Pono's road to #USAbaseball Events

Pono Kong has been gifted with such amazing opportunities to play in #USABaseball events since 2021, during a time of uncertainty with the recent pandemic. Pono set goals for himself wanted to represent USA (and Hawai'i), as part of the #nationalteam The opportunity to try out for the #nits in 2021 came and that set up #ponosbaseballjourney to #USABaseball. Pono has recently received news that he made the 13u/14u ADP (Athletic Development Program) (Aug 2-6, 2023) and the USA Baseball NTIS (National Team Identification Series) (Aug 16-20, 2023). The ADP features 50 of the best 13u/14u players from around the country who are given the opportunity to train at the USA Baseball National Training Center in Cary NC. The NTIS gives players who are chosen from tryouts to represent their region (Hawai'i is in the Southwest) at the National Training Complex. From the NTIS tournament, a certain amount of players are selected to advance into their specific age group the following year for USA Baseball (ex. if you are picked from the 11u NTIS in NC you get a "ticket" to the 12u National team training camp). Unfortunately this #roadtocary comes with a #prictag and coming from Hawai'i, the cost is probably doubled from our "mainland" counterparts. Pono has three (3) other brothers and living in #paradise comes with hefty price tags, not to mention feeding our growing sons lol. I have been fundraising and trying my best and I will keep doing that for all my sons. I don't like to do this but the time has come where we are humbly asking for a donation, any amount to help with costs of going to Cary, NC twice in August. If you are able to give, we appreciate it. If you are unable to give at this time, we kindly ask to share this message. Thank you in advance for supporting through monetary and/or positives thoughts:)