They Are Building a Baseball Club in the Philippine Jungle. And Filming Everything.
The Bohol Coconuts are more than a sports team. They are a soup kitchen, an Eco-Lodge, a youth center, and now — a YouTube docuseries that the world can watch for free. All they need is your help to get it on air.
The Bohol Coconuts are preparing to launch Bohol Island’s first elite baseball and softball club — and they plan to tell the whole story on YouTube, free, starting June 23. | Bohol Coconuts / bohol-coconuts.com
There is a barangay in central Bohol where the streets are alive with kids — full of energy, full of potential, and hungry for something to call their own.
Organized youth sports are rare on the island. A club built specifically for young people, with a real identity and a real community behind it, is rarer still.
The Bohol Coconuts Baseball and Softball Club is about to change that — one at-bat, one meal, one academic contest at a time.
And when they launch next month, they plan to take the whole story to YouTube.
The “Building the Coconuts” crowdfunding campaign is raising $25,000 to fund Season 1 of a 26-episode docuseries which will release new episodes every week — completely free, for anyone in the world to watch.
The series will have cameras following the founders of Bohol’s first elite baseball and softball academy 24/7 from the very beginning: the search for players, the construction of facilities, the setbacks, the breakthroughs, and the community that makes all of it worth doing.
This is not about baseball. It is about giving this community something to belong to. A team. A practice to show up for. A jersey with their name on it.— Lerma Moore, General Manager & Co-Founder, Bohol Coconuts
Lerma Moore grew up on Bohol. She knows the island, the people, and the gaps that exist in the lives of kids who deserve more opportunities than the ones currently available to them.
When she and her American husband planned the mission of the Coconuts, they were not just thinking about wins and losses. They were thinking about what a club could mean to a family that does not have much.
Baseball Is the Entry Point. Community Is the Point.
Ask Lerma what the club is really about and you will not hear a lot of talk about ERA or batting averages. What you will hear about is the soup kitchen planned for kids and families who need a meal.
You will hear about the academic contests being organized for youth who want to compete with their minds, not just their bodies. You will hear about the social gatherings, the field trips, the educational programming built around giving young people in Bohol access to experiences that broaden their world.
Baseball is the hook — and it is a compelling one. The sport has deep roots in the Philippines dating back more than a century, with thriving programs in Manila and Cebu.
But on Bohol? The diamond is still waiting to be drawn. The Coconuts are about to draw it.
When a kid puts on a uniform for the first time, something changes in them. They stand a little taller. They start showing up. Baseball gives them a reason to come back every day — and when they come back, we can do so much more for them.— Lerma Moore, General Manager, Bohol Coconuts
For many of the kids the Coconuts are building this club for, the odds are steep. Poverty in rural Bohol is not abstract. It shows up in empty stomachs before school, in families who cannot afford a uniform let alone a college application fee, in teenagers with real ability and no visible path forward.
The Coconuts are not just offering baseball. They are offering a way out, and a way up.
For some kids, that path runs through a professional diamond. For others, it runs through a university scholarship or a trade school certification — skills that travel, careers that last.
The club intends to walk every one of those roads alongside them.
The Vision Beyond the Diamond
None of this happens without resources. And none of the resources arrive without people who believe the work is worth funding.
That is what the “Building the Coconuts” campaign is asking for — belief, at whatever level makes sense for you.
Twenty-Six Episodes. One Island. No Script.
“Building the Coconuts” is not going to be a highlight reel. It is not manufactured drama staged for a camera.
The plan is to capture the actual, unscripted story of what happens when two people decide to build something from nothing in one of the Philippines’ most stunning and underserved island provinces.
Every challenge will be real. Every person you will see on screen will be someone from this community, living this story as it happens.
Season 1 is planned across six months, structured in three narrative arcs. The first arc will cover the founding — the daily staff meetings, the search for players, the planning and construction of facilities.
The story builds from there. New episodes will drop every week and every single one will be free to watch on YouTube, permanently. The campaign funds the production. The series will belong to everyone.
We want the whole world to see what Bohol can do. We want kids in this community to see themselves on screen and believe that their story is worth telling. Because it is.— Lerma Moore, General Manager, Bohol Coconuts
The campaign has already drawn 161 backers and counting. Pre-production is moving forward. What the Coconuts need now is the funding to put the cameras in the field, the players in uniforms, and the first episode on YouTube — and see it through all 26.
Five Ways to Be Part of the Story
Every backer gets something real in return — not just a good feeling, but actual access to the series, the team, and the community it is building. Here is what each level of support unlocks.
The Field of Dreams tier is limited to 15 backers — and it is the most personal thing the Coconuts can offer. Your support does not just fund a production. It puts a glove in the hands of a kid who would not otherwise have one, and you will hear from that kid directly.
I want people to know that every peso, every dollar — it goes directly to these kids. This is not a corporation. This is a community. We are all working toward the same thing.— Lerma Moore, General Manager, Bohol Coconuts
If the Coconuts Exceed Their Goal, the Story Gets Bigger
The $25,000 campaign goal covers Season 1 in full — the production equipment, travel across the island, post-production, and the gear and uniforms the players need to compete. But if the Coconuts exceed that goal, the mission expands in ways that reach beyond Cambanac into the wider Bohol community.
These are not distant aspirations. They are the next chapters of the same story the Coconuts are preparing to tell. The club is not waiting for the perfect moment. They are building it — and the camera will be there when it begins.
Future Coconuts. Kids in Cambanac, Bohol — the heart of the community the club is building for. | Bohol Coconuts
Bohol has everything. Beautiful people, an incredible island, kids who work harder than you can imagine. All they need is someone to show up for them first. That is what we are doing. And we are not stopping.— Lerma Moore, General Manager, Bohol Coconuts
The “Building the Coconuts” campaign runs through mid-June and will help the club launch a series that will generate revenue to buy sports equipment and fund club events and activities.
Every dollar contributed goes directly into making the series and building the club — and unlike all-or-nothing crowdfunding models, every dollar received is put to work immediately.
There is no minimum. There is no deadline to miss a contribution. There is only a community in Bohol that is building something remarkable, and an invitation to be part of it from the very beginning.
When the series launches, you will be able to watch it for free. Until then, you can back the campaign for as little as five dollars — or simply share the link with someone who needs to know this story is coming. All three matter more than you might think.
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