Teachers practice flag football

Baseball and Football for German Schools
October 1-2, 2009. The U.S. Consulate General Frankfurt, the Atlantic Academy Rheinland-Pfalz, the Landessportbund and Landessportjugend Rheinland-Pfalz jointly organized a two-day seminar on "American Sports for German Schools: Baseball and Football" in Baumholder, Rhineland-Palatinate.  The goal was to provide the almost 40 physical education teachers from Northrhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Hesse, Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate und Baden-Württemberg with the necessary theoretical and practical knowledge and skills for introducing baseball and football into the teaching of sports at German schools. The event was directed by Prof. Maureen Smith, California State University, Sacramento, and Dr. Annette Hofmann, PH Ludwigsburg, who started off with an explanation of the historical, cultural and structural background and basic rules of baseball and football.  They were assisted in the practical sessions by German and American baseball players from Mainz Athletics, some of them members of the German national baseball team, as well as by Dina Quanico, U.S. Airforce Ramstein, and Kenrick "Darius" Taitt, U.S. Army Regional Medical Center Landstuhl.  Through "learning by doing" the participants were acquainted with the nature of the games and with a wide variety of practical exercises for teaching the technical skills and tactics of softball and flag football, two versions suited for schools. The seminar participants, those teaching as well as those learning, had so much fun and were so engaged and motivated that the organizers plan a continuation of this special offer. | Photogallery