Baseball in Bishkek

Last year I lived in Kyrgyzstan with a team of volunteers (kind of like the Peace Corp, except not). While we were there we had some donated baseball equipment shipped over and we started a summer Little League (official) for the kids. These are some of the pics I snapped during practice.

I'm torn between posting these in here or in the help section, because they do come with a question: any tips for cropping and/or adjusting? Thanks

I really like #2.

#1 could use a crop to lose the person walking in the background. tighter on the catcher.

Perhaps a bit more contrast/saturation on all but the last to help them come alive a bit more.

Great to hear of your efforts, and good to see kids being kids!

Next time the kids I coach complain about the crappy fields we play on I am going to show them your pictures and show them what luxury we have compared to other places in the world. Thanks for sharing the images.

cstewart wrote in post #5493817
Next time the kids I coach complain about the crappy fields we play on I am going to show them your pictures and show them what luxury we have compared to other places in the world. Thanks for sharing the images.

I agree, thank you for posting the images. This is a haunting reminder that despite the problems our country has, we're very blessed to have the luck to be living here.

Pat

Oh man, this reminds me of a movie I don't remember the name of....great movie though!!

As a high school coach my kids could care less about those that had it harder than them and it's a shame, my heart sinks every time I hear a snide remark about the kids who have it harder. My best friend while playin college ball used to have to sneak to practice in high school through alleys and buildings just to not get shot and killed because he wouldn't join there gain - the kids I coach biggest worry is playing time and they have no clue what it's like on tougher streets or living in a tougher place as they're small town kids who had it handed to them on a silver platter. The whole if you could walk a mile in some elses shoes story.

Thanks everyone, sorry I didn't get to reply sooner - I was away from my computer all weekend. I know what you mean, but I'm guilty of it myself - I played softball when I was a kid and I complained that we had a dirt infield.

The field that these kids play on is literally an abandoned soccer field. It was hard as rock. We went all over that field with metal rakes, shovels, and a water hose trying to soften it up. This year the group I worked with is supposed to be renting a tractor and planting grass, so hopefully that actually gets to happen. Thanks again for your replies. They're all great kids, I miss them a lot.