Basil Tarasko

Basil P Tarasko, 60, is an Ukrainian-American baseball coach from Bayside, New York. He is a member of the Executive Board of the Ukrainian Sports Club of New York (YCK) and a member of USCAK, Ukrainian Sports Federation of the United States and Canada. [ [http://www.ukrainebaseball.com/98vienna.html Ukraine Baseball - Press Box ] ] He is also coach of the National Baseball Teams of Ukraine; a regular columnist (covering Eastern European Baseball) for the International Baseball Rundown magazine; district administrator of the Little Leagues in Ukraine and head baseball coach at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, N.Y. [ [http://www.ukrweekly.com/Archive/1996/509617.shtml BASEBALL IN UKRAINE: A periodic progress report (12/15/96) ] ]

He also runs a website, where he promotes the game and sells baseball merchandise from his garage in Bayside. [ [http://www.ukrainebaseball.org/ Ukraine Little League Baseball ] ]

He is of Ukrainian descent and often travels to the Ukraine to teach children baseball. He has been described as very influential in bringing the game to the former-Soviet country during a period of economic decline. Thanks to this, he is highly regarded amongst the Ukranians and is always welcomed back. He helped facilitate the Juvenile National Team's entry to the European Championship, in 1996, where they finished fifth. His passionate and patriotic approach to coaching has captured the imagination of the Ukrainian youth. Indeed, one newspaper heralded him, along with Chelsea F.C. soccer star Andriy Shevchenko, one of the "Saviors of Ukranian sport." [Le Monde Article 6-5-2001 "Focus on Kyiv"]

Family life

Tarasko started out as a mathematics teacher [ [http://www.ukraine-observer.com/articles/197/417 Little League catching on across Ukraine ] ] before giving it up to help develop baseball in Ukrainian orphanages.

According to his AOL Member Profile [ [http://memberdirectory.aol.co.uk/aoluk/profile?sn=bt4ukraine Screen Name Service ] ] , Tarasko is married with 2 sons.

Basil divides his time between coaching, selling his merchandise and travelling upstate to look after relatives.

References

External links

* [http://www.ukrainebaseball.org Ukranian Baseball]