South Wales kids go to London for PLAY BALL session with MLB London Series

The day finally came for the trip from Cardiff to London for the PLAY BALL event. Coach holly had slept the night before as well as any kid waiting for Christmas does.

The players gathered in the parking lot in anticipation of the bus’ arrival at 7:30. At 7:35, Coach holly started to worry about the lack of bus arrival. At 7:45, Plan B was put in motion. Finally, just after 8am, Ferris Holidays said they could send a coach for 9:20. By 9:40, the trip was underway, and Coach holly had exactly one nerve left. 

After a pickup in Newport, there were 22 kids on the way to London, with 5 volunteers making sure no one was left behind.

The bus arrived at London Stadium at 1:35, and the kids were quickly swept into the PLAY BALL park, and sent to different stations set up for various skill sets. The kids rotated through hitting stations, agility stations, throwing stations, and a game station. The hitting station was by far the most popular, and an immediate contest of “how many balls can we hit on the roof of the bleachers?” kicked off.

Finally, after they’d been around all the stations, the kids were gathered for a photo. After the trouble in getting to London, the PLAY BALL organisers graciously allowed the kids to stay for more. Well, 22 kids is enough for a game, so…

the Wales kids played a game on London Stadium grounds the week of the first London series!

After a full set of hitting by both teams, the bus came back, and the players made their way to the bus, each with a new shirt and a bracelet. But there was more – boxes of bats and balls were waiting for them on the way to the bus!

The journey home was much more on schedule than the morning’s trip.

The new goal, proposed by the kids, is that next year we enter a team on the tournament day. That’s a pretty good aspiration.

Coach holly’s goal is that next year’s bus shows up on time.

UPDATE: you can read what MLB.com wrote here. Yes! We’ve been mentioned on MLB.com!