Who We AreWe are baseball people like you are, we are trainers, players and teachers. We make bats because we love the sport and also because we want to raise money to support the development of baseball. We see baseball as the ideal tool to learn and to teach the fundamental wisdoms of life: that you can fail without being a failure, that you have to step up as an individual, but that you win or lose as part of a team. We have a 'small' plan to help clubs develop and maintain programs for children - mainly through our Sister Club Program - and a ‘grand plan’ to help develop a fund along with other businesses and baseball people of like mind to fund developing baseball federations. An example might be Eastern Europe or Africa. We would like to work with the IBAF in any way possible to develop these aims. YAYA Bats is the people that try to provide Baseball with the best bat possible, at the best price possible. As a business YAYA Bats is the sum of these people's beliefs and visions:
We are baseball players, teachers and coaches, and we love the game. We are a small and growing business and probably will never become a really big player. We don't feel we have to become obscenely rich - by overpricing our products and ripping off our customers - to, later, invest in charity and make this world a better place, later. We believe that you act where you stand. We believe that you derserve value for your money - right here and right now. We produce professional grade bats, mainly from superior European beechwood, with extraordinary strength, elasticity and durability. Using hand crafting and meticulous craftsmanship YAYA produces bats with great balance, tremendous power, and outstanding feel. We produce each of our bats as if it was made for a major leaguer. Does this mean you have to be on a major league salary to be able to afford our bats? No. We do not compromise on wood quality, finish quality, or on service. We think simple. We think that giving you our best at a fair price will make you a happy customer. Most of our business comes from personal contacts and word-of-mouth propaganda. We like that. We like our customers, we like to be in contact with them, we like to be given feedback and to hear suggestions. Agreed, it is not very hard to think of sustainable products when you work with wood. The harvesting of wood and sustainability go hand in hand, when they want to be economically sound. But there is more to a sustainable baseball bat than just the wood. Most obviously the finish. But also the whole work-process with drying, shaping, toning, coloring can produce and / or use toxic and environmentally unsound substances that would at least partly end up in the bat - and that means in your hands, on your skin. It is quite easy, though it is sometimes hard to accomplish - when our dogs, cats - or our children- take a liking of a YAYA Bat we prefer to be afraid for the bat, not for the pets or the children. That is why we keep our bats as environmental friendly and toxic-free as we possibly can. Sustainability is much more than an environmental friendly product. It also means we use the meticulous skills of local master craftsmen instead of computer controlled machines in South-East Asia. It means we produce where the wood grows and keep our wood from unnecessary transport. It also means we create work and fair income in regions that have not been amongst the winners of the new world order. All together that means that we can offer a product that is at least as fine as the best of the best on the market - at a much smaller price. The motivation for us going into business comes from our baseball affection, and our desire to be part of building European countries into respectable international baseball nations; especially the Eastern European countries. YAYA Bats initially started as a funding project for baseball and has only recently become a 'real business'. The funds available for baseball in Central and Eastern Europe are generally not enough to either build decent fields, or fund prospective players as they reach adulthood. On July 8th 2005 the IOC gave more bad news for Eastern European Baseball. Baseball will no longer be an Olympic sport. For many teams and federations this might be a death blow, the source of funds for competing in international tournaments will no longer exist. This might be a blessing in disguise, freeing federations and teams from the regulations and interference of the State Sport Committees. However, the loss of state funding more than ever emphasizes for those of us who want to see baseball develop in Europe an independent method of financing. As we have had our share of unsatisfying experiences - and also have broadened our scope - we have changed our approach. We are not looking for handouts but an active program for raising needed finances, and simultaneously serving the international baseball community. YAYA Bats 'small' solution to the big problem of funding for baseball is the YAYA Sister Club Program, that supports clubs with their programs for youth and children. Directly and unbureaucratic. |
Andy Weissman
was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. A player with professional potential, Andy ’s been a Baseball Coach and Trainer since 1984 (Laney College, California) and was sent to Slovakia by Major League Baseball - coaching their first appearance ever at a CEB event in 1994 in Ljubljana. Since then he has been teaching baseball in Slovakia, Ukraine and Austria. He sees himself as a teacher, using baseball as a perfect tool to develop attitude and character. Since 2002 he is focusing on making the perfect bat and giving expertise and funding to the developing baseball communities in Central and Eastern Europe.
a native of Vienna, Austria, Yves has been playing in every high and low league of Austrian baseball (with only 3 clubs!). At 40 he is still active as a player and tries to revive his local baseball community by building and coaching children teams. His academic background is communication science and sustainability, his professional background is international NGOs, politics and marketing. His aim for YAYA Bats is to build a sustainable and value driven business that supports the communinty it comes from.
Finance your youth work through the YAYA Sister Club Program. |
