I've written before about my son, grandson and baseball but since then we have moved onto a whole different level of 'game' playing. Little League was nothing compared to what is called travel ball.
Almost every weekend there has been a 2 day tournament with 4-5 teams. This past weekend it was bumped up to 4 days and about 8-9 teams. During this last one, Mother Nature deemed us fit to cook and the temperatures were an inhospitable 94 to 99. I went to EVERY game-2 Friday,1 Saturday, 2 Sunday and 2 Monday. Nuts,eh? Yes, but oh, such great fun.
Watching the kids mature, develop and play their hearts out was a treat. My grandson is 9.
Watching my son (at almost 37) mature and develop further was a joy.
Monday was the championship and our boys were ranked #1 and set to play #2. The heartbreaker came during the top of the last inning. Our boys were leading the entire 2 1/2 hour game. The other team caught up and passed us by 2. We had last at bat but it wasn't meant to be.
No tears.
No foot stomping.
No thrown bats.
No bad sportsmanship.
A joy to watch young boys develop character to hopefully become good young men.
A joy to watch my young man continue to develop and mature and make me proud.
I do believe positive sport's experiences can provide an invaluable education for the future.
Now, the behavior of some of the mothers? That's a whole other posting!
It's almost time for me to leave now. Where? Well, our boys played so well and behaved so honorably this week, that they were invited to participate in another 4 day event starting today.....where's my bat and glove?!
Have a great weekend!
FRIDAY UPDATE: In response to my wonderful readers & their comments...my son refuses to play "Daddy Ball" where his son is in and given advantages no matter what. Despite the score, he will pull any kid who is not clicking whether in skill or especially attitude. If anything, he's too hard on his son in attempting fairness....spoken by a true grandma!
Oh, last night's games? The first was against a team who had beaten us handily twice in the past but our kids reigned supreme winning fairly. Second game....intense drama but we won 10-9 in 2 1/2 hours ending at 10:30PM!!!
I happened to be sitting with the head umpire who has been working with kids in baseball for over 40 years. He paid our kids great compliments and said Monday's game was THE best game he ever saw with 9 year olds...nice to hear. He made it a point to watch our game last night because of Monday.
So they are 2-0 against kids a full year+ older. Tonite is in question as it's been raining all day. I'll keep you posted. Go team!
6 comments:
Thank you! It is hard to come in second, but what you are teaching those boys is what life is all about! We can't all be first but we CAN all be nice and be happy for others. We should do our best but it is wrong to get angry and throw a fit! LOL!
Thanks for the good words!
Sounds like lots of fun! When my kids were little, and one of my sons was on a winning team, but sadly not one of those 'it's all about having fun' teams, which led to the pitcher crying his eyes out one big game, and the coach (his father!) would not take him out of the game, despite his crying under pressure, and thus poor pitch after poor pitch. He forced his son to keep playing because he felt no other player could pitch. He was the head coach too. After that season, my son decided he did not want to be on a team if that was how teams played. I do sometimes miss those little league days, but certainly don't miss the adults behaving worse than the kids.
It is nice to hear you have some great parent and players to watch, that makes it so much fun!
As a Bus Driver I have driven countless teams to countless games. I see how the team reacts to how the coach(s)do. I love the coaches who really teach character along with the game. Of course some parents are teaching those values too. How to lose gracefully. But boy, I have actually moved myself away from parents who were so obnoxious during games. Be it Football,Basketball, or Softball. They are embarrassing to us all.
Sounds like you have some really great men in your family Barbara. Cheers to them!!
I LOVE baseball. It's great to hear of the great sportsmanship.
I wish my little boy could play baseball, he suffers from Asthma really bad and can't run. I have looked into other options, so far he loves to swim instead.
I can see your love for the sport in your artwork. What an amazing group of boys. Some of life's biggest lessons are taught early on through team sports. Go team!!!
-Debbie
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