When I was 6 years old, I suited up for my first little league baseball game. I’ll never forget it. My jersey was green with white trim on the collar and sleeves. My number was 6 and there was absolutely nothing better to me than getting my pants as covered in dirt as humanly possible. Win or lose, playing baseball was a time in my childhood that I will never forget.
When we were living in Yokohama, I went on a run and stumbled upon a team of 8 or 9 year old kids practicing before a game. They were running sliding drills. I must have stood by that fence for a good half hour watching each one of them tear into the dirt as best they could only to compare stains later as they got back in line. Little League, just as any organized team sport is a special opportunity to be a part of when you are young. Learning to work together, having fun and doing your best builds a foundation for young people that goes beyond the field and far beyond their youth.
It’ s almost easy to forget or be just plain naive to the fact that this is not an opportunity seen by children all over the world. This was brought to my attention earlier today when I caught a few minutes of a BBC clip covering the participation of a team from Uganda in this years Little League World Series in Williamsburg, PA.
Richard Stanley (courtesy of yahoo sports)
The team had been founded in 2003 by a former Proctor and Gamble exec who had been offered an opportunity in Uganda after his retirement to work on a vegetable oil development project. When approached to help start a baseball program a year later, Richard Stanley agreed under the terms that the government would help build fields and not impose taxes and duties on donations from other countries. During an interview in the segment, Stanley spoke about how the kids would play for hours and not ask for food or drinks….they just wanted to play.
Over the next 9 years, through generous donations from several organizations and donors, little league baseball in Uganda became a reality. During those 9 years, Major League Baseball has donated large amounts of equipment, including special packages during Christmas of gloves and bats. Major league player Jimmy Rollins donated $10,000 from his foundation to aid in trip expenses to help the team get to Pennsylvania to take part in the the LLWS tournament this year.
- courtesy of the Daily Record
“They love the game in a way we’ve almost forgotten.” — Jimmy Rollins.(yahoo sports)
While they may not have won the tournament, the Ugandan team made history in being the first team from Africa to compete in the tournament, ever. I can only imagine the feelings of excitement they all had as they suited up, and marched proudly onto the diamond that day and reminded the world why the love of a game is so special.
- courtesy of hereandnow.wbur.or
play ball,
Adam
if you want to learn more about the Uganda Little League or make a donation, visit http://ugandalittleleaguebaseball.org/index.htm
also check out http://www.pitchinforbaseball.org/html/ to learn how to donate your old equiptment
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Travel with your family
Intentionally and incrementally. Most families who live this way did not leap from conventional to adventurous overnight. They built remote work capacity, paid down debt, tested longer trips, and had increasingly honest conversations about what they actually want from their lives. The leap feels bigger from outside than from inside.
Different for every family. For some it is long-term travel. For others it is weekend adventures close to home. What connects them is intentionality about how time is spent and a preference for experiences over accumulation. The version that fits your family is the right one.
By finding stability within the adventure rather than treating them as opposites. Routines, rituals, and family rhythms travel with you. Familiar foods, bedtime routines, and predictable family dynamics provide stability even when the location changes. Kids need consistency in relationships more than consistency in geography.
That people are fundamentally similar across cultures in what they want for their families. That comfort zone is a smaller circle than it feels from inside. That the things worth having in life require effort and discomfort to get. And that time together doing hard interesting things is the most reliable source of family closeness.
By getting clear on why you made the choices you made and returning to that clarity when the outside noise gets loud. Most families living unconventionally describe an initial period of explaining themselves that gradually gives way to just living the life. The explaining becomes less necessary as the results become visible.
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