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!
