some big news and other cool things…
This last week of filming had a lot going on. So, the flow of this post might be rather jumpy… but it’s good stuff and at least the pictures are pretty… and you’ll want to read to the end for some cool news.
This is Aaron. I’ve mentioned him several times before and over the last year of filming his character and story are becoming more and more prominent. I met him a year ago where he told me right away that “he was a great leader.” Maybe boastful, but it came off as confident, and his actions over the year have bore it out to be true. He has been living with George for the year and views himself as “the next George.” And George tends to agree.
George has been carrying a lot on his plate with this baseball program and the Aaron/Benard/Jimmy/Eric/Okello/etc… are really taking on more and more responsibility of the hands on coaching. When George can’t be there to lead practice in the ghetto it falls on Aaron’s lap, and he is doing a wonderful job.
I also need to rescind a post I made 2 weeks ago about the Survivors. I may have jumped the gun with that. They, of course, will need to win the Uganda tournament to be held here at Richard’s Complex in 
mid June to earn the right to play in Poland. They will be the favorite (probably overwhelming favorite) but stranger things have happened. And the roster and write ups of players of course is subject to change… there are a few boys really making strong cases to make the team, especially a young boy named Frank who is really impressing all of the coaches with his attitude and willingness to learn. Anyway… if they do win that tournament, Aaron will more than likely be selected by George to be an assistant coach for him in Poland. Nothing is definite or written in stone, but being a documentary filmmaker is sometimes playing the odds and hedging bets of story lines. So, this interview with Aaron was just that.
He said a lot of great things about the opportunity Uganda baseball has this summer but my favorite was this “If we go play in the USA people may come to know us. You know, we all know who Ryan Howard is here, most of the boys want to be like him. But he doesn’t know who we are.”
I also asked him “if he is the next George, who will be the next Aaron?” Of course it is tough to say at this point, but he sees something in Asharaf, the Surivors’ second baseman that could carry that torch. And fittingly, Asharaf came over a few minutes later to help Aaron carry the equipment down to a practice at Sharing.
On to Benard. He played in the league game in Lugazi last week and followed us down to Kampala to stay with George. He hopes to stay there with him and at the Complex to coach the Survivors on their buildup to the Poland tournament.
We all travelled out there a few days ago where the annual national tournaments were set to begin with the under 14 group going first. The hope is to one day have the winner from each group continue on to the Regional Tournament to try to earn the right to play in the Little League World Series, but for now it is only the under 12 team that will enjoy that possibility.
The survivors came out to train before heading back to school and I was able to conduct a few interviews with some of the team. Arthur again was my favorite when he told me about why he plays and why he wants to win he said, “every good player plays to be remembered.” I love that. And if they become the first African team in the LLWS, I have a feeling they will be remembered.
Before they left, the coaches gathered them in the dorms at night for their first real team meeting and delivered some incredibly moving and passionate speeches. Benard spoke about his dreams and their dreams becoming one. It was the first time they may have felt like a real team.
The tournaments will go on here for the next few weeks, but for our stories the most important stuff is a little later with the under 12s so I’ll be trying to make some trips into the city to fill gaps. I went to film at a school called Railways that is just across from Sharing in the ghetto. It seems like a decent school. Asharaf, Frank, and a younger player named Aboki go here.
I found Asharaf in class writing on a piece of paper… instead of listening to the teacher teach about animals. He was writing “I am a Survivor” and “I will hit a homerun” among other things and drew pictures of baseballs and bats. I told him to pay attention to the teacher… no I didn’t.
I then talked to his teacher named Alice. She is a wonderful lady. The interview probably won’t be used as we couldn’t really find a quiet enough spot to conduct it, but we may be able to pluck out a line or two if we need it. One of the cool things about this blog is being able to give some love to people and stories that won’t make the film. Anyway, Alice told us about Asharaf being such a good boy and not boastful, humble, etc…
We took the next day to get some broll of Kampala city - the crazy busy taxi park and the huge open market, some very typical African stuff that never hurts to have in case we need it. This is a picture of a pretty average day really. You should see it the day before the kids go back to school.
We were waiting for a delivery of equipment from a very cool charity called pitchinforbaseball (check em out) which came a day or two later so we just bummed around grabbing what we could of the market and taxi park.
And last but certainly not least… This is Benard receiving a letter from Major League Baseball informing him that he is invited back to the MLB European Academy in Italy to be held in August.
George delivered the letter to him and he was shocked, overjoyed, excited, and now determined. It was really a beautiful scene with Aaron and a few of Benard’s fellow coaches/teammates/friends there to give him a big hug with nothing resembling resentment or jealousy.
Benard attended last year on a very last minute invite without much time to prepare or train. He was in school and dealing with final exams and everything else. This time he really feels like he will take the next 2 months to get his mind and body ready to impress. We’ll see what happens there.
The ultimate goal is to get signed by an MLB club, but for Benard there are many other paths and missions he is setting himself on, including a
recent interest in umpiring… stay tuned. The coaches who met him last year (Bruce Hurst, Lee Smith, Barry Larkin, etc..) are going to be really surprised by his changed attitude and hopefully pleasantly surprised by his improved pitching.
Thanks and appreciation have to go to Mike McClellan and Tom Gillespie here. You may remember Tom from the MLB Envoy program that came through here earlier in this blog. He had a big hand in this decision and Benard really doesn’t want to let him down. He’s hard at work already.
We talked after he got the news and he went back to that analogy of carrying oranges as his dream. He said with this letter maybe he’s picked up a few that had fallen.
That’ll be it for this post… The summer of craziness is almost upon us. The Under 12 tournament (featuring the Survivors) to be held here in couple weeks is just the first step. Then the showdown in Poland comes in mid July. Then Benard’s return to Italy comes in August. Then (if they’ve won in Poland) the Survivors play in Williamsport in late August and makes some Little League history.
It’s going to be wild so hold on tight. (look I made a visual joke).
