The tournament is hosted each December by the International School of Bangkok for all age divisions of baseball in surrounding countries. This year, teams traveled from Saudi Arabia, Philippines, Singapore, and of course, the UAE to participate in the tournament. The boys were excited to play some good baseball in Thailand for their long weekend together.
One of the cool things about these traveling baseball teams is that most kids on each team are representing multiple countries. For our Dubai Falcons, each player had their home country flag on one sleeve of their jersey and their team's country flag on the other. For many of our Dubai players like Connor, they were representing the US and the UAE. But we also had players representing Canada and Japan as well. Ah, the expat life!
Kaitlynn was a true sport throughout the long weekend of baseball games during the tournament. She entertained herself with some of the baseball siblings while also practicing her gymnastics and of course, watching the games.
The International School of Bangkok (ISB) did a fantastic job hosting the Christmas Classic tournament. The campus was beautifully green and lush with the tropical climate, and the representing country flags were proudly on display as a reminder of the diversity in the school. The players and families were also treated to a variety of food and treats available for purchase during the games. It was definitely the most multicultural food experience we will likely ever have at a baseball tournament, with Asian sushi, Japanese gyoza (dumplings), Subway sandwiches, Indian shawarma, and of course, traditional scoops of ice cream!
On the last night of the tournament, ISB hosted the players and their families with a catered dinner buffet on campus. The food was great and it was a nice way to spend some quality time together off of the field.
Connor personally didn't have a great tournament because he was nursing a pulled hamstring after his basketball tournament from the prior weekend. But he did manage to get a few great hits and score some runs and RBIs. I never get tired of seeing him on first base next to his first base coach a.k.a. Dad. (For the record, he was SAFE on that throw down to first base in the photo below. Ha!)
At the end of the tournament, our Dubai Falcons narrowly missed the chance for a medal when they lost to the Saudi team, the Arabian Knights, which also had a few of our Dubai friends on the team.
The baseball tournament in Bangkok was a great reminder of why we chose to take on this international opportunity with our kids. Not only does it continue to bring us closer as a family, but the amazing experiences we are having expose all of us to a life we could have never imagined back home in Texas.
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