Béisbol; Stranger in a strange land.

Over the past few weeks many of you have been inquiring as to how the baseball program is coming along, so I thought I would provide you a wrap up of events thus far. The most important thing to understand is that baseball is truly a unique sport down here and our school is especially unusual for offering it. I have detirmined the best analogy for this situation is that teaching baseball to Ecuadorean kids is akin to teaching Eskimo children how to surf.  It’s not that they are incapable, but rather there is very little cultural background or understanding of the game. For example, Loja is a city of over 200,000 people and as far as I have determined there is not a single baseball diamond to be found. I once asked to see the field where the other team in town practices and was driven to an empty lot where litter mingled with tall weeds.

This was both good and bad at the outset. On the one hand it was like working with a clean slate (no bad habbits), and on the other hand it was difficult to explain why they had to learn how to throw and catch as well as hit (which is naturally way more fun).So after months of watching kids run to third base when they hit the ball and cover their face with the mit when the ball is thrown to them, they have shown enough improvement to have an actual game.

Warm up before the "partido".

For months they have begged for a "partido", but until now it would have been impossible to have anything that resembled an actual game. We started with the basics like hitting from a tee (made of welded metal and flexible hose) and playing catch. I learned a few drills online and from books and the other coach helped me to learn some basic Spanish commands like "run" and "catch". We practiced with soft-toss into the soccer goals and started playing kickball to get to know the field and understand the game. They loved it..... well most of them. The natural athletes took to it pretty quick, especially those who have been playing tennis. There are also a few who would prefer to stab pencils into their eyes... or stay at school and study.

Me conversing with the other coach, Max, who speaks less English than I do Spanish. Makes for some interesting and sometimes confusing conversation.

Anyhow, last week we selected 22 of the best players (out of the 50 or so that have baseball class) and we formed 2 teams. It was not easy selecting the players and naturally some feelings were hurt and parents were upset, but this is the way it goes I guess. We were given 2 hours to play our first game during the school day on a nearby soccer field. Given the recent rain, it was a little pitted and bumpy but by the time the chalk lines were put down and the bases were laid out it sort of looked like a baseball field.

Half of the team waiting to bat.

And to say the least I was truly impressed with their performance. Almost all of them hit the ball at least once and some of them hit it hard. They had a few infield plays to first base and even caught a few infield flys. The outfielding still needs some work but that seems to come later in the States as well.

I haven't done this since little leauge. It's probably best for everyone.

Notice the short porch in right. The downside of using a "soccer diamond".

So after 5 innings and a score of 23-20 (it was that exciting!) we had completed our first official game. The only part that I didn't enjoy was pitching for two and a half hours in the afternoon sun. I was exausted when it was over but also a little relieved. They have actually been learning something all this time. Who knew?

Stay tuned, because the next big game is on Tuesday when we match up against the local baseball academy which is run by a Cuban ex-pat. They practice 3 hours a day, 5 days a week. Should be a pretty rude awakening for our team but also a good chance to see how good they can become with a lot more practice.