History

The story of Uganda Little League Baseball starts in August of 2002 and is a story of overcoming obstacles and doing things that people said could not be done.

Richard Stanley was a volunteer sent to Uganda by ACDI/VOCA to assist the Uganda Vegetable Oil Development Project in late July 2002. While there, Mr. Christopher Gashirabake asked him if he would help start baseball in Uganda. He agreed if the government would help in building fields and not hold up the delivery of baseball equipment with taxes and duties. On his return to the U.S., he found that Little League International was willing to donate a starter kit, as was Major League Baseball, but he had to pay for the shipping from the U.S. to Uganda. With the help of the Transform Foundation, this was arranged, with the equipment leaving the U.S. in early January 2003.

Ms. Priscilla Sarah Nakibuuka, had expressed an interest in baseball to Mr. Stanley in July 2002, and now volunteered to assist in working to get Uganda Little League Baseball started. Little League International appointed her as the Country Director in the fall of 2002, and she then proceeded to convince 4 international schools in Kampala and the Sir Apollo Kaggwa school to agree to become leagues and play when the equipment arrived.

With the help of the ACDI/VOCA office in Kampala, the container with the two kits arrived in Kampala late in March 2003. The government valued the equipment at $40,000 and wanted to collect $16,000 in taxes and duties. With the help of many government officials, especially Mr. Francis Wafula at the Ugandan Mission to the UN in New York and the people he introduced us to and who we met in Kampala, Dr. Jotham Musinguzi, Mr. Moses Kaggwa, Peter Malenga, and many others, the equipment was finally freed of customs in late June 2003 and distributed to the schools. It was too late to start the schools playing for the tournaments of 2003, but they promised to start play when the schools returned later in the year.

Little League International agreed to supply two more starter kits in the fall of 2003, and Major league baseball agreed to match what they had given us in the prior year after some discussion. This time, with the help of U.S. Ambassador James Kolker and his assistant, Jack Lopinski, the container of equipment was shipped to the U.S. Embassy and arrived without trouble. Future shipments of donated baseball equipment from Little League International and Major League Baseball also were shipped through the U.S. Embassy until Ambassador Kolker and Mr. Lopinski were rotated out of Uganda in the late summer of 2005 to other posts as their normal three year assignments were finished.

The schools began to play baseball for children 12 and under in the latter part of 2003. At the International School of Uganda, which has a full size, all grass soccer field, Mr. Evan Bringham, the games master and an American, built the first backstop in Uganda at one corner of the soccer field. The two people who are most responsible for Little League Baseball succeeding in Uganda are Ms. Nakibuuka and Mr. Bringham. Ms. Nakibuuka for convincing the International School of Uganda to start baseball and Mr. Bringham for building the backstop and giving the Uganda Little League a place to hold its National tournaments which for the first time was held in June 2004.

Four leagues participated in the semifinals held at 9:30AM on opposite corners of the soccer field. The championship game followed, and the Heritage School defeated the International School of Uganda for the title. The Kabila School defeated the Sir Apollo Kaggwa School in the consolation game. The Heritage School now had the right to play for the European/Middle East/Africa Little League Regional title which is held in Kutno, Poland each July. The problem was that they had to pay their way there and for $30,000 in travel cost, that did not happen.

The success of the Little League program in 2004, and the arrival of new equipment in 2004, allowed the program to expand to 11 leagues for the 2005 tournament. More equipment arriving in 2005, allowed us to expand to 15 leagues for the 2006 season, and for the first time, we held a tournament for 13-14 year olds, in addition to the third 12 and under tournament. The lack of money to pay for the travel to play in the European/Middle East/Africa tournaments continues to keep the championship teams at home. The schedule for the 2007 season has eight tournaments scheduled for June 2007. We will hold tournaments for 12 and under, 13-14, 15-16 and 17-18 in baseball and also in softball. The first half will be played at the International School of Uganda during June 16 and June 17. The latter four tournaments for the older children will be played in Jinja during June 23 and 24^th.

Elimination tournaments will be played during the early weeks of June to get each tournament to the 4 semifinalists that will be playing on the above dates. Uganda Little League Baseball has now expanded to 25 leagues covering baseball and softball from ages 6 to 18. While our goal is to expand to 100 leagues over the next several years, the major thing holding us back is the lack of equipment and money to obtain it, ship it and to distribute it. While the equipment is meant to start leagues, almost all of our leagues need funds to obtain new equipment to maintain their programs. Baseball equipment is difficult to find and very expensive to buy in Uganda.

With the departure of our helpful contacts in the U.S. Embassy, Uganda Little League Baseball has been very fortunate to be getting great assistance from several people in the Ugandan Ministry of Sports, the National Council of Sports, and other Ministries. We first met Mr. Apitta Omara in 2005. Mr. Okello Oryem and Mr. Jasper Aligawesa about the same time. It is a result of their efforts and encouragement that we were able to receive the latest and largest shipment of donated equipment to ever be shipped to Uganda Little League without encountering problems with duties and taxes. They have also been most helpful in allowing Little League Baseball to expand to large schools in Lira, Luwero and Mbarara this past spring.

In August 2006, Major League Baseball gave Uganda Little League Baseball $15,000 to help level fields and install backstops. With that money, we have leveled five fields and will be installing several backstops. We hope Major League Baseball will grant additional funds to continue to make playing fields available.

In October 2006, due to a generous donor, Uganda Little League Baseball purchased 40 acres of land near Kampala to build a central complex of at least 6 fields to host National and International Tournaments. We are now in the process of seeking additional funding to actually build the fields, and then eventually dormitories to house the visiting teams so that week long tournaments can be held with as many as 12 to 16 teams playing everyday. We expect to finish the fields by the end of 2007. The cost for building the fields is approximately $350,000. The dormitories needed will cost an additional $300,000.

At the Little League International Congress held in Houston, Texas in mid April 2007, Uganda Little League Baseball, joining with South Africa, Ghana and Burkina Faso, formed a committee to coordinate the development of Little League Baseball in Africa. Some of the five year goals are to expand into 30 countries and to host All African Tournaments at all age levels in baseball and softball with the winners coming to the U.S. every August to play for the World Championships. We will need large quantities of equipment, corporate sponsorships, many trained coaches and umpires and many volunteers to make this happen. Uganda Little League Baseball has over come many obstacles in its short 5 year history, this is just a few more.

For the first time in the more than 75 year history of Little League Baseball, an African team will travel to Europe to play in a Little League Regional Tournament. The winners of these regional tournaments travel to the U.S. to play for the World Championships every August. That will be the dream of the 12 players, age 12 and under, and the 5 adults making up the traveling squad that will step off the plane in Warsaw, Poland on July 21. They will then travel by bus to the Europe/Middle East/Africa Regional Headquarters in Kutno, Poland where the tournament will be held.

For the Uganda team, there will be a lot of firsts. They are scheduled to land at Brussels at 6 AM after their almost 9 hour overnight flight from Entebbe Airport. There they will step on European soil for the first time prior to boarding their plane for Warsaw a little after 9AM. For all but the country director, this will conclude their first flights in a jet plane. When they get to Kutno, they will see a real baseball field with grass for the first time, and be able to practice on it before the actual tournament games commence on July 24^th.

Ms. Priscilla Sarah Nakibuuka, the Uganda Country Director will be leading the adult contingent of Washington Mugzrawa, the Head Master and President of the Reverend John Foundation Primary School Little League, Owarra Deusdedit and George Mukhobe, coaches of the team, and Paul Kataregga, Uganda Little League Vice President. Aside from getting the players to Poland, they are also seeing for the first time a real baseball field in person, and this is very important for them as they are all involved with building a complex in Uganda similar to the one in Kutno with the hope that Uganda will be able to host this tournament next July.

Getting to Poland for an African team involves overcoming many obstacles. In Uganda’s case, the airfare of $25,000US, plus the need for a visa for each traveler of $100US which had to be obtained in Kenya, since Poland does not have an embassy in Uganda, prevents all African Little League programs from traveling to Europe. Little League hosts regional tournaments for boys and girls from age 12 and under thru age 18, or eight tournaments every July, with the winners going to the U.S. The U.S. trips are paid for by Little League International, but the local leagues must pay their way to the regional tournaments. If Uganda would send eight teams to Europe, the cost would be well over $200,000 per year just in travel expenses. Where the average family monthly income for a school teacher is less than $200 per month, it is obvious why no African team has traveled to Europe in past years.

It is the hope of Uganda Little League Baseball to build its complex in time to host all the eight regional tournaments starting in 2009 so that more African Countries can play in them without having the expense of having to travel to Europe. Kutno was built for a little less than $2 million and Uganda Little League Baseball is trying to raise that money now so that many African teams of boys and girls, from all over the continent, can have the chance to make their dream a reality of playing for the World Championships in the U.S. every August.

We have been notified by Little League International that our proposal to host the Middle East/Africa Regional Tournament was not successful. Our proposal can be viewed at www.baseballforgood.org This year, as in last year, the Middle East/Africa Regional Tournament will be held in Kutno, Poland, the last week in July. As this is written, the tournament will have only the three Middle East teams it had last year. Uganda will not go this year, and instead will put the $35,000 travel costs into building the dorms at the Uganda Little League Baseball complex. At this moment, no African teams will be participating in Kutno because of cost and visa problems, instead, Little League International has suggested that Uganda host an All African Tournament. We have agreed to host it the first week in August.

The only problem at this moment is that the winner of the All African Tournament will have to return home, instead of going to Williamsport for the Little League World Series. Without the World Series Trip as the reward for winning, I am not sure how many, if any African teams will participate in the All Africa Tournament. Little League International assures us that they will send out the invitation, and hopefully, we do get participation of African Countries. We will be able host up to 16 teams in our newly built dorms. The Ugandan Government has indicated that they would make this into a National Event if it is held the first week in August. What we proposed in our bid to host the Middle East/Africa Tournament will be what we will do in hosting the All Africa Tournament.

As a result of the annual meeting of Uganda Little League Baseball that took place in January in Kampala, the schedule for the National Tournaments in baseball and softball has been set. Each tournament will take place at the new Little League Complex in Mipigi District during the weeks indicated on the home page. The length of each tournament will depend upon how many teams come to the complex. By early May, two dormitories will be finished. Each dorm will have 8 team rooms for 14 participants and also adjoining rooms to house 3 coaches. Up to 14 players and 3 coaches for each team will be housed and fed during the tournaments. Bunk beds with mattresses will be supplied. Each team member and coach will be expected to bring their own sheets and pillow cases and blankets. The tournaments length will depend upon how many teams will come for each tournament. We expect that each team will play at least one game every day of the tournament. The tournaments are expected to all end on the Sunday. Each tournament will be at least 4 days long, or could run as long as 7 days. We expect each league to let us know no later than April 15, 2009 of their intention to come to the complex to participate. Each team will then be issued a formal invitation to attend the tournaments they are qualified to attend and the date each tournament will start. All the teams are expected to arrive before 5PM on the day before their first scheduled game.

This year, for the first time, we are asking that each league supply us with the names of all players playing baseball or softball at each age. These rosters can always be added to as the year progresses, but we want to make sure that every player who comes to the tournament is on the league's roster of possible players and has played for that league. Any player not on the roster submitted during the playing season by April 30, will not be allowed to play in the tournaments. Remember, it is the responsibility of each team that if they win and go on to Regional Tournament play, each player of that team must have proof of their age before they will be allowed to play in the Regional Tournament. For boys, it is the age they are on April 30, 2009. For girls it is the age they are on December 31, 2008.

May 2009

This month marks several significant events. We will be hosting 8 tournaments starting in May and ending mid June. For the very first time, we will have teams of boys and girls in the 17-18 age group playing in tournaments, along with the 15-16s, the 13-14s and the 12 and under group. They will be playing on the fields that we have been working on for the past several months. Field one and two are the ones with grass. We brought over and planted Blue Grass seed on both infields to see how it makes out in Uganda in January. The outfields of these two fields have grass plugs planted, which is the normal way of planting grass in Uganda. Both fields are for Little League 12 and under baseball and girls softball. Both these fields are 250 feet down the lines, and currently, since we have no fencing around them, about 330 feet to centerfield. We had applied for money to fence our fields from the Baseball Tomorrow Fund, but were informed, as of the first week in May, that we were not approved to receive a grant. For the time being, we will play without fencing.

Fields 3, 4, and 5 will be used to host the older boys baseball tournaments. Field 3 and 4 have dimensions of 330 feet down the lines and 400 feet to centerfield, but with no grass and no fences. Any ball that rolls past the outfielders will drop off the playing surface and be declared a ground rule double, until we can get fences up. If the umpires see the ball disappear without a bounce, it will be a home run. We will have some fun. Field five, has foul lines of 300 feet and centerfield about 400 feet, but also has no fences at the moment, or grass. We still have lots of work to do.

At this time, we expect 5 teams of boys and 4 teams of girls playing in the 17-18 tournaments. We expect 8 boys and 4 girl teams playing in the 15-16 age group, but 6 boys and only 2 girl teams in the 13-14 age group. We expect 8 boys and 5 girl teams playing in the 12 and under tournaments.

It appears we will be hosting an All African Tournament for boys 12 and under during the first week in August. We have been told that teams will be coming to Uganda from Ghana, Sudan, Tanzania, and Kenya, and possibly from Cameroon. Others may also come.

Arriving in Uganda on May 26 and staying for 4 weeks will be two gentlemen who will be doing some filming to be used in making a 5 or 10 minute short that might be used to get funding for a full length documentary film that will cover what we are doing in Uganda regarding baseball. If they get the funding, they will cover our January clinic with the MLB Envoy program. the every three year International Little League world meeting in Lexington, Ky. next March, our National Tournaments next May and June, hopefully the Middle East/Africa Tournament, if it is played in Uganda next year, and the Little League World Series that we hope a Uganda team might be able to play in.

Uganda Little League held the annual National Little League Championship Tournaments from May 28 thru June 14, 2009. We started with the 13-14 year olds, went to the 17-18 year olds, then the 15-16 year olds and finally the 11-12 year olds. Each tournament was four days of playing games, and required the teams to play 4 games in the first three days and then the consolation games and championship games were played on the fourth day. We had teams come from the west, Mbarara, the north, Lira and Luwero, and the east, Jinja, besides Kampala. The games were being filmed by a team from New York looking to produce a 5 or 10 minute video that will be used to raise money for a full length documentary film which will be shot over the next 14 months. The expectation is that they will follow a player through the coaches training program that Major League Baseball will conduct at the complex in January 2010, the National Tournament to be held next June, the Middle East/Africa Little League Regional Tournament next July, and hopefully on to the Little League World Series next August. We will let you know when it is done and when it might be appearing in a theater near you.

For the first time, we held a tournament for 17 and 18 year olds this year. Our biggest disappointment during our tournaments was the lack of girl softball teams that came. While a team of 17-18 year olds wanted to come, we could not get a team for them to play against. Therefore, we asked them not to come this year. The same thing was true for the 11-12 year olds and the 13-14 year old girls. The only girl tournament held this year was for the 15-16 year olds. The girl tournaments were to be held at the same time as the boys tournaments of the same age group. We will now work on getting more girl teams playing in time for next year and the future.

During the first week of August, we will be hosting an All Africa Tournament for 11 and 12 year old boys. We will be hosting teams from Tanzania, South Sudan, and Kenya. Teams from Cameroon and Ghana have indicated their desire to participate, but were uncertain about their funding. Hopefully they will come. The championship game for this tournament will be held on August 8, 2010.

Now that the complex has several fields to play on, local children have come to the fields and have asked if they could learn to play. We are now working with the local population to form the Mpigi Little League, which will be open to girls and boys of all ages. We will keep you informed about our progress with this league.

We expect that next year, Rwanda will be join us in this tournament along with Burundi, as they have both contacted Uganda to help them get started with baseball and softball. Uganda's goal is to make this tournament into the Regional Little League Middle East/Africa tournament with the winner going to the Little League World Series at the end of August.

November 2009

South Africa has informed us that they intend to come to Uganda to play in the Middle East/Africa Regional Little League Tournament for boys ages 11 and 12 during late July or early August 2010 if it is played in Uganda instead of Europe. They will join Cameroon, Kenya, South Sudan and Tanzania who have also indicated that they will send teams only if it is played in Uganda. This is great news for what we are doing in Uganda. We also know that Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Dubai will attend if it is played in Uganda or Europe. Rwanda and Burundi have also indicated that they would like to field a team, and we also expect several other African countries to join us if it is played in Uganda. This puts a lot of pressure on Little League International to award the tournament to Uganda, but it also puts pressure upon Uganda to make sure the facility if built and operational to current western standards. We need to not only finish the second dorm and make sure the guest house operates as a luxury hotel, but we also have to make sure we can feed and maintain up to 250 players and 50 coaches for about 8 days of the tournament. We will be needing money and people to do the many jobs, including transport to the complex and maintenance of the facility.

As we already mentioned, Uganda will be hosting two training sessions in January. Each one will be lasting 8 days and the second session will be a repeat of the first one. The purpose of the sessions is to train coaches on how to coach baseball and softball. We expect to host around 50 people from Eastern Africa during each session. There is no charge for the sessions or room and board, all they have to do is show up on time. The first session starts on January 15th and the second on January 24th. The training will be done by two envoys sent and paid for by Major League Baseball. All the trainees are expect to arrive the afternoon before each session begins. Little League International will be using these two trainers from MLB to evaluate our facility to determine if it is suitable to host the Middle East/Africa Regional Tournament scheduled for late July or early August in 2010. That means we will know if Uganda will host the tournament sometime around the early part of February 2010.

In March, we expect to be attending the Little League World Congress that is held every three years. This one will be in Lexington, Ky during the middle of March. We expect the Little League Africa Committee will be meeting face to face during the congress for the first time since it was formed 3 years ago at the last congress in Houston, Texas. At the meeting we will be working on getting several of the Little League European/Middle East/Africa tournaments for the older players, 17-18 year olds and 15-16 year olds in baseball and girls softball to be played in Uganda in 2010 or future years. We are working very hard on breaking Africa away from Europe and we can do it. The biggest problem facing us is once again money. Little League International pays for the regional winners to come to the World Championships every year, and in our estimate, it would cost them to send the eight teams from Africa to the U.S. every year about $1 million. Little League International needs money to do this, as does the African Little League programs for equipment and travel to the regional tournaments. If anyone knows how we can get this assistance, kindly let Little League International, the African Committee of Little League, or this web site how they can help.

December 2009

During December, the U.S. Coordinator traveled to Dubai for meetings with Dubai Little League, and then to Indianapolis, Indiana for the Annual Winter Baseball meetings. In Dubai, it was suggested that if Uganda hosts the Middle East/Regional Tournament, moving it to mid June would attract several other countries, namely Egypt, Pakistan and others. Mr. Anthony Collins of Dubai will be following up with these countries and keep us informed about the possibilities. We had a very nice reception in Dubai. Meanwhile, we continue to make great progress with Major League Baseball. At the Winter Meetings, Mr. Dave Dombrowski, President and General Manager of the Detroit Tigers, Mr. Roland Hemond, Special Assistant to the President of the Arizona Diamond Backs and Mr. Joseph Reaves, Director, International Operations for the Los Angeles Dodgers are now joining with Uganda Little League Baseball to get on going support for the project from Major League owners, Administrators and even players. They are telling our story and encouraging support from the people they deal with on a regular basis. They will assist us in funding, equipment support and in training players and coaches. The January program that is discussed below, is just the beginning.

February 2010

The first month of the new year has seen some very significant progress made in Uganda baseball. Starting on Saturday, January 16, 33 want to be coaches of baseball and softball arrived at the complex. Pat Doyle and Tom Gillespie, the two Major League Baseball instructors had already arrived late on Friday night. After everyone settled down in the dorms, with Pat and Tom at the guest house, the classes began promptly at 8:30 every morning for the next 7 days. Lunch was from 12:30 to 2PM, and diner from 6 to 7:30. Each day ended with a short session from 7:30PM to about 8:15, followed by a hollywood comedy. By the end of the program, would be coaches had been shown all aspects of fielding, throwing, hitting, running and playing the game in a classroom setting, watching the game played on the field and actually playing a softball game every afternoon from 4:30 to 6PM. They had a wild celebration on the Friday night when certificates were handed out and went home Saturday afternoon knowing all aspects of the game.

On Saturday, January 23, the second group of 30 arrived. The same procedures were followed for them as the first group. The only difference was that from Sunday, January 17 thru Monday, January 25, a game was played every day by players age 16-19, while from Thursday, January 21 thru Saturday, January 30, a game was also played by children age 10 thru 12. Anytime a future coach wanted to see baseball being played by someone, all they had to do was look out the window and go to the field. The one sad event happened just after Pat and Tom had instructed the players on calling each other off on fly balls to the short outfield. The game that followed had a terrible collision between the center fielder and the shortstop, both going after the same short fly ball. The shortstop was back playing the next day, despite the concussion and stitches in his lip from where his teeth broke thru the skin. At the time it was ugly, but everything worked out fine. The clinics had men and women representatives from Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Congo, South Sudan and representatives from all over Uganda. With the players and coaches, we were housing and feeding at one time about 100 people for a period of 5 days. Everyone had a wonderful time.

On Monday, January 25, contracts were signed by Clive Russell of the MLB London office and NTV to broadcast Major League Baseball games on a delayed basis starting on Saturday morning, Feb. 6. Major League Baseball will now be seen throughout Uganda on NTV every Saturday morning from 9-11AM and every Sunday from 11-noon. The best game of the prior week will be shown every Saturday once the regular season begins in April, in the meantime, we will be showing the playoff games and World Series games of 2009. Boys and girls, men and women will now be able to see and learn about the game of baseball on free television wherever electricity is available. In addition, the nightly sports news will begin to cover Major League Baseball and Ugandan baseball and softball as part of their routine news coverage.

In late 2009, three Ugandan baseball clubs started to play every weekend. It is expected that this will expand to 4, and eventually 6 and then 8 clubs in the near future. It is from this program that an eventual National Team will be selected to represent Uganda in International competition. Uganda Little League wishes to see this program continue to develop and will certainly supply a home for the entire program if they desire. The Kenyan representative at our coaches clinic wants to start competition in several month at the complex. We may wind up hosting best of 7 International Tournaments between Uganda, Kenya, South Africa and other African nations as early as later this year.

The next big question is what happens to the Middle East/Africa Little League Regional Tournament for boys age 11-12? We expect to hear about this in the near future. We look forward to hosting the tournament this year, but that is not yet certain. We should know in a couple of weeks. We spent time with people from the American Embassy who came out to visit us in January. They were very impressed by our complex and expressed a desire to bring embassy people to come to the complex for a picnic and a day of softball. We are also working with them to make sure the team that wins the hoped for tournament in July has no problem getting visas for the travel to the Little League World Series within a day of their victory.

March 2010

Uganda needs $35,000 US to play in the Middle East/Africa tournament this July. ARAMCO oil, alias Saudi Arabia Little League has Little League International tell African teams that if you want to play in the Middle East/Africa Regional tournament for boys age 11-12, they will have to come up with about $35,000US.

The every three year Little League Congress has just concluded in Lexington, Kentucky. Uganda, representing the wishes of Kenya, Tanzania and South Sudan who all had the hope of playing in the Middle East/Africa Regional Tournament with the winner going to the World Series this August have had their dreams shattered. For three years, Uganda has been fighting to have this tournament played in Uganda. In 2007, we were told the tournament had to be played in Poland because there was no place that could house it in Africa. In early 2009, we were told that the tournament would still be played in Poland because in Little League's opinion, our facility would not be ready, instead you could host an All Africa Tournament expecting that it would never happen. Much to Little League's surprise, Uganda did host the tournament for a full week and Tanzania, Kenya and South Sudan came and played. Knowing the the Uganda facility was going to be totally finished early in 2010, Kenya, Tanzania, and South Sudan chartered with Little League with the dream of playing in the Middle East/Africa tournament, expecting it to be held at the brand new complex in Uganda. Now, in order to live that dream, Little League International has once again told African teams it will cost you $35,000 to partake in the tournament because it will once again be held in Poland. That is the cost to bring 14 players and 3 coaches to Poland, pay for the visas that the EU will do its best not give, and for food and other items. Basically, an entry fee.

Why is this tournament still in Poland? No delegate at the recently concluded Little League Congress can figure out how Little League can put a Middle East/Africa tournament in Europe when Europe has nothing to do with the tournament. It is the equivalent of having the Canadian Regional Championship played in the Caribbean Region. What did come out at the Congress was the fact that ARAMCO Little League, alias Saudi Arabia refuses to play in Africa because they claim it is too dangerous. When a Little League Official at the meeting that Uganda thought would determine where the tournament would be held was asked, "If the 9 chartered African countries voted to play in Uganda and the three Middle East chartered countries voted not to, where would the tournament be held?" The answer was quick. "In Poland." While the African countries still thought the decision regarding location had not been made, it comes out that it was decided back in December and this entire show was a charade.

At the meeting, the Kuwait representative expressed a desire to visit Uganda. He believes that he will also come with the Dubai representative, who did not attend the congress but in earlier conversations had indicated his desire to also come and play in Uganda. Since it is so hot in the Middle East in July, they are thinking of bringing their tournament teams to Uganda to play and practice in a better environment. We have agreed to work this out, probably the second week in July. Uganda will once again, on its own, host our All Africa Tournament and now Kuwait and Dubai might join that tournament early in July.

Ms. Nakibuuka, our country director was very disturbed when she heard the Regional tournament would once again be back in Poland. She firmly believes that we are forced to go in order to demonstrate that we will advance the baseball program in Uganda beyond the national tournaments and into the International Lime Light. It will help with the government and the media. Therefore, we now must find the $35,000US to get the team to Poland and once again fight the battle with the Polish embassy in Kenya over giving our children the visas they need to get there. The problem now is where do we get the $35,000. That amount of money could buy more than 16,000 baseballs or over 1,000 gloves, which is more gloves than currently exist in Uganda. We could greatly expand the number of children playing baseball in East Africa. Where does this leave Kenya, Tanzania and South Sudan. The real question is how does ARAMCO exert such power over Little League International, that no matter what they want or do, is perfectly fine with Little League International, even though it will hinder children of East Africa from getting the chance to play the game due to lack of equipment. Every reason that the delegates at the conference could come up with to explain this decision, all had a strange odor about them. It would be unfortunate if any of them were true. I just hope it is because they are afraid that a Ugandan team will beat them if they played. That is another reason we must go to Poland. We will prove that no matter what kind of entry fee you put before us, you cannot run away and hide. We will come and get you. We could use everyone's help in funding this trip. Donations should be made to 303 Development Corp., which is a 501 c 3 not for profit in the U.S. where every cent goes to assist the Uganda Little League Baseball program.

May 2010

Uganda is preparing to send its 11-12 year old country champion to the" Middle East/Africa" Regional Little League Tournament in Kutno, Poland starting July 21. We have to be in Kutno by the morning of July 20. Due to capacity restrictions and cost factors, the Ugandan team will be leaving from Entebbe Airport late on July 16 with the expectation of arriving in Warsaw, Poland early in the afternoon of July17. We will then have to make our way the 50 miles or so west to Kutno, where the tournament will be held. This will be an interesting adventure. At the time this is written, we are being told that Kutno will only house the players from July 18 on. If that is true, we will have to now find a hotel in Warsaw to stay the night of July 17. More cost. It is now estimated that the total cost for this trip will be about $40,000 which includes travel, visa fees, meals, insurance etc. We have to tell the other seven Ugandan Championship teams of boys and girls ages 11-12, 13-14, 15-16 and 17-18 that they cannot participate in their regional tournaments because to do so would cost an additional $280,000. All this is because Saudi Arabia (almost all Americans) refuse to play baseball or softball anywhere in Africa and Little League International sacrifices Africa to benefit them. Little League has made the $40,000 the cost to enter the European/Middle East/African regional tournaments for each African Little League team, and then wonders why no African teams come to play.

It is everyone's goal at Ugandan Little League to win this tournament and represent Uganda and the rest of Africa at the Little League World Series. We are not sure if that will happen, but we will do our best. The boys and girls age 11-12 tournaments are scheduled to run from June 10 thru 13. They will be the last of the 8 National Championship tournaments this year. Once they have concluded, we will immediately begin the visa process. The EU visas will have to be obtained from the Polish Embassy in Kenya. We have been told that it will more difficult to obtain these visas than in 2008 when it took us 3 weeks and many road blocks to finally get the visas at the very last minute. Should we be delayed in getting these visas, we will lose the $30,000 in plane fare we have already paid on non refundable tickets and not get to Poland.

The Trenton Thunder, as they have done since 2004 have once again supplied us with uniform shirts and hats for the championship team. The shirts are better than the ones that the team wore for the first African team to play in a European Regional tournament in 2008. This time they all are numbered. In 2008, they would not let us play unless all the players were numbered. We accomplished that by using tape to make numbers that only had straight lines by using the numerals 1,2,4,and 7 and various combinations of them. In addition to the numbers, every shirt has "Uganda" printed on the sleeve. Everyone in attendance will know where this team comes from. In addition, there is a special shirt made up for the country director, Ms Priscilla Sarah Nakabuuka so everyone will know who is in charge of this operation.

$35,000 Needed to send Ugandan team to Poland this July

$35,000 is needed so that the Uganda boys age 11-12 can go to Poland to play in the Middle East/Africa Regional Tournament. Donations can be sent to 303 Development Corp at 366 Ardsley Street, Staten Island, N.Y. 10306. All funds raised will go to support the travel costs of the Uganda Little League team. They will leave Uganda on or about July 18 and return from Poland about July 27, 2010.
Please note this ad is placed here for it's historical value, we did raise the $35,000.00 and we did go to Poland in July of 2010.

July 2010

Starting in late May and continuing thru June 13, 2010, Uganda hosted its eight Little League National Championship Tournaments at the complex. Each tournament took place over a four day period. Every team played at least 4 games during their stay. Teams came from as far west as Bushenyi and as far east as Torero. Lira could not send a team to compete in any of our tournaments because of travel costs. This continues to be a problem in getting more teams to play in the National Tournaments. We will be working on getting sponsorships to pay for travel costs of some teams in the future.

Every National Champion has the opportunity to play in the Little League Regional Tournaments, but unfortunately, all those tournaments continue to be held in Europe, which means each team we send would have to come up with the $40,000 entry fee, (travel costs) that Little League continues to impose upon African teams by refusing to allow any of these tournaments to be held in Africa. At this moment, Uganda has built the facility at our Little League complex to host these tournaments, but as of yet, none of them will be played in Uganda this year.

Starting on July 4, 2010 Uganda will host an African tournament for boys 11-12. We know teams from Tanzania, Kenya and South Sudan will once again travel to the complex to play a full 7 days of baseball, just as they did last August. These three teams thought they might be playing in the Middle East/Africa tournament this July, but unfortunately, they will not be able to travel to Poland because they do not have the $40,000 entry fee Little League International is charging them and no matter who wins this tournament, only Uganda will be traveling to Poland.

On the evening of July 16, the Uganda 11-12 boys team will board a SN Brussels Air Plane to begin their trip to Kutno, Poland. They will fly to Brussels and land there about 6AM on July 17. They will then fly to Warsaw and arrive there at 3:10PM on July 17 and board a bus for the two hour ride to Kutno. SN Brussels Airline has been most helpful in working with us on getting us the best fare and allowing us to wait until our tournament was over before submitting the names of the passengers for the tickets. Not every airline would do this.

The tournament will begin play on July 20. We believe at this time that South Africa, Kuwait, Dubai and Saudi Arabia will join Uganda in this tournament. The winner will be going to play in the Little League World Series in mid August. In order to prepare for the possible trip to the U.S., the traveling party had to apply for their U.S. visas in mid June, even though we may never need them. Should we win in Poland, Mr. John Hoover at the U.S. Embassy, who has been a big help to us, has arranged for the entire traveling party to go to the Embassy for the visa interview as a group shortly after they return to Uganda on July 27.

As you may be aware of, Opposite Field Productions has been filming in Uganda the Little League program since last June. They will be following the team to Poland and have informed us that they expect to film each game Uganda plays in with three cameras. They have also attempted to work out an arrangement where they will edit the game film of each day and try and send it back to NTV and UBS, two television stations in Uganda, in time so that they can show the film on their evening news programs. Both stations have covered our tournament play and featured the results on the evening broadcast, including the news programs that they also broadcast in the native language.

NTV has been broadcasting a Major League Baseball game every Sunday from 8AM to 11AM. During the two Sundays that our tournaments were being played on, we had as many as 50 players watching the game on the television set in the Guest House. NTV is very happy with the ratings, which have gone up since the baseball programming started back in February with games from last fall. MLB's London office selects a game played during the week, puts it on a disc and sends it to Uganda to be shown on the Sunday. People are learning about baseball as a result. They know it is an American game, but it has never received any coverage in any media until now, other than cable television, which is expensive in Uganda and only shows the live ESPN games that start at 3AM in the morning Uganda time.

During the tournaments, we once again ran the Pitch, Hit and Run program sponsored by Major League Baseball and Aquafina. We had winners in the 13-14 and 11-12 age group. Unfortunately, our winners only get the ribbons and do not get a chance to compete at their local Major League Ball Park, nor the Major League All Star Game. But they do have a good time cheering for their teammates, as each team at each tournament selects three players in each event to represent their team. The winners pictures will be posted on the web site shortly.

Middle East/Africa Regional Tournament, July 2010
Failure of Little League Officials in Poland and Williamsport to understand And Communicate Tie Breaker Rule costs Uganda trip to Little League World Series

All the people involved in baseball in Kutno Poland recognized that Uganda was the best baseball team they had seen in years and had the best chance of competing, and possibly winning the Little League World Series this August. Unfortunately, they will be home instead of being in Williamsport. The story of how this happens is as follows.

The Uganda Little League Team left Entebbe Airport on the evening of Friday, July 16, 2010. It arrived in Warsaw at 3:30PM on July 17 and proceeded to Kutno, arriving at about 6:30PM. The team practices on Sunday and Monday and submits the passports and birth certificates to the Kutno Administration upon its arrival. On Monday morning, it is discovered that two of the 12 players are considered 10 year olds and will not be allowed to play. This is an error on Uganda's part as based upon our 2008 experience when 6 of the 12 players that came to Poland that year were considered 10 year olds. At that time, Uganda thought players had to be 12 or under. They were allowed to play in 2008, but not in this year. Unfortunately, when the passports for the players were obtained in late June, the players were 11 years old, but on April 30, they were 10. Uganda's mistake. Since they were already in Kutno, Uganda was told that they could not play. Uganda was down to 10 players and all the teams in Kutno knew what happened. To keep the players with the team, the two 10 year olds were used as third base coaches during the games. This will come into play shortly.

The tournament begins with a coaches, umpires and league administrators meeting on Tuesday evening. Schedule, times, rules and administration procedures are discussed in some detail. Uganda asks that the tie breaker rule be reviewed. The Chief Umpire and Regional Administrator say it is clearly covered in the rule book on page T28. This will also come into play shortly.
Uganda plays its first game against South Africa on Wednesday. They give up a bottom of the first inning home run to fall behind 1-0 and then win the game 12-4, hitting 5 home runs from 5 different players. Everyone is surprised at the fielding and throwing ability of the team as all teams are scouting everyone else. The second game is against Dubai and Uganda wins by a score of 13-3 on Wednesday morning. That evening, they play the second game of the day at 6:30PM.

This is necessary as the schedule calls for everyone to play 4 games in 3 days. This game is against Saudi Arabia, a team that is arrogant and nasty to everyone and a team that hasn't lost in Poland in over 25 years. Uganda wins by a score of 9-3 and ends the game with a pitcher to home to first to third triple play, after they had walked the bases loaded and forced in a run. This shocks everyone in the skill in which it was done. Everyone is cheering the victory. People drive out from town upon hearing the results. Hotel people are happy, and everyone is congratulating the Uganda kids. The nasty part of this game is that the Saudi Team, in the 6th inning, protests the game because we had a 10 year old coaching third base. In their opinion, he had so much skill he influenced the outcome of the came. Because it is Saudi Arabia, Little League entertains the protest even though its own rules on page T11, say that the protest must be made to the umpire in chief at once. Saudi Arabia knew, as did everyone playing in the games, that the 10 year olds had been coaching 3rd base from our first game on. Therefore, the protest should have been made as soon as the 10 year old showed up in the coaching box, at the start of the bottom of the first inning. The result is the 10 year olds are not allowed anywhere on the field or in the dugout, and one of our two coaches is suspended for our next and final game, and cannot even watch the game from the stands.

On Friday, Uganda plays the very last game of pool play against our last opponent, Kuwait, who had lost to Saudi Arabia on Thursday morning after holding the lead throughout the game until very poor play handed the game to Saudi Arabia. They have saved their best player and pitcher, a young lady, to pitch against us. She is very good. The 3PM game starts in very cool, about 57 degrees, damp and windy conditions. Our team does not play well and we are using our number 9 pitcher as most of our normal pitchers are not able to pitch this game due to the strict pitching rules of Little League. A pitcher can only pitch in one game per day, and if they throw from 21 to 35 pitches, they cannot pitch the next day, 36-50, they cannot pitch for 2 days, 51-65 they cannot pitch for 3 days, and no pitcher can pitch more than 85 pitches on any day. Uganda has used several pitches for 21-35 pitches because they do not want any pitcher to pitch every day, and thus, have no pitcher available for this game other than our 9th pitcher.

Uganda is the home team and falls behind in the 3rd inning by 8-0 due to a grand slam home run after an error and 3 walks. Lightening halts the game for 30 minutes. The team is very flat, swinging at bad pitches and letting good pitches go for called 3rd strikes. We have struck out more times in three innings than in the prior three games. In the middle of the 4th inning, the game is held up for another 35 minutes due to a thunder storm. We are now losing 9-0. In the 5th inning, we hit a home run and shortly thereafter, Kuwait's pitcher reaches the 85 pitch maximum and needs to be replaced.

Several people ask the head umpire and Administrator about the tie breaker rule. They are told it is total runs allowed divided by innings played. The two lowest numbers will go to the championship game. When the game started, Uganda had allowed 10 runs, Kuwait 14 runs, and Saudi Arabia 17 runs in 4 games. As the 6th inning is being played, Uganda has now given up 9 more runs, or is up to 19 in 4 games, higher than Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. If it wants to make it to the championship game, it needs to score at least 4 more runs because Kuwait will have only played 22 innings and Uganda will have played 23 innings due to having been involved in mercy rule games. With 2 out in the bottom of the 6th inning, Uganda scores 5 runs. Loses the game by 9-6, but is told they will be playing in the championship game on Saturday. Kuwait is unhappy, but still congratulates Uganda because Uganda has an excellent chance of winning as they are the best team and Kuwait has no one to pitch in the championship game on Saturday.

A barbeque and singing and dancing contests are held after the game and everyone comes and has a good time except Saudi Arabia, as they consider this party as beneath them. Everyone else is anticipating the championship game to be played between Uganda and Saudi Arabia on Saturday and are wishing Uganda their best, including the umpires and regional administrators.

At about 9 PM, as the party is winding down, Uganda is told they have to come to a special meeting. The Regional Administrator and the Head Umpire notify Uganda and Kuwait that Williamsport has corrected a mistake that Poland has made. Poland sends Williamsport the results of every game and also notified them about Uganda playing Saudi Arabia for the championship on Saturday. Williamsport says that the tie breaker was misunderstood in Poland and that because Uganda scored 2 or more runs with two out in the last inning, they eliminated themselves from the championship game. They say the runs per inning played number only applies to the first team into the championship game. The second team will be determined by head to head play. As a result of the Uganda Kuwait game, Saudi Arabia has the lowest run per inning ratio and Kuwait beat Uganda. If Uganda had scored no runs in the last inning, they would be playing Kuwait for the championship, but by scoring two or more runs, Kuwait will play Saudi Arabia for the championship, and the team that everyone thought was the best team, will be going home.

In summary, in doing what they were told to do to get into the championship game (score runs) by the Kutno Little League Officials, Uganda eliminated themselves from the championship, and a team that never should have been in the championship game will represent the Middle East/Africa region in Williamsport. You cannot make this stuff up.

October 2010 - Modern Breast Cancer Imaging Clinic to be built at Baseball complex.

Uganda Little League has formally partnered with the Uganda Cancer Research Foundation and the Technicsan Medical group to build the most modern western breast imaging clinic in the world. This clinic will set the standard for detecting the early onset of breast cancer world wide. It will also be part of the future research on combating the development of breast cancer. The anticipated start up is scheduled for late June 2011 depending upon the availability of the scanning instruments from Techniscan.

The formal proposal states that UCRF(USA), UCRF(Uganda), Techniscan Medical, and Uganda Little League Baseball join together to plan, build and operate a Medical Clinic for the main purpose of Breast cancer screening and diagnosis. The Clinic will guarantee the best treatment for women diagnosed with breast cancer by leading breast cancer surgeons and medical oncologist in Uganda at a leading hospital. The guarantee will be established through a memorandum of understanding with the clinicians and the hospital. The Clinic will be built on Uganda Little League land about 20 kilometers west of Kampala.

Uganda Little League has some land that it will not be using. The medical clinic will also have a first aid function for the local village and for participants in Little League baseball and softball tournaments. A doctor and nurse will always be available right on the baseball complex property during every event that is held at the complex and the eventual school, when the school is built.

UCRF obtains the most modern means of detecting early stage breast cancer and will be participants in finding the cure and prevention of breast cancer based upon the new technology that Techniscan Medical brings to the complex. Uganda doctors will be trained upon reading images that will show cancer developments much sooner than any other method available to most women in the world in a continent where it has been determined that breast cancer tends to develop about 10 years before it does in the rest of the world. By using the Techniscan instruments, doctors will be able to follow the effects different treatments have on these growths in the breast. By using modern computer networks, doctors anywhere in the world could have access to these studies and scans that will be done at the clinic. Uganda Little League is proud to be a part of this project that will do so much for combating and possibly eliminating death and disfigurement by cancer to women in Uganda.

January 2011:

In January, Uganda Little League will once again be working with Major League Baseball in running a two week program starting the middle of January 2011 at the baseball complex.

This will be a unique program. We expect to invite about 60 of the best baseball playing boys ages 14-15, with some of the best 13 year olds and also some 16 year olds to the complex starting about January 14.

We will also invite baseball coaches who currently are coaching programs in East Africa to also attend since this program is for their benefit also.

During the first 6 days, the players will be broken up into 4 teams each day and they will play a game each afternoon. During the morning, they will be going through different drills. On the evening of the 6th day, a draft will be held to formally divide the players into 4 teams that will participate in a tournament during the second week. The people doing the draft will be the people from Major League Baseball. After the draft is over, explanations will be held on the reasons why certain players were taken first, second etc. What talents were they looking for that they deemed most important and which were deemed less important.

During the second week, the teams will practice under the direction of the MLB managers who will also bring some of the East Africa Coaches into their program. Here the coaches will learn what kind of drills are to be preformed to develop the talent. A game will be played each day and here the coaches will learn how to set a lineup, handle a pitching staff and manage a game with the idea of winning a tournament title. At the end of the week, semifinal games and a championship game will be held. We hope this will be a great learning experience on managing a baseball team to win in a tournament setting and also give the players a chance to demonstrate their talent so that word can spread to the baseball world that there is great baseball talent coming up in Uganda. We would hope to continue doing this kind of a program every January.

February 2011:

January saw many things happening in Uganda. During the first half, construction on fields 3,4 and 5 was taking place. A front end loader, bull dozer and three trucks were being used to cut deeper into our hillside to expand the size of fields 3 and 4 to bring them up to 330 feet down each line and 400 feet to center field. We managed to complete the work in time for the two week clinic that the MLB Envoys would help us run from January 14 thru January 28. While fields 3 & 4 were expanded and were playable for the clinic, field 5 still needs more work done to get it playable. That will be done in the near future. Field 3 & 4, while expanded, also had new mounds put in place and, and while relatively level and playable, they still need top soil placed down and grass planted, which will happen over the next two months or so. Construction was also started in late December on a kitchen, storeroom and eating area to feed and house over 150 diners at a time protected from the sun and weather. While it was used to cook and feed over 110 people for 15 straight days, it still needs a tile floor installed for easy cleaning and the storeroom needs shelves and a locked door installed over the next couple of weeks. While incomplete at the moment, it was a huge upgrade over prior events at the complex and was well liked by everyone in attendance.

The clinic was a very interesting event. It featured over 70 players aged 13 thru 16, and over 50 other coaches and officials from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and the U.S. The guest house was home for 5 American visitors and two high level Kenya government officials. The food they ate was different from what was being served in the eating area that was feeding over 110 clinic participants. The guest house hostess added some western flavor to a variety of Uganda items, and some wine and beer was available at each diner. In addition to the two MLB Envoys who arrived the evening of January 13, Paul Post, who had written several articles for national and local newspapers, came with an assistant to see first hand what was happening in Uganda. They arrived on January 15 and returned to the U.S. on January 22. The guest house never housed as many foreign visitors as it did this January.

The players arrived on January 14 and play began the next day. Our goal was to have the best 14-15 year olds present, with a few of the best 13 year olds and to eventually break them up into 4 teams and have them play an 8 day tournament over the last week of the clinic. The coaches would learn how to handle a tournament team with the idea of winning and how to handle a pitching staff where a game had to be played every day, and you needed to win as many games possible without overworking the pitchers. While 45 players participated in this tournament on field 3 and 4, the other 25 or so less advanced, went through their own drills and played their own games on field one and two under the supervision of one of the Envoys.

Every day started with the players, on their own, out at dawn at 6:30AM, running on their own. Breakfast was at 7:30. A meeting was held at 9AM to discuss the plans and to view videos on the training topic of the day. By 10AM, everyone was on the field going thru practice of playing actual games with no inning starting after 12:15, because lunch was served at 12:30. Play and drills resumed by 2PM until about 5PM. At 5PM, a spirited softball game was played by the coaches on field one until 6PM. The first two games for the coaches, which featured 13 to 14 fielders at times and a few more batters, were "T" ball games. The subsequent games were slow pitch games with two swings the limit. We went from 6 inning games in the hour to 12 to 14 inning games by the second week. A great way for the coaches to learn first hand how to play the game. We had 6 women coaches who played every game, as they will be coaching girls softball in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Everyone had a wonderful time and the players, not being used to playing every day, much less for 8 hours every day, were getting worn down by the end of the second week. Non the less, that did not stop them from coming to the guest house at 8PM to watch more DVD's on baseball followed by movies.

Based upon our conversations with the two Envoys, we will be working on installing two batting tunnels in the courtyard of dorm 2 over the next few months. We also intend to extend the reach of our coaching abilities into the north, and the east of Uganda to concentrate on under 12 and the 13-14 year old group. We expect to have at least 6 strong leagues covering this area where we will have 60 or more excellently coached boys in each age group playing a game every week of the year. Each league will bring their best 14 players in May and August, when school is not in session, to play against the other leagues at the complex in a 2 week tournament, with a game every day. In addition, the Uganda Commissioner of Sports is in the process of starting sports schools where a secondary school will concentrate on one sport. He has asked each federation to supply coaching to teach the teachers in the school how to coach the sport that the school will specialize in. The government will supply the teachers to be trained and will build the sport infrastructure. They are asking the federations, and baseball and softball, to supply the coaching and training for teaching the game and maintaining the facility. We have volunteered to train all the schools. They want to start with 20 and go to 150 in about 3 or 4 years. How many will be baseball oriented, we have yet to hear. If this happens and we are given several of these schools, our pool of players will expand exponentially, which is what we need to happen to find the truly talented players in the country.

U.S. Embassy and Peace Corps joins Uganda Commissioner of Sports in Expanding Baseball and Softball

April 2011

During March, several significant developments took place that may prove to be major advances in giving thousands of Ugandan children the opportunity to play baseball and softball. Back in January, Uganda Little League was asked to attend the roll out of the new schools sports program of the Commissioner of Sports. The main purpose was to get the teachers to learn how to be excellent coaches for a specific sport so that they could teach the children the proper way to play that particular sport in their school. In his plan, a secondary school in each of the over 130 districts would be set up to concentrate on a particular sport. The government would provide the funding for the facilities needed and also designate the teachers to be trained to coach that sport. Annual tournaments of the schools designated for a particular sport would be held to determine National Champions. This program would start with 20 secondary schools and when proven successful, would be expanded to each district. The January meeting was aimed to get the support of the various federations to do the training of the teachers to become coaches for their sports. Baseball and softball volunteered to train the teachers in every school that the Commissioner would assign to us for baseball and softball. Of the 20 federations at the meeting, only two other federations offered to assist without asking for government money. If the Commissioner gives us 10% of the schools, baseball would expand by 25,000 players or more.

We would be able to train the teachers by using our existing coaches in conjunction with the MLB Envoy program we run every January. On March 22, we met with the Peace Corps Associate Director - Education and the Programming and Training Officer. We explained to them about the Sports Commissioner's ideas. We also suggested that Peace Corp volunteers would be perfect trainers of these teachers in the various sports the Commissioner would like the teachers trained in. We found out, that one of the missions of the Peace Corps in Uganda is to develop sports programs in the schools. They admitted that they have not had too much success in this mission over the last two years in motivating the schools to do this. But now comes the Sports Commissioner's program that address the very problem the Peace Corps was having a hard time solving. We have now put them together and we have also offered to assist in the training via our own programs.

Enter the Embassy. During the middle of March, a softball tournament was held amongst several teams, of which one was from the U.S. Embassy. The Deputy Chief of Mission threw out the first pitch. I had an opportunity, as did several other people, to talk to her about baseball in Uganda. A subsequent newspaper article with her picture on it indicated that she was very happy to see baseball and softball expanding in Uganda. The Peace Corps supposedly meets with the embassy every week. The Peace Corps people were going to bring up the topic of them possibly joining with the Commissioner of Sports to expand sports into the areas of Uganda where the Peace Corps operates. We would also hope that the Embassy might aid the Peace Corps in this program by possibly supplying baseball equipment where needed. If all goes well, Uganda Little League has the facilities to house and host National tournaments of all ages in baseball and softball. We can have hundreds of truly trained coaches supported by the government, the Peace Corps, Major League Baseball and possibly the U.S. Embassy coaching many thousands of children in how to play and getting them the chance to play this great game of baseball and softball on a National Level. If all goes as planned, the Dominican Republic may no longer be the prime supplier of baseball talent to the Major Leagues in about 5 to 10 years. The big advantage Uganda has is all the players speak English.

July 29, 2011 - No Little League World Series for Ugandan Team - NY Times

Published: July 29, 2011

By LYNN ZINSER

For nearly two weeks, the players of the Rev. John Foundation Little League team from Kampala, Uganda, believed they were headed to Williamsport, Pa., for the Little League World Series. The team of 11 to 13 year olds, which plays with donated equipment, was the first African team to advance that far. But their fairy tale story ran smack into United States immigration red tape. The players and their coaches learned this week that at least some of the team’s visa applications were denied by the State Department. The Little League World Series, which begins Aug. 19, will proceed without them. “It is unfortunate, as we were very much looking forward to welcoming the first African team to the Little League Baseball World Series,” Stephen Keener, president of Little League Baseball and Softball, said in a statement.

The Ugandans were tripped up by their country’s inconsistent infrastructure and the United States’ strict requirements for travel visas. The State Department did not give specific reasons for the denial, but it told Little League officials that there were discrepancies in the players’ documentation. In Uganda, birth certificates are far from the norm, and establishing someone’s age and identity is complicated because parents and guardians are often illiterate. “It is a difficult situation, I won’t deny that,” the State Department spokesman Mark C. Toner said Friday at a news briefing. “But you know, these cases are adjudicated by consular officials who look very closely at all the appropriate data, and they make their decisions based on that.”

The Ugandan children play baseball because an American — Richard Stanley, a part owner of the Trenton Thunder, the Yankees’ Class AA affiliate — introduced the sport to the country eight years ago. “This would have been huge for kids all over Africa,” Stanley said Friday. “This is a great opportunity to expand the sport. All these kids want is an opportunity to go out and play. They have the talent. They don’t have the facilities.”

Jay Shapiro, who has been following the team for two and a half years while filming a documentary, “Opposite Field,” said in a telephone interview from Kampala that the players were crushed when they heard the news and that the embassy employee who told them on Wednesday was so upset “she had tears in her eyes.” The team had come agonizingly close to qualifying a year ago, beating Saudi Arabia in a qualifying tournament in Kutno, Poland, but Shapiro said they lost the next day to Kuwait because of a tiebreaker rule. This year, it beat Saudi Arabia on July 16 and returned to Kampala full of hope about a trip to the United States.

Shapiro said the State Department was right to question the players’ documentation, which he called incomplete. Documenting birth is not a simple process in Uganda, Shapiro said. Birth certificates are scarce, especially in the countryside. Many children are not born in hospitals. Some of their parents are illiterate, and in many cases the people raising the children are not their birth parents. A year ago, Little League officials asked Shapiro to gather the necessary documentation and oversee the process when the team qualified for the tournament in Poland. This summer, Shapiro was not in Uganda. He had wrapped up the film after last season, but he and his crew flew back to Kampala after the team qualified for the World Series to add to the film. He said after the visas were denied, he looked at the players’ documentation and found it incomplete. “Last year’s team, I’m 100 percent convinced of the legitimacy of that team,” Shapiro said. “This one, I couldn’t say I was 100 percent convinced. The paperwork was sloppy. In reality, they shouldn’t have even been allowed to go to Poland in the first place. This should have been caught earlier.”

Before granting a visa to travel to the United States, the American Embassy requires interviews with each child and his parents. If any of their answers differ from what is on the paperwork, it is considered a discrepancy. “I don’t think any of them were deliberately trying to give false information,” Shapiro said. “They were just mistakes. But the result is the same. And I don’t disagree with their decision.” Toner, the State Department spokesman, said he did not know how many of the players were denied visas. “It’s unclear to me whether it was a preponderance of the kids, so that the team was no longer viable, if you will, or whether every individual on the team was denied,” he said. Stanley said he hoped Little League officials would appeal to the State Department, but Pat Wilson, the vice president for operations for the Little League, said that would not happen. “We are going to respect their decision,” he said. “We don’t think it would be appropriate for us to call into question their determination.” Wilson said there was no precedent for a team’s qualifying for the Little League World Series but failing to gain entry into the United States. He said a few teams have had last-minute hitches in the process, but all were worked out.

Stanley said he considered it a major setback to his efforts in Uganda. He became involved eight years ago after visiting the country for a United Nations economic development program and said he had spent more than $1.5 million building facilities and setting up a program. He said he paid for the team to travel to Poland for the qualifying tournament in 2008, in 2010 and again this year. He said each trip cost about $35,000. He said his goal was to build sports schools that emphasize academics and athletics. “When I talked to the minister of sports, he asked me, ‘Can we win at this sport?’ ” Stanley said. “That’s what they care about, because they can’t win at anything. They have great talent there, but I told them: ‘You have to teach the kids. And those kids will play all day long if you give them the opportunity.’ ”

Shapiro said Little League should require teams attempting to qualify for the World Series to go through a preliminary visa approval process so that there are no last-minute disappointments. “It’s a shame,” Shapiro said. “Their country isn’t ready for this. The schools aren’t ready. The parents aren’t ready. The only thing that’s ready are the kids and their talent. They will make it one day, and if there is anything positive out of this, it’s for people to realize what wonderful things are happening with these kids. They’ve got their own little world growing here.”

July 7, 2011 Uganda team gets Polish visas

On July 1, we were told by Little League International that visas might be obtained from the Polish Embassy in Nairobi if only the coaches who were to travel to Poland would show up at the Polish Embassy at 9AM on Tuesday July 5 with the money, the proof of medical insurance, the notarized parents consent forms, the photos, the letter from the baseball federation, the letter from the Sports Commissioner, proof that the airline tickets were already paid for, and the visa applications for the team and coaches. This was done, and with the help of the U.S. State Department people, what normally takes 15 days to process was done in two. As of Thursday morning, July 7, the coaches were handed the visas that now allows the team to fly to Poland, leaving Uganda at 2AM on July 10.

The two coaches will now make the 12 to 16 hour bus trip back to the baseball complex after spending Monday thru Thursday in Kenya. They should arrive on Friday morning and have about 36 hours to gather the team together, collect their equipment for the trip to Poland and get to the airport late Saturday night.

Help send Uganda baseball teams to Poland

Let them show how good they are

Uganda will have two excellent baseball teams ready to play in the Europe/Middle East/Africa Little League Regional Tournaments in July. The 11-12 year old team is supposed to be even better than the team the went to Poland last year, and this time should become the first African team to make it to the Little League World Series. The 13-14 year old team should have many of the players that were the best 11-12 team that played in Poland last July.

The major problem will once again be money. To send each team to Poland requires about $35,000. $25,000 is in airfare and the rest is in visas, transport from Warsaw to Kutno and meals and other expenses for the 15 travelers. By keeping these tournaments in Europe, Little League makes it almost impossible for African teams to participate due to these very high travel costs. Please help Uganda to show that their children can produce superior players and coaches to anything Europe and the Middle East can. They just need a fair chance to get to the Little League World Series.

UGANDA'S STRUGGLE TO OVERCOME THE OBSTACLES TO PLAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA REGIONAL TOURNAMENT

** Why African Countries don't participate in Little League Tournaments **

June 2011

Little League Middle East/Africa Regional Tournament for boys ages 11-12 will once again be held in Kutno, Poland from July 13-17, 2011. Why Africa is even mentioned in the title escapes most people, since it will never be held in Africa and virtually no African teams participate because of the obstacles Uganda will attempt to overcome for the third time.

Does Little League officialdom hinder African participation? You be the judge as Uganda faces obstacle after obstacle.

The primary problem for African teams is cost to get to the tournament in Poland. Uganda's cost is estimated at $35,000US. No other participant in any Little League Tournament in the world faces such a high entry cost.

The problem that will stop Uganda's participation is getting the visa that would allow them to travel to Poland. Since the tournament is held in Poland, that will require Uganda to apply for the visas at the Polish Embassy. Since Uganda has no Polish Embassy, it requires travel to Kenya, the nearest Polish Embassy. This same problem will face most African countries since most countries in Africa do not have a Polish Embassy. We are told the normal visa procedure takes two weeks time. That means at least two trips to Kenya or you stay two weeks in Kenya.

Paper work required by the embassy: First of all you need to provide proof that you have paid for the airline ticket as the visa will only be good for the date you leave until the day you return and this information can only be provided by the airline that will not give it to you until you have paid for the tickets in full. If you do not get the visas, most airlines will return most of the money you paid for the tickets over a period of time. All the airlines have this policy knowing how hard it is for Africans to get visas to the EU or to the U.S. A letter of Invitation from Little League in Poland is required. The Polish embassy now requires a letter from the Uganda Baseball and Softball Federation allowing the Little League Team to travel. They also require a similar letter from the Ugandan Commissioner of Sports. Then we must get letters from the parents of each player allowing him or her to travel. This letter has to be notarized, which in Uganda can only be done by a lawyer at a cost of about $50US per player.

In order to get a visa, each traveler needs a passport. To get the passports for each child requires the payment of about $150US per player and to get it rapidly, 3-5 days, we were told we needed a letter of invitation from Poland inviting the team. Little League in Poland says they will not send this letter until we give the names of all the players and their passport numbers. We can't get passport numbers rapidly without the letter. Thus we lose two weeks of time waiting for the passports in order to get the letter of invitation.

Now comes the question of birth certificates. This is going to always be a problem since most births have not been registered in Uganda, as in most African countries. This problem has been brought to Little League Baseball's attention since at least 2004 and little has been done to address the problem. We have suggested going to the school where the player first registered for Primary one, or first grade and use that date for the date of birth. This year Little League asked for us to go back to the school the child attends to get the school, with official stamp on school letter head to state the child's birth. This is all verbal, but nothing on paper. We have done this.

As we write this, we have been informed by the Polish Embassy in Kenya that in order to get a visa, a new requirement is that each child and coach seeking a visa must apply in person and wait the two weeks to get the visa. This will require each child to travel to Kenya at a cost of $150US each, stay at a hotel for two weeks, miss school which is in session from late May until early August, to get a visa to play in the Little League Regional Tournament. As it stands now, Uganda will not be going to Poland to play because they are being denied the visa that would allow them to get on the plane leaving July 10. We have already spent many thousands of dollars which have all gone to waste.

Holding this and other tournaments in Africa eliminates all the visa problems. In Uganda, the visitor obtains his visa when he arrives at the airport. All that needs to be done is to pay the $50 as you go through immigration control upon arrival. Will Little League International ever hold the tournament in Africa? The answer we keep getting is "No!" Thus Uganda will forever be prohibited from participating in the Middle East/Africa Tournament for 11&12 year olds and 13-14 year olds since they will always be held in Poland.

Can Uganda Little League get VISAs to play in the Little League Word Series?

October 2011

In early September, a meeting was held at the U.S. Embassy with Uganda Little League and the U.S. Ambassador, his first assistant, the head of the visa section and the Embassy PR man. We informed the ambassador that we do not intend to stop the program to develop baseball in Uganda. He was very happy to hear that. Thus the purpose of the meeting was to see how we can bring next year's World Series Eligible teams to play in the Little League World Series. We have assured him that Uganda will continue to produce superior teams that should each year be playing in the Regional Championship games in our region every year and at every level that we can afford to send them to play.

The result of the meeting was that the problem was not age, contrary what an ill informed State Department Spokesperson in Washington said at a Friday press briefing in early August. There were two problems. One that can be easily fixed, and one that may create problems for certain children if we try and fix it easily.

Problem one was how authentic were the birth certificates. One has to remember that birth certificates are not routinely given out in Uganda and most people know what month and year they were born, but many do not know the day they were born. In order to play in the Little League Regional Tournaments, the players need a birth certificate and a passport to get them to another country. To get a visa to Poland takes about 15 business days. To get a passport takes about two weeks under normal conditions. In order to save time, I supplied the money and the coaches got the birth certificates and the passports. That was mistake number one. There is only one office in Uganda that according to the U.S. embassy can issue official birth certificates, and since the parents are asked the date of birth on the birth certificates when they visit the embassy, and then who got the birth certificates, the coaches could be in danger of "Child Trafficking", a major crime. To fix this in the future, the parents of the guardians of each player will now have to have their parents obtain the birth certificate at the proper ministry. Easy to fix, but takes time and money, which means now the team has to be selected in early May in order to get their birth certificates, passports, visas and tickets to the Regional Tournaments.

Now the problem that can be fixed easily which will exclude many players, or may not be fixable under current State Department Rules. According to the embassy, when the U.S. visa is applied for, the parents named on the birth certificate need to be present at the embassy to prove they are the parents or guardians and that they can grant permission for the child to travel. This does not apply if the person is age 18 or above, only if the person is a minor, and that is all the embassy is concerned with, not the actual age. If the two people named on the birth certificate do not come to the embassy, then the person who does come needs to have a "Court Order" that states they are the person responsible for the welfare of the child. If a parent is dead, they must present a "Death Certificate" which almost no one in Uganda obtains. Many of the children that play baseball in Uganda are taken care of by one parent, an aunt, grandmother, sister of a relative or other person. None have "Court Orders". Should the Uganda team apply for visas to come to the U.S. next July, we have only about 2 weeks to apply for and get the visas at a cost of $140.00 each. Who is going to get a lawyer and apply for, pay for, and obtain a Court Order in those two weeks. We could restrict our players to only those that have both parents on the birth certificate alive. If that is the case, we will be telling most of the children in Uganda that you are not allowed to play for the dream of making it to the Little League World Series, but we will have no problem getting the visas. I would rather abandon Little League if we had to do that.

We hope that Little League and the U.S. State Department might take into account the type of program the Little League World Series has been and will continue to be. If this cannot be worked out, I am sad to say that Little League Baseball and Softball in Africa will only be for the wealthy.

Special Christmas for Uganda Little League

Santa Claus came in many forms to visit Uganda Little League this December. Major League Baseball came for the ninth consecutive year bearing gloves and baseballs. This time, something very special was added. The DVD package of discs of the 2011 World Series was added. This valuable present will enable us to really show the coaches at the January clinic how to really play the game of baseball. There were so many things that took place in this World Series that anyone paying the slightest attention can learn so much in coaching the game. We will be able to use this year after year as the Ugandan players and coaches become more skilled in playing the game and thus more competitive in International Competition.

A second Santa Claus was Ms. Susan Birnbaum of the New York City Police Foundation. Her daughter at her high school in Westchester County started a drive to collect slightly used baseball and softball equipment. On December 17, they became the first individual donors to collect and deliver baseball equipment to Pitch In For Baseball for the children of Uganda. We have offers from several other people who wish to do this, but they were the first. We hope several others will join them in the near future.

Santa Claus number three has to be Wilson Sporting Goods. At the December Winter Meetings, we managed to speak to the leadership of Wilson and expressed our need to obtain many gloves and baseballs for our program in Uganda. They said they could help, and did they ever. We hope to be part of their annual program in the future, as we were this December. We were able to purchase hundreds of gloves and baseballs at amazingly low prices. This will now allow us to really expand the baseball program in Uganda while working with the Ugandan Commissioner of Sports and the Peace Corps.

The one problem we now have is at our biggest Santa Claus of all, Pitch in For Baseball. Without Pitch in for Baseball, Uganda Little League would have all kinds of headaches. This Santa Clause packages all the gifts other people give to us. The Wilson package being as large as it is, is now squeezing them for room. As the Ugandan presents keep growing, it enables us to expand baseball into Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan and Rwanda, but Pitch in for Baseball is being choked for space to handle all this. David Rhodes, Executive Director of Pitch in for Baseball and I will work on a solution. I am sure we will find one shortly.

November 2011:

Many good things are beginning to happen in January 2012. The major item that has made the International Media is the Canadian Little League Team that the Uganda Little League Team was supposed to play in the opening round of the Little League World Series this past August is planning to come to Uganda on January 14 for a one week stay. Under the guidance of Ms. Ruth Hoffman, money is being raised to send the team, coaches and parents, and a couple of celebrities, to Uganda. There is an expectation that the game or games may actually be televised live back to North America. We do know that this event is expected to be the concluding chapter in the documentary film that has been made that followed the 2010 Ugandan team to Poland. Hopefully, sometime early in 2012, the film will be released and available for public viewing.

January 2012 will mark the beginning of our annual two week program of training coaches and players at the complex. This year, there will be significant improvements from last January. Dorm 1 will finally be looking like a completed building. We will have the kitchen and eating area available when it was still under construction last year. We have finished putting grass down on field 3 and will now have the first full size baseball field to play on in Uganda.

Participants for the two week program:

50 to 60 boys ages 11-12 making up four teams for the first 6 days. They will practice and play at least one game every day.

50 to 60 boys ages 13-15 making up four teams for the last 6 days. They will practice and play at least one game every day.

Several players from Kenya may contribute to the teams at each age level.

Active coaches in Uganda and Kenya are invited to attend and will be participating in a detailed coaching clinic during the 2 weeks while actually coaching the teams playing each day.

Teachers from a school in Soroti and a girls school in Lira who will be trained to become baseball and softball coaches at their respective schools.

Peace Corp Volunteers who will assist in administering the programs in the Soroti and Lira Schools, and others who will help develop programs elsewhere in Uganda.

Several visitors from the U.S. who will be working on helping in raising money for equipment and building the school who want to help the kids in Uganda learn the great game of baseball and softball.

A major future event in Uganda is the starting of a baseball program at a Secondary School in Soroti and a softball program at a Secondary School in Lira. It is expected that each school will start four teams playing a game every week at their respective schools when the new school year starts around Feb. 1, 2012. These first 4 teams will be composed of Secondary 1 & 2 students. They will be trained and coached by the teachers who will be coming to the January coaches clinic. The Peace Corps has recruited volunteers that will oversee and administer the respective programs to make sure the new coaches are coaching properly and the leagues are being run properly. If we have enough interest, the programs will be extended to 4 teams composed of Secondary 3 and 4 students, and possibly for 4 more teams of Secondary 5 and 6 students. Uganda Little League will equip the schools, the government will supplement the teacher/coaches pay and aid in providing the playing fields. These two programs will serve as a prototype for what the Ugandan Sports Commission hopes to accomplish starting in the school year 2013 and beyond. As part of that program, the Sports Commissioner anticipates approximately 30 to 35 Secondary Schools playing only baseball and softball throughout the country. Every May, National Championships will be held at the Little League Complex. We will attempt to bring these schools into the Little League program where the National Winner will then be able to proceed onto the Little League Regional Tournaments every July. These teams would compete in the 13-14 age group, the 15-16 and 17-18. We expect in a couple of years to dominate these tournaments and to be frequent participants at the respective Little League World Series for boys and girls. Once these schools are started, the program will expand down into the primary schools.

As part of the above program, getting baseball equipment into Uganda is now being worked on. At the request of the Sports Commissioner, we will set up a shop that will sell baseball equipment. At the current time, there is no place where a person can purchase baseball or softball equipment in Uganda, and possibly anywhere in East Africa. We hope to have this shop stocked with merchandise by the middle of 2012. At the Trade Show at the December annual Winter Meetings in Dallas, Texas, we will be in touch with all the equipment manufacturers and vendors to make arrangements for getting the equipment into Uganda early in 2012. We will keep you informed about when this shop is stocked and open for business.

One very good piece of news is that on October 22, 2011, the Uganda Baseball and Softball Federation officially came back in existence. The new Chairman of the Federation is one of our own, Mr. George Makhobe. Congratulations and we expect to have a very supportive program producing Ugandan teams to compete at future International World Cups and the Baseball Classic.