Jordan played baseball this year, something that he didn’t want to do last year. Baseball always had been something that he and Jeff had done together…. so I didn’t push it when he wanted to “stop” for a while. My brother decided to coach his son’s team this year and invited Jordan to be on his team. Jordan was excited.
You have to understand the difference in my son and Jamie’s son…. Blane is tall for his age while Jordan is very small for his age. Both of these “issues” can be difficult on a child. Jordan is self conscious to the point of being a hermit at times. Blane is expected to act older than he is … because he “looks the part”. So, while being 3 months apart in age…. at times they seem a world apart. Each of the boys are great athletes, and each love sports. Both of our boys are going to play allstars. Each of them bring their own unique talents with them.
Anyway, back to the team. We had several little boys that were very young and several that had never played before. What amazes me is how far they can come and how much they can learn in a season. The league is for 9 and 10 year olds. We even had a herd of older siblings who took turns having dugout duty. Our team, the boys and the parents really bonded during this season.
These boys were not the “pick of the litter”. When they got onto the baseball field that first night, everyone knew they bad…. I think even them.
My brother was not discouraged. He bragged on them. He nurtured them. He believed in them. We started our season and we had just enough kids to play, and then we lost one kid. We had one boy whose mother wouldn’t let him play after 7:30 pm. We ended up having to borrow players from other teams just about every game. Our kids were having fun, but I know that they were missing that feeling you get when you win. The coaches encouraged them… sometimes to the point that it was scary. When we lost (which we did often) it was bad… bad to the point where after one game one of the boys ran onto the field after the game and was EXCITED, someone asked why and he replied “because we only lost by 9!”
Every game when we finished, we had a team meeting, and the coaches gave out a game ball. The “bad stuff” was never talked about, but they focused on the good. They praised the effort… even when it turned out bad….. stuff like “man that was great the way you dove for the ball” (even though you landed three feet from it was never talked about).
Even with this “help”, we only won one game. That is actually the only game that I missed all season…. kind of figures doesn’t it.
Going into the last week this is where we stood. Our boys couldn’t hit ANYTHING. Jordan became the king of walking… he is very small and could shrink his strike zone down to nothing. The boys felt like they were going to lose before the game ever started.
This week, we had our last two games. Tuesday night when we got the field the boys seemed a little different somehow. I can’t put my finger on it. It was the first time in forever that we had enough kids of our own to play. They got out onto the field and they didn’t stink. They fought hard, and when the game ended…. WE WON!
You would have thought that we had won the World’s Series. Kids were jumping up and down, parents had tears in their eyes. It was amazing to watch these little guys celebrate. We won by 1 run.
When we got to the field Thursday night for our last game, we knew that it was a tough team and that we really didn’t have a chance. When they took the field, the little guys kind of strutted. They were walking out onto that field as winners. They were catching balls, and actually hitting the ball. In the end, we lost by 2 runs…. but it didn’t matter to these guys because they won one… on their own.
I’m gonna miss this team, the kids and the parents. What we lacked in talent and wins, these kids made up for in heart. Some will say that I am biased, because my brother was the coach…. but he did an amazing job. I have watched him through the years as he worked with kids…. and I have always been amazed.
I just want to say thank you, to all of you that give your time to work with kids. You really do make a huge difference.
