Little League

My 10 year old son is playing little league baseball. It is fast pitch, steal every base but home, little league ball. This is athletics at its best. Those boys are out there playing their hearts out, goofing off like any 10 year old does, and just having fun. It is more fun when they win but just as fun if the game is close and they end up losing. What is bad is when the game gets lop sided and ends up as a mercy. That has happened this year when our team had a pitching deficiency.

I have been impressed with my son’s performance this year. He is more focused and his skill level has improved greatly. He asked the coach if he could be put in the pitching rotation this year and the coach, being one to experiment, took up his offer. He was on the mound Wednesday night and walked 4 straight batters. The coach pulled him off the mound. I caught the coach’s eye as he walked back to the dug out and mouthed, “Thank you.” It is not about your child playing the position you want, it is about the child learning to play the game. Being removed from a position is life lesson. Maybe he will practice more or realize that pitching is not for him.

Whether they have a winning or a losing season does not matter. There is a tournament at the end of the season and those teams who have mastered playing together will be the one’s that succeed. This coach took my son’s team to a second place win two years ago. He knows how to bring the boys together and is good at teaching them proper baseball skills. This is the part of summer that is fun and provides one of those sacred benefits of being a parent.

Icool

Cobb