I remember when I was saying my goodbyes and discussing all the necessities I would bring, people kept asking me, “So are you gunna bring your mitt?” Psh, I would think to myself. And after laughing inside my head, I would tell them, “They have NO idea what baseball is. Trust me.” Err-WRONG. Apparently baseball in Uganda, while still small of course, has been brewing for a couple decades and is very up and coming. After hearing about its existence I fortunately was given further information by my fellow volunteer about the baseball/softball camp, and have been waiting anxiously since arriving at site. And one day in, I fell in love and found my secondary project (aka, my new job for the next two years in Uganda).
So there is an older munu who has been involved with Ugandan Little League Baseball since 2002 and he’s done quite a lot for the program. He has a spot up in the hills near Kampala and it is lush, beautiful green everywhere. They cut down the side of the hill and flattened it out to make baseball fields and made is so when you are playing you are somewhat on a cliff looking into the valley and rolling hills. It’s quite lovely. But anyway, he added on dormitories for the players and coaches, guesthouses and plans to build a school with a futbol (soccer) field and other arenas for different sports. It was a pretty neat set up. And the best part about the location was that every night and every morning, it was packed with fog. I got to go to sleep and wake up feeling like I was back in the bay. The downside to this meant that there were more mosquitoes. WAY more. And they found their way inside my net the first night, and Erin and I were literally battling them the ENTIRE night. Aside from swatting them away every five minutes, I literally woke up at 2am and stayed up until 330am waiting for them to land so I could kill them. I felt like a psychopath, but it was the only way I could somehow sleep. Erin’s was so bad she looked like she had bed bug bites all over her arms. But, anyway.
I, along with my fellow PCV, Erin, have been assigned to teaching female coaches and players how to pitch. Now, I know what you may be thinking: I’ma catcher—what the eff am I doing teaching people how to pitch. And trust me, I did inform the head hancho of this and made no indication that I could teach pitchers. But, as softball is very new here in Uganda, they have no female with any experience on windmill pitching. So all my years in the bullpen sitting through hours and hours and HOURS of pitching instructions (as well as my one year of pitching lessons when I was 11) would have to somehow come in handy. And after day one, I was feeling pretty good.
The girls were great right from the start, all very anxious to learn more about the game and more importantly how to windmill pitch. I don’t think I could have asked for a better group of coachable girls. Don’t get me wrong, their lack of knowledge on American punctuality, let alone American sport punctuality, was extremely frustrating. There were a few mornings the girls were 30 minutes late and when I asked what they were doing, I was told, “They are washing.” WASHING? Wth? I felt like saying, “Are you not here to learn how to play softball? Or are you here to learn to wash your floor?” It urked my nerve but I had to take a step back and realize where I was and that in addition to teaching the game, I have to somehow learn to instill concepts like punctuality and time management. Even more frustrating, is the misunderstanding of the word, “hustle”. Now, these girls are in no was lazy. Seeing them balance 20 liter jerrycans on there head while walking up a hill is evidence enough. But, I think there is a disconnect when I yell at them to hustle. Because when I did, they all continued to walk to the same spot and were not doing it intentionally or disrespectfully and believed they were follow my instruction. As camp went along, we discussed hustle and defined the meaning and it got somehow better. The older girls were at least trying to keep the others in line by yelling “HUSTLE!” even though they themselves were trotting along and irritating the sanity out of me. Time is money, people!! And trying to get the girls to be interactive, OMG. I thought American teenage girls were a pain but this was just not fair. They are so conditioned with rouge memorization and “shut up and do” as opposed to “think and ask questions”. So anytime I said anything, all I got was blank stares and crickets. I had to individually ask them what I had said, what they thought after trying it and then wish for some questions after the minimal interaction. But towards the end, it got much better and the girls were asking me questions on their own and showing their excitement.
We coached 11-16 players as well as 19-24 year old coaches on windmill pitching. And it was so interesting to see the difficulties in trying to train fully matured adults compared to young girls who pick up new things with ease and coordination. But the excitement and effort from the girls was just awesome to be around. Minus when we put them in a game situation, then things got a little … weird. We picked three of the best pitchers to pitch in a friendly game against each other to give them some experience on the mound with a real batter. Not my idea and I had a feeling it was going to be a disaster since the girls had been throwing underhand for 5 days. But anyway. The first batter was an immediate success: STRIKE OUT. Boo-ya, I was feeling good feeling great feeling great feeling good, how are you? Then, things started to quickly unravel as a couple of girls, envious girls, who thought they should be pitching instead started getting in the head of my assigned pitcher in a language that I could not understand. Slowly by slowly, my pitcher started walking people, throwing past balls where runners scored and her teammates bashed her instead of encouraging her. The other coaches and myself kept calling time outs to talk the pitcher thru it and shut the others girls up, but they just kept on going. The older girls kept stepping up for the pitcher and told the girls to support her and stop “abusing” her (which made me extremely proud and even more fond of them). Finally, our pitcher pulled it together and struck two more batters out and ended the inning. In the change-over, a male coach came down to see how a few of his girls were doing. When he learned that his star pitcher (a know-it-all diva who had been there for one day and not participated in any drills) wasn’t pitching, he got upset with us. And instead of talking to us aside, he decided he should scold us and tell us what to do in front of the girls. Mind you, he had been participating in all the baseball activities and had never once been in OUR practice, and I emphasize OUR because it was specifically our camp and we are the only ones who know how to windmill pitch. Now, the feminist inside of me took defense and assumed this man thought he could come over and tell the dumb girls what to do. And that urked me greatly. Whether that was the case or not, the behavior was inappropriate and offensive, and we stood our ground. We ended up calling the game after the half inning because he wouldn’t stop fighting us. We later had a meeting with the head hancho who mediated and explained that our camp was our camp and we were in charge. I inserted a few words about making sure we keep the camp and equal opportunity environment as we were there to not only train girls but also help empower them and show that they could do, and that his behavior contradicted that completely. And the head handcho had my back. So, we all made peace and nothing came of that again. But it was extremely frustrating. I’m on my way to work with his girls next week, so well see how it goes.
Anyway, I met two girls who I absolutely fell in love with. Very smart, intelligent, kind, ATHELTIC and SO eager to learn. They both were there for pitching, but one is also a catcher (Boo-Ya) and one a lefty first-baseman. I worked with both of them on the side and had a blast. Jennet, the catcher, is just a beast behind the plate and picked things up with ease. And Judith had the time of her life when I was showing her how to slap and drag bunt. They pick things up so quickly and were so open. And, they don’t complain when a ball hits them. They really impressed me and I feel like if I could work with them on a consistent basis they could be great in no time. They just have so much potential, as did all the girls. I wish I could take them all home to America with me and start a team!! Lol.
So that is the start of my secondary project. I am headed to Entebbe next week to work with Willysha, another PCV, in training a couple teams. I am very excited and hope we are able to continue our work. Am sure I will be writing more about this very soon.
Hope you all are enjoying the new year and that you have a lovely Valentines day. Happy birthday to my baby, Coupe Douggie. I can’t believe you are already one… I miss and love you all so so much.
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