Wow!! What a great atmosphere!! Im in the bahamas doing a free baseball clinic with Antoan Richardson for youth players ages 9-17 and the first day was electric. We had players show up in clothing that ranged from cut off jeans to full baseball uniforms, which is what I expected knowing what part of the island we were headed to. The one thing that I didn’t expect was the eagerness to learn from people they had no idea about. Keep in mind 3 of the coaches including myself were white guys from America who they knew nothing about nor never met before.
Along with the eagerness to learn they all expressed immense joy and happiness while out there. They all seemed to be so excited to be on a field – and it was just that, a field. There were no base paths, no bases, no pitchers mound, no backstop. There was literally no sign in any sort that baseball should be played on this field. But there they were at 8am full of excitement for what they day would bring.
There were players who, in my opinion, would be heavily scouted by private schools back in the states out there with players who had very little experience. Some players played on local competitive teams while others play rec ball which is expected but what I didn’t expect was the higher level players encouraging and helping the less experienced players. Usually they separate and keep to themselves, from my experience.
Another thing that stuck out to me was the politeness of every player there. It didn’t matter the age it was yes sir and thank you whenever they responded and I only heard one player say something negative to another. That usually happens every few minutes back in the states. Between all of them there seemed to be just a pure joy about being on the field and out there with everyone else and boy was it refreshing.
Andy Schindling 