How I spent my Spring Break...

This past week I was very fortunate to take part in a week long baseball camp in the Dominican Republic Province of San Pedro de Macoris in the town of Consuelo. The camp was organized by Coach John McCarthy of Home Run Baseball Camp and was attended by about a dozen kids from DC. The majority of the playing time was at fields managed by the ImpactaKids Foundation which was founded by former Nationals and Indians Manager, Manny Acta. 

The field conditions were far less than ideal and the poverty in the surrounding area was overwhelming. That being said the Dominican kids were amazing. They were friendly, eager to learn, coach-able (despite the language barrier),  and very disciplined. 

Even at their young ages, they have a profound respect for the game. They were attentive and respectful to the umpires and coaches, Dominican and American. At all times they ran on and off the field and always were ready to bat when their time came. They valued their time on the field and valued the opportunity to improve themselves - every day! This despite most often eating only one meal per day and living in extremely poor conditions. 
On each of the last two days, we traveled further out of town and played on the batey of the Village of Chicarrone. The batey, a baseball diamond cleared between Sugar Cane fields, has hosted games for over 40 years. According to our host, Luis Noel, a resident of Chicarrone, one of 9 kids and a former minor-league pitcher with the Orioles, we were only the second non-Dominicans to play there. 

The field conditions were even more spartan and the living conditions of the kids even more dire but their smiles never waned. They were the most graceful athletes and gracious hosts.  To watch their very talented pitchers moderate their speed without even being told to do so by a coach based on the age and size of our batters was so impressive. At the end of the game, a clear Dominican victory, the Dominican boys surrounded our youngest player, a 6 year old boy from NW named Francis who had hit a "home run" during the game, and cheerfully carried him off the field on their shoulders while cheering MVP!

For the boys of the Dominican Republic, baseball has become their way out of poverty and it is also a welcome diversion from the challenges of their daily life. 

If we can teach our Little League kids to have half as much fun while respecting each other and the game half as much, we will have been be very successful.

Good luck this weekend!