August 22, 2024
Every year, I love watching the Little League World Series on ESPN. It’s cliché to say that the tournament represents the best of sports, but it’s true: teams competing for all the right reasons. Watching in 2022, I heard about the Nicaraguan team and the way that their inclusion in the tournament inspired immigrants from all over the United States to travel to Williamsport, PA, to cheer for this group of kids.
It was an extraordinary story about the power of sports. And as I called some of the people who rallied around that team, it only got better and better.
Here’s an excerpt of my story:
If you sat in the stands at Williamsport, Pa.., last week you wouldn’t have heard the typical mid-baseball game chatter. Instead, you would have heard singing.
“¡Nicaragüense por gracia de Dios!”
“I’m Nicaraguan, thanks to God.”
There were about 80 people singing on the first day, over 100 the next, and it just kept growing. They came from New York, Virginia, Maryland. One man flew in overnight from Las Vegas; he didn’t want to miss it. They brought along their own kids, or their friends, or their partners who were born all over the world. Together, they cheered for the underdog team from a small country in Central America, appearing in just their third Little League World Series ever.
Other teams have large cheering sections, populated by parents, grandparents, cousins, and siblings. Families travel from all over the world to watch their boys play in the Little League World Series. It’s a bucket list moment, a family portrait that will live on the living room photo wall for eternity. But due to visa issues with the Nicaraguan government, most of the parents were denied the chance to travel with their sons to Williamsport.
From the entire team, only one father could make the trip.
When Nicaraguan-Americans across the U.S. heard about what had happened, they mobilized. They hopped in cars and planes, booked hotels, and bought tickets. They brought noisemakers and flags, passing them out around the stadium. Nothing was planned, and the pilgrimage to Williamsport wasn’t coordinated. There wasn’t a Facebook group or Twitter call-to-action. This was just a mass of like-minded people with the same goal: make this team think they are the most special in the world.
“When I found out that the kids were going to be here…and only one parent was coming, I was like, ‘I have to go,’” said Yessenia Briceno, who drove four hours from Queens, NY, and met her parents in Williamsport. “I’m a teacher, so I knew I had to support them. These are kids. They need to feel like people are there for them.”