Root, Root, Root For Uganda In Tonight's Little League World Series
The Little League World Series is in full swing. Perennial teams like Japan are still alive, but so is a country making just its second-ever appearance: Uganda.
The team has experienced highs and lows so far. Sunday night it lost 7-0 to Venezuela, but the squad is still alive thanks to a win over the Dominican Republic in its first game.
It will have to beat Taiwan Monday night to stay in contention. The game airs on ESPN2 at 6 p.m. EDT.
It's all quite a feat, considering that, unlike the other kids here, most of these guys just started playing baseball. A couple had never even touched a baseball until two years ago.
"I held the ball like a stone. I didn't know how to throw the ball," says pitcher Francis Alemo, who grew up in a small farming village before joining the team.
Third baseman Pius Echoni was equally confused when he first encountered a field.
"I thought they were playing a movie, acting a movie. They told me this is baseball," says Echoni.
Richard Stanley, a retired engineer, is the founder of the boarding school outside Kampala where young rookies get an education on and off the field.
Every player on the team learned America's pastime thanks to a New Yorker named Richard Stanley. The chemical engineer went to Uganda as an aid expert and ended up setting up a sports academy, outside Kampala, aimed at building baseball talent in this impoverished nation, which has little organized youth sports.
"We want the kids to understand that there's a way forward for them in athletics," says Stanley.
The main goal of Stanley's boarding school is to educate boys and girls, who play softball. But he also wants to mold students into elite athletes, pros if possible.
That's the dream for Echoni, whose family lives in Lugazi, where most people end up working for a local sugar manufacturer.
"Baseball is a sport. And sports and discipline are synonymous. When I maintain my discipline and I practice a lot and I put discipline, it will take me somewhere," says Echoni.
For now, it's taken him outside Uganda — first to Poland and Belgium and now to the U.S.
Left fielder Constantine Mubiru of Uganda teaches his school's special handshake to San Diego player Walker Lannon. "Baseball makes you focused," says Mubiru. "It makes me relax."
At a picnic before the series started, the Ugandans mingled with players from all over the world.
Everyone wanted to meet them, shake their hands or take a photo with them. At first, the boys reluctantly mixed with the other teams. But as time wore on, they lightened up, relaxed and even cracked a few smiles.
Still, when it comes to the competition, they're always serious. After chowing down on hamburgers and pasta salad, Uganda's catcher Jovan Edaku said teams with deeper baseball roots don't intimidate him.
First baseman Hassan Wasswa prepares for batting practice.
"Those people are also human beings like us. So we can't fear them. What they have is what we have. That's why we're going to challenge them also. We're going to show them what we have," said Edaku.
What he thinks they have is great pitching and great hitting.
Speed too.
Unbelievable speed.
That trifecta was on full display during their stunning 4-1 win on Friday over the Dominican Republic.
The Ugandans were dominant throughout, especially Alemo, who was virtually unhittable through four innings.
Uganda's team rolls through Williamsport, Pa., during the kickoff parade for the Little League Baseball World Series.
"So many people, they don't know where Uganda is and they have not heard a lot about Uganda, but our coming here is going to tell the world that you're going to see the kind of baseball Uganda has and these kids are going to prove that," says Bernard Adei, the team's manager.
And no matter what happens in Monday's game, the Ugandan players are happy to be playing. Says second baseman Joshua Muwanguzi of his teammates: "They're like my brothers. They're like family members. Baseball has brought us together."
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Transcript
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The Little League World Series really is a World Series. The event features teams of young players from around the globe. And that includes players from a country that has rarely been represented. Here is Aaron Moselle from member station WHYY.
AARON MOSELLE, BYLINE: On a sweaty afternoon in South Williamsport, Pa., 11 boys in green jerseys take turns hacking away at pitches inside a batting cage a world away from home - more than 7,000 miles to be exact. This is the team from Uganda in East Africa. You wouldn't be able to tell it, but unlike the other kids here, most of these guys only just started playing baseball.
FRANCIS ALEMO: I held the ball like this, like a stone, just throwing like that. I didn't know how to hold the ball.
MOSELLE: That's 13-year-old Francis Alemo, one of the team's pitchers. He's from a small farming village, and he says he had never even touched a baseball until about two years ago. Third baseman Pius Eschoni says he was equally confused when he first encountered a field.
PIUS ESCHONI: I thought they playing movie - acting a movie. They told me that this is baseball.
MOSELLE: Every player on this team learned America's pastime thanks to a New Yorker named Richard Stanley. He's here to watch the boys compete.
RICHARD STANLEY: We want to have the kids understand there's a way forward for them in athletics.
MOSELLE: Stanley is a chemical engineer who went to Uganda as an aid expert and ended up setting up a sports academy outside the capital of Kampala aimed at building baseball talent in this impoverished nation that has little organized youth sports.
STANLEY: If you don't start young, you'll never develop the talent - when they get to be 18, 19. You can't start 18, 19 - a rare specimen might, but most can't in team sports.
MOSELLE: Stanley's top priority is educating boys and girls who play softball. But he also hopes to mold students into elite athletes. For Eschoni, the third baseman, making the American Big Leagues is his goal. It'd be quite a feat for a 13-year-old from a village where most people end up working for a local sugar manufacturer.
PIUS: Baseball is a sport. And sports and discipline - they are synonymous. So when I maintain my discipline, I know if I practice a lot and I put discipline, it will take me somewhere.
MOSELLE: For now, it's taken him to the epicenter of youth baseball. At a picnic before the series starts, Eschoni and his teammates mingle with players from all over the world. It seems like everyone wants to meet the Ugandans, shake their hands or take a photo with them.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Get in there. You all want in there? Just you two.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: He has someone taller than you.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: There you go.
MOSELLE: At first, the boys reluctantly mix with the other teams. But as time wears on, they lighten up, relax, even crack a few smiles. After chowing down on hamburgers and pasta salad, Uganda's catcher Jovan Edaku says teams with deeper baseball roots don't intimidate him.
JOVAN EDAKU: Those people are also human beings like us, so we can't fear them. What they have is what we have. That's why we are going to challenge them also. We're going to show them what we have.
MOSELLE: Dan Velte is Little League's director of league development and affiliation.
DAN VELTE: They throw the ball hard, they field the ball well and just their overall fundamentals are on par with a lot of the kids from the U.S.
MOSELLE: Even in their first game on Friday, Uganda came out strong with a stunning 4-to-1 win over the Dominican Republic. The Ugandans were dominant throughout, especially Francis Alemo, who was virtually unhittable through four innings.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Francis Alemo started the game on the mound, finishes it in center field. Ballgame over, and what a win for the kids from Uganda.
MOSELLE: Bernard Adei is the manager of the Uganda team. He says his kids are going to surprise people.
BERNARD ADEI: So many people have no - they don't know where Uganda is, and they have not heard a lot about Uganda. But our coming here is going to tell the world that you're going to see what kind of baseball Uganda has, and these kids are going to prove that.
MOSELLE: Right now, it's too early to say whether Uganda will ever become a pipeline for Major League talent like Venezuela or the Dominican Republic. One thing is for sure, when it comes to baseball, Uganda is on the map. For NPR News, I'm Aaron Moselle.
INSKEEP: By the way, the Ugandans lost yesterday to Venezuela, 7-to-nothing. But never give up. They go on to play Taiwan tonight. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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