T Ball

Jack had his first T ball practice tonight. I was nervous about it all day; he appeared to be oblivious. But when it came time to go, about 10 of 6, he was all, "Kate! Let's go! Get your shoes on! We have to go!" And then we all nearly ran down the street to Aunt Cathy's to drop Kate off (for some reason; she could easily have come with us, I'm not coaching), and head to the park. Jack: "I don't want to be late...I don't want to miss any kids' names!" I'm not sure if he was being serious, or repeating something I had said a while ago about something completely unrelated.

It was cold but sunny. We walked into the park for practice -- nice being able to walk -- and saw James, from his class. He and Jack greeted each other with wild happiness, as if they hadn't just gotten out of school together 3 hours earlier. They met the coaches, split up into twos. I waited for the first throw to catch Jack in the face (in practice I had stressed the importance of getting his glove up, even if he didn't catch everything), but the drill was, wisely I think, to just roll the ball back and forth to each other, and practice fielding it.

There was some time spent teaching the kids to "get ready" by crouching; couple of kids looked like they were trying to lay an egg or something. But eventually they got it.

They graduated to throwing the ball to the coach. Jack's first throw was 10 feet to the coach's left, from about 10 feet away. His next few were on target; whew! Yes, maybe I cared a little bit too much.

They split into two groups, one batting and running to first, one fielding the balls. It's only T ball, there was no pitching. But it was awesome. I can't believe how much fun it was to watch. Jack hit one on the ground, one in the air. Ran to first. Then ran back, picking up his bat on the way.

They took the field next, and Jack, I think just because of where he was standing, was pointed to first base. I may have groaned a little. We've really only just started working on catching, after all. Fortunately in the time he was there, none of the throws really were that near him. Once he got the ball on the bounce, and as the runner ran back to home, he ran after her and tagged her. "Ouch," she said. Sigh. Jack, you don't have to tag the runner now. Later, he was moved to third. I think the fielding and throwing will go better for him than the catching it at first.

And that was it. We walked home, and he seemed happy. I told him, Hey, you're a baseball player. "T ball," he said; a stickler for accuracy, he is.

We saw a friend on the way home, guy I play racquetball with, his daughter is in Jack's class. He asked how T ball was; Jack said, "Great!" Then, because the guy's a Yankees fan, Jack said, "Boo Yankees!" Naturally they'd won today, while the Sox are 0-6, so it didn't have much punch to it.

His daughter, Sophia, showed up in the doorway, seeing Jack with his little baseball cap and glove. Big, beaming smile. She likes Jack. She came out and said Hi. "Hi, So-phi-a," Jack said. A combination between nice and being polite.

I read a blog the other day, one of Emily's favorites (2nd, of course), where the Mom talked about the danger of thinking kids are a "second chance" at your own childhood. Good blog. I was never much of a baseball player; smaller than the other kids on the team, plus for some reason (probably afraid of the ball) I didn't swing at the thing. I think I was an OK athlete, but I was never going to be great at it.

I don't really care if Jack is a great baseball player or even a good one. I just want him to have fun and be able to walk home happy, tell a friend it was great and be polite to a little girl who's sweet on him. And afterward, at home, have a cookie.