T-Ball Coach

As you might imagine, t-ball season came to a close for both Big Brother and Little Brother a while back, and I've been meaning to write a related post.

Thank you, marbles, for continuing to rattle around up there, so that some coherent words may form.

I didn't write as much about t-ball this year, compared to season's past, although there was plenty of fun and excitement.  Perhaps that was due, in part, to the fact that we were at t-ball 4 days a week.

The boys' highlight was the TROPHY at the end of the season.  And while they had fun playing actual t-ball, by the end there was quite the focus on the trophy.  So much so, that when Big Brother's team announced that there would be trophies, Dad-E had to contact Little Brother's coach to make sure they'd get trophies, too.

Lest we have a full-blown (nuclear) freak-out at home lasting an unspecified number of days.

(Brief digression.  I generally agree with one Adam Corolla about the problems of creating a "Participation Trophy" generation.  But when it's Y t-ball and the boys are 4 and 7, I think it's fine.)

And so it ended up that Big Brother got his trophy and Little Brother ended up with 2 trophies: 1 from the Y, and 1 because the Y didn't tell his coaches about their trophies and they went ahead and ordered some.

The most important thing is that both the boys really seemed to enjoy themselves.

Little Brother did so despite the fact that 3 of his last 4 games were cancelled by a regularly scheduled Monday afternoon thunderstorm.

My two favorite moments of his season were:
1. He's standing on 2nd base.  A ball gets hit up the middle, and instead of running to 3rd he took off into the outfield along with the players from the other team.

2.  He's playing 2nd base.  Starts having a jovial conversation with the player from the other team who's standing on 2nd base, completely oblivious to the grounder that just went trickling past him.

I'm so glad that Big Brother played t-ball again this year, making it his 3rd season.  Initially, he wasn't going to play, but after he remembered that you get cool snacks after the games, his stomach led him to sign up.

My favorite moments of his season actually didn't occur while he was playing:
1.  In the middle of one of Little Brother's games, when Little Brother was playing in the dirt, Big Brother ran onto the field during the game to show him how you should get into "ready position" while watching the batter.  He's such a good coach.

2.  Since the season has been over, Big Brother has - on his own - asked me to play catch with him and practice batting.  He's never done this before.  It's always been at my asking, and typically lasts less than 2 minutes.  My boys do not have to play baseball, but I have very fond memories from my youth/Little League days of playing Pitch-and-Catch with my dad in the front yard.  Big Brother is left handed, and I told him that means he might make a very good pitcher, and so he's been quite interested in working on his throwing skills.  So, as the father of 3 boys, I admit that his interest in playing ball brings, as Yoda would say, "warm feelings to my heart."

3.  At the start of 2nd grade, Big Brother filled out a sheet about his likes favorites.  He made statements like, "When I grow up, I want to be a baseball player.  My favorite thing to do is play baseball.  When I'm home I like to go outside and play baseball.  My favorite sport is BASKETBALL."

Ah, kids.  No shortage of entertainment.  Love those boogers.


See you on Fatherhood Friday,
Busy-Dad-E