January 2013 Highlights

Dear Diamonds For Cameroon Followers,

I am proud to announce that 2013 has gotten off to a great start for our baseball program. We have improved dramatically in every town with of course a few hiccups along the way.  Some of the highlights are:

Kaele: The students have organized to hold on to the equipment themselves so they can play after school every day instead of just Wednesday when I will be there for practice.

Guidiguis: We have started pitching and catching here as well as full field practice and drills. They don’t have to run conditioning if they catch their last pop fly as well.

Lara: A lot younger crowd, but also a lot more females which is very exciting.

Boyboyo: Although right now they have the least amount of players everyone is passionate and we officially have all the rules down.

Minjivin: Lot and I mean lots of kickball here. We do practice throwing and catching here, but they love playing kickball so I say why not? Also female students are a lot more involved at this high school which is the goal.

Our goal is still to hold a tournament at the end of the year. A few teams might also be walking in the parades for certain holidays such as Youth Day (Feb. 11^th) and Independence Day (May 20^th). Ideally the teams would still be practicing during summer vacation so we can play on the 4^th of July as well.

Since I have all the baseball equipment I need, I would like you to think about donating other old gear to Gloves 4 Troops (www.glovesfortroops.org).  Sports can bring us together, but also it gives us some time off from the burdens of life whether they are a Cameroonian High Schooler or a U.S. Soldier.

Sincerely,

Jack Kluesner

Play Ball!

Finally we have some pictures!

Testing out the new leather.

A quick warm-up.

Possible T-ball league participants.

Explaining rules and objectives (I am kneeling in the dirt).

More throwing.

Improving throwing.

Passing out more balls when we can't find them in the bushes.

Thank you everyone for the support.  Now it will be business as usual for me since winter break is over.  Monday I start in Boyboyo again.  I hope to have more pictures soon and more teachers collaborate soon.

If you love this project, please donate old equipment to Pitch In For Baseball!

Winter Vacation

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your patience.  We are doing well over here during cold season and it has been a lot of fun playing baseball during the sunsets.  Boboyo and Lara's teams are kicking butt, and we have already started to rock some scrimmages.  Kaele, Minjivin, and Guidiguis have taken a little bit longer for the students to catch on, but it is still just as fun or at least the students and I are laughing a lot.  We are just doing some basic drills right now, but I could use a little tuning up based on how my career ended in 9th grade house league.

I will continue to play with some, not all of the schools during the 'winter' vacation, but school starts again January 2nd, so no matter what we will be jumping right back into practice after we bring in 2013.

We do have pictures, but are bandwidth has not been great so that is why we are waiting on those right now, big shout out to my postmate, Rachel, for coming to practice and taking those.

I hope you are all safe and healthy, I am here so no need to worry.

Nous sommes ensemble,

Jack

The baseball gear has finally landed in my house!  I have never seen so many awesome and hats and jerseys.  Thank you for the donated hockey caps as well.  I always talk about my favorite sport and now I can show them some teams.  I was grateful to finally open up the first package and see the gear for myself.  I am organizing it as we speak for the 5 high schools(again Kaele, Boyboyo, Lara, Minjivin, and Guidiguis).  I decided to take a break and write this blog because it is the middle of the day and no one wants to be out in that sun.

As for the schedule for the future.  I will be organizing and calling my professors this week to set up for next week.  Right now we have a tentative plan of each day.  Each day I will arrive at a different village during the afternoon and I will be handing over the equipment to the sports professors which they will keep in their office during non-school hours.  We will also try out the equipment for the first time with the students.

Schedule:

Monday - Boyboyo (You may have seen pictures from my facebook of the crocodile lake nearby)
Tuesday - Guidiguis (A new volunteer was just posted there)
Wednesday - Kaele (My town, you can't ask for a better one except maybe Edina or Iowa City)
Thursday - Lara (My training mate, Rachel, lives here and she lives at the bottom of a beautiful mountain)
Friday - Minjivin (My favorite bike ride because of the rural towns you see)

I will always be adding more pictures, and I think we can expect some next week.  I do apologize for the lack of pictures weekly.  Technical difficulties for my technology has included losing a computer, kindle, and camera to the life of traveling, working and rain here in Cameroon.  Three volunteers are sharing one camera at the moment and another one is doing a great Worlds Aids day project this Saturday.  Check for local promotions and testing sites for your Worlds Aids Day options!

Seko Poli (Thank you very much in Mundang)

We have had a great 2 weeks here in Kaele, perfect Baseball weather and I haven't seen a drop of rain in over a month.  Our fields will be a little sandy, but maybe next year we can work on my sand trap game.  I have been to Guidiguis and Kaele(where I live) during these past 2 weeks and it has been a lot of fun.  Kickball has been easily the best way to teach the rules of the sport.  It has been great to see what I assume the students already know and what they actually know.  A few students have watched baseball games, but the basic idea of running or where to throw the ball has been a great teaching moment for me.

In other news, I met with the the Delegate of Development of Young People and Sports today.  We should be hosting sometime next January a seminar for the Sports Teachers in and around Kaele how to teach baseball to their students.  He stated it was a good opportunity to show a different sport, but also learn different ways teach.  We have a tentative date of Friday, January 11th, 2013, but as you all know things are subject to change here.

I hope to be working with him also for a baseball camp next year during the spring break.  I will be looking for students who have the passion of baseball, not just the best.

For some even more great news, my contact at the post office said the first stage of materials will arrive in Maroua on Wednesday(tomorrow).  I will going into Maroua Thursday after my business class to retrieve the equipment and finally play some ball.

Thank you for all the patience and support.  With the equipment finally here, expect some more great pictures soon.

Some of the baseball equipment to leave for Cameroon on November 1st.  Thank you Pitch In For Baseball and my friends and relatives for your equipment and shipping support

Jack with a fellow coach

Learning baseball 101

 Learning baseball 101A

Its a hit!