Have you ever stopped to think how lucky you are with all the activities and opportunities that are available to you? Many of you would answer probably not as often as you should; I am guilty of this as well! So a group of eighty plus players and workers from Triple Crown Sports headed down to Puerta Vallarta, Mexico to give back by providing a camp for the local kids and a tournament for the local adults.

Hundreds of kids living around the Augustin Flores Contreras Municipal Sports Stadium show up  everyday in the sweltering hot ninety degree heat to play at the complex. With little to no resources, these kids are playing on dirt soccer fields, basketball courts with no chains on the hoop, and very few balls to actually play with. Its people like these that are the most grateful in life even though they aren’t as fortunate. So as athletes ourselves, it was time to give back and show how grateful we were for all the opportunities we have had.

Since these children have grown up  in a less developed part of Mexico, they have never experienced the amazing sports opportunities that are offered throughout the world or even in Mexico but that hasn’t ever stopped them from striving to be great athletes. For the past three years, our group of players has traveled down to Puerta Vallarta to provide a few fun days to the locals. We start off with providing a softball/baseball camp for the kids that show up to this complex everyday, players ranged anywhere from five to twenty years old. Some kids show up ready to go with gloves and bats but some of these kids aren’t as fortunate, when we get the chance to gift the children with things like gloves, hats and balls. it’s a  rewarding experience because they are the most thankful children you will meet. With tears in his eyes twelve year old Jose thanked us “Siempre he querido un guante de mi propia, gracias” (I’ve always wanted a glove of my own, thank you.) It was this moment during my first year that I realized I had everything even when I thought I had nothing, this little boy wanted a baseball glove more than anything and it wasn’t possible for his family to afford it.

Skill levels are all over the charts but that makes it that much more exciting, some of these kids have never picked up a ball before but they are more excited than ever to get to play with friends and learn something new. It seems like it would be easy to teach a few basic skills to these kids, and that was our first thought a few years back, but then we came across the language barrier and it wasn’t just us teaching them but them teaching us. We learned more about the Spanish language than you would in a high school class. It was an amazing learning experience for us,  we really got to come in contact with their culture and learn about it. In the end it’s not much, we can’t completely change these kids lives but we do our best to make an impact. Whether we taught these kids how to play and grow as an athlete or maybe that we became some new friends for them to play catch with for a few days, it’s the most eye opening experience I’ve been apart of. I’ve never met children that are so incredibly happy when they have close to nothing, I never once have heard one of them complain about anything when they have real world problems, if there’s anything to take out of our trip it’s to be grateful and realize that what you have is a blessing because there are plenty of people that have it a lot worse than you.

It isn’t just the children we get to spend the week with but also some of the parents and other local adults that we’ve got to know over the years. Sports have played a big role in some of the adults lives,   so that’s when the idea of putting on a slow pitch softball tournament came about, our group of eighty or so people have formed teams that match up against the locals there. Over a three day period we play womens, mens, and coed slow pitch games; the tournament is a great way of giving back and  sharing the love of the game with so many other people that are thankful for it. It’s an amazing experience getting to interact and build friendships with the locals.

Never have I experienced such an eye opening tradition, there is nothing that I look forward to more than the smiling kids waiting for us to come to the field each year. “No puedo esperar a ver el año que viene.” Seven year old Rosa spoke to me about how much she loved the week and couldn’t wait for us to come back next year. I’ve fallen in love with this chance to give back and help these children grow, being able to see all of the local kids and teenagers grow and develop in life and softball is more than rewarding. I am apart of of a once in a lifetime experience that I will look forward to being apart of for the rest of my life.