The FirstSwing Foundation will be taking a contingent of 40 people — including an Edmonds coach, five players and their families — to Hanoi, Vietnam April 3-11 to bring the game of baseball to Vietnamese and other Southeast Asian youngsters.

Participants from Edmonds include coach Marty Johnson and players Evan Graves, Drake Budnick, Kemper Michael, Bella Perise and Brady Johnson.

This is the sixth year that Executive Director Phil Rognier and his FirstSwing Foundation, a federal 501(c) 3 and Washington state non-profit, have brought its “Baseball Connect” program to Vietnam. FirstSwing will provide interactive coaching clinics, youth camps for ages 4-18, school presentations for elementary through university level students), public baseball exhibitions, a U.S. Embassy media conference, and a number of other educational activities. The venture will also include the building of a playground for an autistic school and visits to the countryside to help families in need.

The FirstSwing “team” includes 23 local youngsters who will help build the playground, instruct at the camps, visit local schools and — for a few days — stay at sponsored homes.

FirstSwing will provide fundamental coaching and player handbooks (translated into Vietnamese) as well as volumes of equipment including balls, bats, gloves, caps, uniforms and other necessary items. An immediate result of the project will be a 2015 US-Vietnam exchange with a team of youngsters from Hanoi coming to Seattle in August to participate in FirstSwing camps, visit Microsoft and Boeing, play in a tourney, and see the Mariners and Aqua Sox play.

Those wanting to assist this effort at any financial level can visit gofund.me/firstswing2015. FirstSwing is also hosting a showing of the documentary, “The Beautiful Game” at the North Bend theater at 1 p.m. March 1.