Basil Tarasko
Encyclopedia
Ukrainian-American
Ukrainian Americans are citizens and permanent residents of the United States who have recently emigrated to the United States and are of Ukrainian ancestry. According to U.S. census estimates, in 2006 there were 961,113 Americans of Ukrainian descent representing 0.33% of the American population...
baseball coach from Bayside, New York. He is a member of the Ukrainian Sports Club of New York (YCK) and a member of USCAK, Ukrainian Sports Federation of the United States and Canada. He is also coach of the National Baseball Teams of Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
; a regular columnist (covering Eastern European Baseball) for the International Baseball Rundown magazine; district administrator of the Little League
Little League
Little League Baseball and Softball is a non-profit organization in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, United States which organizes local youth baseball and softball leagues throughout the U.S...
s in Ukraine and head baseball coach at Kingsborough Community College
Kingsborough Community College
Kingsborough Community College , part of the City University of New York system, is the only community college in Brooklyn, New York. The campus is located at Manhattan Beach, which is at the eastern end of Coney Island. The 71-acre campus overlooks Sheepshead Bay, Jamaica Bay, and the Atlantic...
in Brooklyn, N.Y.
He also runs a website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
, where he promotes the game and sells baseball merchandise from his garage
Garage (house)
A residential garage is part of a home, or an associated building, designed or used for storing a vehicle or vehicles. In some places the term is used synonymously with "carport", though that term normally describes a structure that is not completely enclosed.- British residential garages:Those...
in Bayside.
He is of Ukrainian descent and often travels to Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
to teach children baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
. He has been described as very influential in bringing the game to the former-Soviet country during a period of economic decline
Decline
Decline is a change over time from previously efficient to inefficient organizational functioning, from previously rational to non-rational organizational and individual decision-making, from previously law-abiding to law violating organizational and individual behavior, from previously virtuous to...
. Thanks to this, he is highly regarded amongst Ukrainians and is always welcomed back. He helped facilitate the Juvenile National Team's entry to the Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an 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.
Chelsea F.C.
Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...
soccer star Andriy Shevchenko
Andriy Shevchenko
Andriy Mykolayovych Shevchenko is a Ukrainian footballer who plays for Dynamo Kyiv and the Ukraine national team as a striker. He is the third-highest scorer in the history of European club competition with 67 goals as of 2011-03-10, behind Filippo Inzaghi and Raúl. With 175 goals scored with A.C...
, one of the "Saviors of Ukrainian sport."
Family life
Tarasko started out as a mathematicsMathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
before giving it up to help develop baseball in Ukrainian orphanages.
According to his AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
Member Profile, Tarasko is married with 2 sons.
Basil divides his time between coaching, selling his merchandise and travelling upstate
Upstate New York
Upstate New York is the region of the U.S. state of New York that is located north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.-Definition:There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York...
to look after relatives.