Doug's position as youth pastor has been expanded to include baseball coach. With 4 boys of "baseball age", he can hardly avoid it! Doug's team includes some of the boys who are in his Thursday afternoon youth group, so he already knew most of the kids. 
The first few weeks of practice were a real struggle. Just getting the kids to show up to the practices was a challenge, plus he needed to use a lot of terminology that he didn't know in Spanish and then, once they were all there, a new problem arose: not enough equipment. We pulled out all the balls, bats and gloves that we had, but even with those, we barely had enough to scrimmage. Uniforms are out of the question. Fortunately, once the games started, we discovered that most of the other teams have the same problem, so the teams share gloves during the games. Whew!
It's been fun watching the team begin to learn to work together. It's still a struggle, but it's fun. Our boys have their hands full trying to remember their "manners". What an opportunity to be lights!
One thing we've noticed which is different here from in the States: good sportsmanship. There ain't none! Well, to be totally honest, there is good sportsmanship...just not on the Boca del Rio team. So, Doug's main goals this season are to teach his team how to encourage each other, how to respect each other and how to work as a team...and hitting, catching and throwing, too. I think he's got his hands full! Pray that God would pour down grace and mercy on Doug and his team! Also pray that our boys would keep good attitudes! It's hard to keep a positive outlook when all/most of your teammates are grumbling and complaining.[and if anyone would like to help with baseball equipment, send us an email!!! :^) ] [Editor's note: Praise God! We received a gift of about a dozen gloves, a few balls and some batting helmets! Hurrah! Now everyone on the team has a glove to use and we're not so nervous about the boys getting beaned in the head by a fast pitch!!! Thanks for praying for us!]
Team Boca del Rio
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