Yellow Pages
BURLINGTON — The coaches and players may have been difficult to understand, but after 10 days playing against primarily European competition, the language of baseball proved universal for Burlington’s Nate Reisnour.
Most of the summer he played with the Seattle Bombers Sandy Koufax squad. The exception came from July 5-14, when Reisnour was a member of the Top Guns, one of four baseball teams comprised of Americans at the World Sports Festival in Vienna, Austria.
“It was quite an experience,” Reisnour said. “I didn’t know what they were saying. I was surprised how good they are at baseball.”
The opportunity came when he was nominated by someone (the Reisnours still don’t know who) for the People to People International program. The program’s Web site says it’s goal is, “to enhance international understanding and friendship through educational, cultural and humanitarian activities involving the exchange of ideas and experiences directly among peoples of different countries and diverse cultures.”
Reisnour, who is 14 and will be a freshman at Burlington-Edison High School this fall, raised more than half of the nearly $6,000 price tag for the trip. He paid for half of the remainder out of his savings, with his parents picking up the rest, his father, Steve Reisnour said.
The first three days of the trip were dedicated to practice, trying to make a team out of a mixture of kids from around the country. Reisnour said he had teammates from Texas, New York and Massachusetts.
From there, the Top Guns played teams from the Czech Republic, Germany and Austria, as well as other U.S. squads.
Reisnour pitched in four games and played infield for the Top Guns, and got the win in the bronze medal game.
In addition to playing seven games, the group toured Vienna and took a trip to Mauthausen concentration camp. The players also got to spend time with locals.
“The Austrian culture is very different from ours,” Reisnour said. “They seem very over the top. Everyone was really nice.”
Parents were allowed to go, but encouraged not to, Steve said. Nate went on his own.
“It was definitely worth if from what we’ve seen,” Steve said. “He’s much more independent. He gained a lot of confidence. He had to take care of everything on his own.
“Other people saw it. Parents of other kids (on the Bombers) came up to us and commented on it. He has a lot more confidence and self-esteem.”
