This is how it started..

Xander's very first club ball team, the PUMAS. Is ran by Jay Matos. He has always been very good to Xander and our family. Though we left the pumas (at no fault to Jay) we have always stayed in contact with Jay. In fact we are currently playing with CBA now (not we, Xander.. I dont play.. ha). So Jay hosts many events, he held a large try out for who ever wanted to come (not just CBA/ Pumas). Art keeps up on these baseball events, and had us go. 
These men flew all over the country holding these tryouts to hand pick kids of different ages to form teams to represent America to play in a large tournament in the Dominican Republic.

About the LABC World Games

Held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic for the past 34+ years, the LABC World Games is the largest international baseball event of the year. Since 2007, Big League Edge has held the only United States bid into the LABC - forming national teams from 35+ tryout events held across the States. Annually attracting over 5000 athletes nationwide, the LABC is THE premiere baseball opportunity of a lifetime.

ATTEND A USA-LABC NATIONAL TRYOUT

Annually attracting over 5000 athletes nationwide, over 35 national tryout events are held every year across the States. Whether you feel you have the skills to represent or believe you CAN represent, attending USA-LABC National Trials is an experience all in itself. If you cannnot attend, send a video to Info@bigleagueedge.com.

1. Get evaluated by the USA-LABC national team coaching staff of MLB, MiLB, and NCAA baseball coaches.

2. Grow your game by competing for one of the most prestigious baseball opportunities around.

3. Every tryout includes an education process into top level baseball, NCAA recruiting, and analytics training.

4. See if you have what it takes to be considered as one of the best in the Nation.

"Our goal is to find baseball players whom compete. There is a lot of talent in the United States, but the prospect pool decreases significantly when focusing upon baseball smarts. We have joined forces with top travel baseball organizations and facilities all across the Nation, and it has been a tremendous asset to our cause."

We go to this try out. There were so many kids. Xander just had this defeated look on his face when he saw the amount of kids there. He just didnt think he couldnt stand out in this crowd. He just went in to have fun at this point, and let go of the pressure.. and of course when Xander gets into that mind set, he plays the best. He goes up to bat.. and BAM.. hit after hit. He put his catching gear on, and did amazing there too.

Towards the end of this long day, they thanked everyone for coming and said they would call out names for kids to stay back. I completely missed them saying his name, because they called "Alexander Hernandez". Used to hearing "Xander". 

So we stayed after. These were the boys who made the first cut. The coaches left, and would get in contact with us. if we made the final cut.

Then we get this email:

Dear Alexander,

I want to be the first to extend you the honor of being selected to represent the United States of America in the LABC 2017. This prestigious event pits Nation vs. Nation for one week in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on August 2-8, 2017.

Your commitment to the game has brought upon this once in a lifetime opportunity that will not only grow your athletic skills, but you as a young man. Being led by NCAA baseball coaches and former MLB personnel while playing with top prospects from all across the Nation is nothing short of exceptional.

Although we are in the beautiful Caribbean at a white sand beach resort, we are there to win and this comes with both responsibility and perspective.

For more info on the opportunity, CLICK HERE

Go USA!

Jim Parque

President

and the final roster:

He recently met the player Xander Reed, He also plays for CBA. He lives in Arizona. That is the only player his age he has met. There is a younger player going, who he knows: Kamdyn Perry, he plays CBA as well. 

So we leave LATE August 1st. like 11pm late.. ugh. We end up in the Dominican August 2nd later in the day. 

Where are we staying? 

"All inclusive hotel accommodations are at the Be Live Hamaca in Boca Chica, DR.  This all inclusive resort is located on a private white sand beach of the Caribbean Sea. Hotel room(s) provided are upgraded beachfront rooms to ensure quality and comfort"

I'll be here when we arent at the ball fields..

 and here..

Art will probably spend time here..

Possible rooms:

The teams get to practice on one of the MLB fields:

http://mlb.mlb.com/dr/academies.jsp

Diamondbacks, Cubs, White Sox, and Orioles.

They will play on private club fields in Santo Domingo, DR and MLB complex fields.

They are playing against teams from other countries.

The wifi at the hotel isnt great, the lobby is free. so I will document our time in the Dominican daily (if possible) at least on "paper" then update the blog when I am able. Or when we return.

Stay tuned!

Day 1, our flight in

DAY ONE

We flew out at 11:50 something. 

Getting checked in at the airport was awesome. 

Art flys so much that we were able to upgrade. My ticket was picked for an even easier check in. 

I basically by passed security. 

Xander wanted to wear the CBA travel gear, we hadnt gotten our polo yet. So Jay & Cheri let us barrow one of theirs!

 A nice touch, the back of the CBA polo has the American flag. He wore this to the banquets too. I did hear a few parents mention Xander because of the polo.

The flight was nice. We all slept.  They gave us pillows and blankets.

We landed in Atlanta had a 2-3 hour layover. At this point I had no idea what time it was or even the day. I thought it was still thursday..

We we get on the plane (business class). They asked us what we wanted for lunch.. I was so confused. I got the chicken salad. It was good.

(I will always remember this meal. Was my last real meal in a week)

Stopped in Atlanta first:

We landed in the Dominican Republic at about 1. 

We had to go through customs, which wasn't that long (cause we got off the plane first!)
 

After we got our stuff, we got into the airport area where the hotel staff was there to get us. The airport was hot and sticky, flys everywhere. It was pretty dirty. We met some players there, and loaded the bus. 

The bus.. omg. I don't know what Dominicans have to do to get a license to drive but I know that they don't actually take a driving test. People LOVE to honk their horns. Red lights and stop signs are totally optional, and so are lanes. If you want to drive on the dotted line, you can. No rules….

We got in and had our orientation meeting. Got our arms bands, and was able to pick restaurants to eat dinner at for the week.

Our room.. very large room, we have 3 “full” size beds. Has a musty smell. a few cob webs here and there.. But beach view. I wasn't going to complain about the room, because I was already well aware that they were probably crappy, this is a 3rd world country. The staff is great though. 

The beach. White sand. Never in my life have I seen white sand (in person, under my feet). The water clear! I can see all the way to the bottom. 

They have our private beach roped off with netting, so hard for bigger animals to swim in (or thats what I was telling myself.. sharks cant get in). Xander did see a fish though. The chairs at the beach, are old and run down. There is a bar thats extends into the water, with nicer furniture. I haven't seen the pools up close yet. Xander said theres a ton of chlorine in them.

We went to the Buffet for dinner. I was so afraid to eat anything due to research and what I have been told to avoid. They had a salad bar, but I skipped it. They had a fruit bar, but I skipped that as well. The rest of the bars…. I was hesitant due to the amount of flys in the restaurant. I got rice, bread and butter. That was it. They had a pizza station that Art and Xander were at (of course) and that was actually good (I mean better than other stuff). But the line was always long. It was like fire brick pizza. (is that whats its called?). 

We went back to our room and crashed. We had a busy day tomorrow!

Day 2

We got up early. We went across the “street” to the other part of the hotel, for our meeting. Meet our coaches.



While we were waiting we went to the hotel buffet to get breakfast. Art ate french toast and eggs, said it was all good. I had pineapple. which I was told to avoid because its a laxative.. but I braved it. 

This guy was the man who came to Vegas, and picked Xander and the other Vegas boys

 This is Xander with Kamdyn. He plays for CBA in Vegas as well. 

He played on the USA 12u team 

After the meeting we all got on the buses to go to practice. *Side note don't put on lotion here. You don't need it. all it does is attract flys and makes you more sticky*

We load up the buses and head to the Dominican MLB fields

 

We practiced on the twins field. 

These fields are used to house and train Dominicans who get signed, or who may get signed? The practice was all the 13U kids on one field. Xander quickly bonded with some players there. One boy was a kid he just called "Sosa". (Jonathan Sosa-Padilla). His family is originally from Puerto Rico. Lives in Florida.

As I was walking around, I came across this toy...or I thought it was a toy. I got closer and realized it was a dead bug, ants were all over it. I never seen a bug like this, or the this size.

The weather was around the 80s but the humidity was so bad that all you can do is sweat.The stands we sat on were cement. (basically all the ball fields we went to had the same seating). So not to comfortable. All the coaches for the 13u teams were there together, running warm ups and practice drills. Each field had different age groups on them.

We all gathered up (these are some boys Xander quickly bonded with)

Then we headed back to the hotel, to eat and get back on the buses for opening ceremonies.We ate at the snack shack which had great reviews.. The burger tasted old. the Fries are good(by good, I mean I was able to eat them, if you catch them right after the fryer, they are better)

The pina coladas at the bar were good. but not frozen….I thought that they werent strong, in fact I couldnt even taste the rum. (later to find out you have to ask for the rum, the machine has virgin drinks. I figured this out after I saw the boys getting them) 


Next we load up on buses. The bus ride was like 2 hours (supposed to be 45 minute trip)

We drove into town, and I saw some of the worst living conditions.(there are nicer areas, but our rides were usually in the other areas) I now understand why people want to come to America. They glorify america in adds, and they live in terrible conditions. So of course they would want to come to America to live “the dream”. They drive.. I cant even describe in words how they drive. You would have to see it to believe it.

It also seemed like every street was a one way street? 

If your in traffic you get these people come to your window to try to sell you things.. Windshield wipers..? There is a tire or auto shop on every corner. Which they need. A family of 4 can ride on a motorized scooter. no helmets. They don't have a cell phone law. and seatbelt are also optional. 

^^ These were stappled or nailed to a pole? Not sure why. Maybe its how the trash man gets them?^^

We get to this baseball field. its full of teams from all over.

Slide show of pictures from opening Ceremonies:

 

The ceremonies were nice. Was also short. All the families from the other teams were very nice. The Domicans are very welcoming. Only near one field did we experience anything else. And that wasnt from any baseball families and fans.

We get on the bus for another joyful drive back to the hotel. 

We all shower and go to the banquet dinner. All the boys were dressed nice. 

I can probably go the rest of my life not hearing this song again^^. and also Despacito (I mean I already am sick of that song, but I had to hear it a zillion times this week)

They announced the teams (they separated the teams in two) so each team has basically 11 kids. Xander was sad that most of the boys he had already met were on the other team (13U Red). Xander was on 13U Blue.

 

They had these what I thought was statues. One the statue of liberty. This lady who was painted in gold glitter, with the dress and crown on. Then they had a storm trooper.. and someone in full football gear. I don't know why or what they had to do with this tournament. But it was entertaining. They danced and had some kids dancing.

We all had drinks and met the some parents. Ate dinner which was actually okay. Still have yet to each veggies.. & we didn't end up eating until 9pm.

We headed back to the rooms late, and crashed