Discover

When I think of the word discover, I think of words like seeing, experiencing, and learning. That is exactly what this trip to the Dominican Republic consisted of, our team discovering a very different culture from our own. We got to see the way the game of baseball was played by the locals. We learned of a culture that was built around baseball. One example of this was the fact that we never saw a baseball field not being used. Whenever we got to our field each morning to play, there were kids already playing. When we left the field after our games, more kids were arriving to play after us. We were quick to realize that they have far fewer distractions than we have in our lives and they use that to focus their time on their passions; most of which is baseball. For the majority of our team, it was our first experience in such a country. It was quite the learning experience to discover (and now) understand how lucky we are to have what we have as college baseball players.

What was the best part of the trip for you overall?

The best part of the trip would be the culture shock that I received. I thought it was so interesting going to another country and seeing how they lived. Being able to truly experience the Dominican culture was a lot of fun. We were immersed in the culture as we made friends with current Dominican coaches and players, along with being able to see and meet people from different communities around the island. Each day, all day, we were out in the various communities meeting people and seeing many different aspects of daily life in the country.

What was your favorite baseball moment of the trip?

My favorite baseball moment was watching the way the teams down there played.  How smooth they were and how good they were at the sport was really fun to watch. Watching them take pregame infield, it was very apparent that this is something that they do this every day. Their comfort level and ease that they play with in all aspects of the game showed how much they involved themselves in the game.

A unique experience that we had was that the fields that we played on were extremely rough, to say the least. Most of them had very little grass on the infields were extremely uneven. Some of the hops that we got about took our heads off. Though these were poor conditions overall, it made for a very authentic experience. A couple of the fields didn't have bases that were pegged into the ground, so the bases would move when we touched them. In one instance, we were batting and hit a ground ball that ricocheted off the pitcher and was heading towards their first baseman. Their first baseman knew he did not have time to leave the base to grab the ball and get back to the base in time, so he actually dragged the base with him 2 or 3 feet so he could pick up the ball while still touching the base. The umpire actually called us out, since none of the umpires spoke English, so our coaches couldn't even go out to contest it!

Look for more reflections from the team!