Iowa hosts Shanghai youth for softball and cultural exchange
Author: John Damon
Yellow soybean seeds may have first connected Iowa and China, but today, yellow softballs and student exchanges are carrying that relationship forward.
Students from Shanghai's Beisibao U13 softball team, along with representatives from the Shanghai Baseball and Softball Association, the Shanghai Friendship Association and the Shanghai Sports Federation, are now visiting Oskaloosa, Iowa. During the nine-day Musco Youth Sports Exchange program, they are competing with local players while experiencing life in the Midwestern community.
Building on a strong start
The program began in 2025, when more than 100 young athletes from China and the United States firstg