
Valcke's title will be the Executive Director and his initial responsibilities include the overall assessment and improvement of the coaches throughout the organization, roving from youth to adult divisions to help their understanding of proper mechanics, optimizing time and space in practices, in-game performance, and putting in place sensible and realistic year-round training programs.
In the bigger picture, he will be developing plans and implementing the building of a new stadium, a one thousand-bed dormitory, a double-clover-leaf-eight-diamond training facility, a collegiate baseball academy, a national baseball hall of fame, and ultimately, land a professional team there make Zhongshan a true destination and to round out their goal of remaining the hub of baseball in China.
Valcke was the general manager for the triple-A Calgary Cannons, ran the International Canadian Academy of Sports Excellence, and he was the president and CEO of Canada's Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.