Now that spring is in the air, what does that mean? Yeah, flowers. But, more importantly...baseball! Time for Spring Training!
Today was the first day back on the diamond for the Windhoek International School's baseball team. Although we don't have a mascot, we have a team--thanks to previous Fulbrighter's Steve and Joy who used their connections with a Little League in Michigan to get about 30 baseball gloves, several bats, and a bucket full of balls sent to Windhoek last year. Last semester saw baseball take on huge popularity among students at WIS, many of whom had never played baseball. For others, it's a chance to play one of their favorite games and feel a piece of the good ol' USA far from home. We had 22 players sign up today.
Steve and Joy also started another good tradition--an invitation to older boys from the Orlindi ophanage to come join us on Wednesday's for practice. We've continued the tradition this semester. When I stopped to pick up the 7 boys today, they raced to put on the shirts that Steve gave them last year.
Our coaching team consists of Fellow Fulbrighter Reid, Kelly and me. Based on today's experience, Gwen may become a designated nurse to tend to line drive/human interactions. It is a team effort, as Reid's family only has one car, and we only have one car. Somehow, we managed to get both families to practice along with the 7 Orlindi boys. Reid has to leave a bit early to teach a class at IUM, so it is a good juggling act to get everyone home, as well.
Here are some photos from today's practice. Play ball!
One of the students from WIS. His smile says, "That was the first hit of my life!"
Kelly pitches. Larkin takes photo while missing the chance to tell the batter to get his elbows up.
The boys from Orlindi in their baseball shirts from Michigan. They miss Mr. Steve, so we took this photo to show him.
1 comment:
Glad to see you are still having a strong response. And thanks so much for continuing to include the Orlindi crew. Tell them I miss them too.
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