Mayu Fielding is the Education Coordinator for the Pittsburgh Pirates. As such, she manages an extraordinary program from Pirate City in Bradenton, FL. Born and raised in Venezuela Mayu graduated from Universidad Metropolitana (VE) in Caracas. She is a teacher first and foremost. Her passion is communication, culture and appreciation for all that we have in our lives.
The Perfect Game Foundation talked with Mayu and discussed the following subjects:
TPGF – Mayu how did you and the Pirates connect in Bradenton?
Mayu – 10 years ago, the Pirates ran an ad in the Bradenton paper looking for an Administrative Assistant at Pirate City. I thought it might be a good seasonal/part time job, while I searched for a full time teaching position, so I applied. Well – I immediately loved the work and the Pirates interest in excellence. My job as an Administrative Assistant became more and more involved with the players development. The position for Education Coordinator was created and here I am going on 10 years with the organization! The Pirates are wonderful and I could not be happier doing this work.
TPGF – Approximately how many Pirate players do you work with each year?
Mayu – It varies but about 120 is a good estimate and they start as young as 16 years of age. A lot of the work is done at Pirate City but I also travel to all our minor league cities. This past week I was in Charleston, WV working with our Class A team.
Additionally I frequently go to the Pirate Academy in the Dominican Republic and work with our young players down there.
Our focus with the players is always on life skills so they can become more independent in their daily lives.
I also work with our teachers who are working directly with our players helping them with life skill issues and self-confidence. The Pirates have local teachers in all the minor league cities as well as in the Dominican.
TPGF – What advice would you pass on to those young people who would like to work in sports?
Mayu – Attention to detail! Developing a solid work ethic! There is nothing more disappointing than seeing projects or documents show up with misspelling, grammar errors, punctuation mistakes etc., so that attention to detail is really important (and not just in a sports career!) The work ethic issue also important as it sets the tone for what your colleagues can count on from you during your working career. It also sets the stage for developing a ‘go above and beyond’ attitude about your work.
At the end of the day the most important things we can do with and for each other is to communicate well and often! Especially in this digital age, when person-to-person communication is becoming a lost art!