When most players are putting their equipment away for the winter, one Ottawa City Midget player will be packing his gear for some additional training.  2B Stuart Bowden will be headed to Osaka, Japan in early December with three other Ottawa area players for two weeks of training with the Osaka Gakugei high school team. 

The boys will attend regular high school classes in the morning wearing traditional Japanese uniforms and then practice/train with the baseball team in the afternoon.  At night they will have time to explore the city of Osaka with its more than 2.7 million residents and such landmarks as the Osaka Dome, home field of the Orix Buffaloes of the Japanese Professional Baseball League.  The Buffaloes alumni include former MLBers Chan Ho Park and Hideo Nomo. They will also spend time learning about Japanese history and culture with their host families. 

The players hope to bring back not only memories and souvenirs but new baseball experiences that they can share with their teammates and coaches in Ottawa.  

A special thanks to Greg Duggan (Canada) and Tom Clark (Japan) in setting up this amazing experience for the players.