Doctors, reporters and engineers unite in Vietnam’s ‘ragtag team’ ... meets ‘baseball’s Park Hang-seo’ for an ‘endless challenge’ [Southeast Asia Spotlight]

【Hanoi, Vietnam — Correspondent Kim Jun-seok】“Một (one), hai (two), ba (three), Việt Nam!”The baseball field at My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi, Vietnam, on the 3rd.
After practice, members of Vietnam’s national baseball team shouted an enthusiastic cheer at the cue of head coach Yoo Jae-ho.
Despite it being October, the players’ eyes shone with intensity in the sweltering heat, with temperatures hovering around 35°C. Coach Yoo stepped onto the mound himself and adjusted the players’ batting stances one by one. During fielding practice, he shouted, “Nhanh (faster), nhanh (faster)!” to raise the players’ intensity. The conditions were harsh, with not a single proper light tower, but the practice field was filled with fervor as the coach and players were determined to write a new chapter in the history of Vietnamese baseball.
Vietnam has no company-sponsored baseball teams. All the national team players have other jobs, including dentist, reporter, university student, high school student, photographer and engineer, so they can only make time to practice on weekends. Moreover, the team is made up mainly of players from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, 1,700 km away, making it difficult even to get everyone together to practice as a unit. Coach Yoo said, “At this training camp, our top priority is to overcome our different lifestyles and the physical distance between us, and bring everyone together as one team through teamwork and unity.” 
Vietnam is currently ranked 74th among the 85 men’s national baseball teams registered with the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), and is considered one of the weakest teams. Unlike soccer, the country’s most popular sport, baseball is close to a fringe sport: the Vietnam Baseball and Softball Federation (VBSF) was not officially launched until December 2020.
Coach Yoo explained, “Our biggest goal is to break into the top 60. The national team needs to climb the world rankings to compete on bigger international stages, and that can also help expand the pool of players and the reach of baseball in Vietnam.” He also identified “expanding the player base and establishing company-sponsored teams” as key tasks for Vietnamese baseball.
Led by Coach Yoo, Vietnam’s national team will put its skills to the test at the inaugural Dream Cup, a three-country competition featuring Vietnam, Laos and Mongolia, beginning with its game against Laos on the 8th. Coach Yoo, a former outfielder for the LG Twins, was a cleanup hitter at Daegu High School and led the team to titles in both the Blue Dragon Flag and Phoenix Flag tournaments. He joined the professional ranks as the seventh pick in the second round of the 2010 rookie draft. However, a string of injuries, including three knee surgeries, followed his signing, and he was released in 2016 after serving in the Marine Corps. He later ended his playing career after suffering a hamstring injury during a tryout with the Hanwha Eagles.
In October 2016, after retiring, he began his coaching career by joining the Laos national team as an assistant coach under Kwon Young-jin, his former coach at Daegu High School. He later settled in Vietnam and worked for eight years as a physical education teacher at the Korean International School. When the Vietnam Baseball Association was established in 2020, he served first as its interim head coach and then became the permanent head coach. Since 2022, he has also coached the Hanoi Archers, Vietnam’s top club, working to expand the reach of baseball in the country.
Asked what had been most rewarding about working in Vietnam, a baseball desert, Coach Yoo replied, “Seeing the early members of the Hanoi Archers stick with baseball, move on to university or club teams, and then become coaches themselves and teach younger players.” He added, “I feel most rewarded when I can see baseball gradually taking root and spreading across Vietnam.”
Because baseball is not a popular sport, poor conditions and a lack of support are also hurdles to overcome. Coach Yoo recalled, “In the early days, conditions were so poor that we practiced under the streetlights in the parking lot of the War Remnants Museum.” He continued, “Taking part in this Dream Cup was uncertain because of the cost, but thanks to the Korean community in Vietnam, who understood our sincere efforts to bring Korean baseball to Vietnam and offered their help, we were able to make it at the last minute. With Korean community figures and companies—including Lee Jae-eun of Everon, Yoon Hwi of Toktok, Yoo Gyeong-nam of Leaftech, Song Young-il of the Future Hope Sharing Foundation, and Fursys—joining us as sponsors, I feel a tremendous sense of responsibility.”
Why did Vietnam’s national team players choose baseball over soccer? They all cited the appeal of teamwork as the main reason.
Won Seong-nam, who relayed Coach Yoo’s instructions fluently in Vietnamese that day, serves as an important link for Vietnam’s national team. A 12th-grade student at the Korean International School in Hanoi—the equivalent of a senior in high school in Korea—Won first took up baseball through an after-school activity in elementary school. He fell in love with the sport while playing friendly games against schools including the Japanese International School. 
Won, who holds dual Korean and Vietnamese citizenship, later traveled frequently between Vietnam and Korea and enjoyed watching the KBO League, naturally keeping alive his dream of becoming a baseball player. Thanks to his passion, he was selected for Vietnam’s national team four years ago and continued to hone his skills by taking part in KBO programs supporting baseball in developing countries.
“In soccer, one outstanding striker can score a goal and lead the team to victory, but in baseball, no matter how well one player performs, they can never win alone,” Won said with a smile. “I was captivated by baseball’s unique appeal: the whole team has to work in sync.” Recently accepted into the business program at a prestigious university in Seoul, Won said, “I’ll keep playing baseball through a club at university.”
Captain Tran Ngoc Tu, whose main job is sales engineer, first became interested in baseball in 2010 after reading a baseball manga by Japanese artist Mitsuru Adachi. Later, on his way home from school, he happened to see older boys playing baseball in a park and began playing in earnest. “At the time, baseball was even less familiar in Vietnam than it is now, and it was hard to find proper equipment,” Tu said. “We sometimes used a hat to catch the ball instead of a glove, and when a ball split open, we sewed it back together and used it again.”
Asked why he chose baseball over soccer, Tu also named teamwork without hesitation as the main reason. “Teamwork is essential in baseball, so players have to communicate constantly and connect deeply with one another,” he said. “What drew me to baseball is that, amid unpredictable developments at every moment, players and spectators can all laugh or cry together over a single run or out.”[Southeast Asia Spotlight] is a feature bringing readers vivid, in-depth reporting from the region on major issues and behind-the-scenes stories from Southeast Asia, which has emerged as a key hub for global supply chains, diplomacy and security.[email protected] Kim Jun-seok Reporter