Saturday arrival & Sunday snorkeling

The 2011 HWSA missionary journey begins!  Teammates travel from 7 different states on different flights to meet in the Dominican Republic .

Teammates from NC, TX and GA arriving in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; the epicenter of Dominican baseball.  The airlines delivered all the players on time...the first miracle of the trip!  It was definitely answered prayer.  Only Jason's bag was rerouted which was subsequently delivered the next day.

The only time we had to practice was in the evening after our arrival in the DR.  The Infields were too wet for practice.  We warmed up in the outfield and coach Lang and coach Renz pitched a short batting practice session in the cage.  The games began the next day without ever taking infield practice.  Notice the pristine fields.

Nathan points out we are in a 3rd world country with the ball fields surrounded with barbed wire, fences and armed guards.

Gus Hernandez and wife Ileanna treat us to our first meal in the DR... "Italian" food!  The restaurant is located in San Pedro.  It was a first class beginning to our trip.  Thanks Gus and Ileanna!  No one left hungry.

The team waiting for the delicious food. 

This is a picture of all the donations we brought with us.  Thanks to Steve Bilello for arranging donations from Kelly Sporting Goods.  We had around 13 duffel bags to donate that included numerous new bats, uniforms and other baseball gear.  Kevin Renz also brought a bunch of new and used baseballs, catchers gear and new hats from his Academy.

HWSA teammates also donated dozens of diapers and cough medicine to help the orphan babies in the D.R.  Many players checked additional bags at an extra cost to bring our donations which also included personal baseball gear.

Day 1 begins and we find Gus Hernandez up early supervising on his D.R. pickup!

Our missionary journey starts off rough on day one ;-)  Traveling to Catalina Island to snorkel.  It turned out to be a great way for the teammates to get to know each other.

Snorkeling in the Caribbean Sea on the south side of the island.  Perfect weather and temperatures.

HWSA's Pres taking the plunge.

Competition begins.

Measuring the distance with a rockin two story boat!

Mason's freestyle jump.

One of Spencer's numerous dives? flips? etc.

Trey does a front-flip with a twist.

Jordan's back-flip receives a 9.1 score by the judges.

Our big unit Patrick, (6'5") enters the water in perfect form.  Notice the little splash and snorkeling gear.

First night sleeping accommodations.  Triple bunk beds at the Highlands.  We did have air conditioning.