Two Kids,Two Teams, Two Days, Eight Games, One Trophy
April 26, 2009
I am not sure that I can adequately explain how stressful it is to watch your child play competitive sports.
I write, “Yes! My child hit a homerun!”
But I don’t write that leading up to that homerun hit I had to watch him swing twice and miss, watch three bad pitches go by, and foul off two other ones. All before the home run hit. And by that time I just really need a stiff drink. And possibly a Xanax. And that is only his first at bat.
There are the good pitches that they just WATCH go by. I wonder if they are waiting for an engraved invitation to hit the ball.
And the times where I just have to shout, “Child, this is not GOLF.”
But then, the little team that NEVER practices. The team that just shows up to games and has fun. That team does this:
Undefeated in the tournament. Winning first place.
I ran back and forth between their games today. They each had two games. And the games happened at the exact same time.
This is the photo I took of my 8yr old hitting a homerun today. Keeping with the tradition of missing the shot. At least I was there for this one.
My 8 yr old son’s team, the team that practices every day, was crushed. If there was an adjective stronger than crushed that I could think of I would use that instead.
Updated to add: My 10 yr old son has informed me that in the first photo the ball was outside the plate and that is why he didn’t swing. My 14 yr old son, who was watching this game confirmed this and pointed out that you can see the catcher lunging outside to try and catch the pitch. Ah well, what do I really know.
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I swear we live parallel lives.
April 26th, 2009 at 9:37 pmlife happens as such. when you work freaking hard at/for it, success at times doesn’t smell as good. oh well.
April 26th, 2009 at 9:48 pmCool about the win, sorry about the loss. That’s got to be tough. Maybe your 8yr old could get a trophy for effort?
April 26th, 2009 at 10:45 pmI’m you minus 4 kids and substitute volleyball for baseball. Hi twin!
April 26th, 2009 at 11:20 pmI just love the smiles on all of their faces in the 18-5 picture, and how excited their body language shows they are.
Sounds like the perfect team for your sunny son’s happy personality.
April 27th, 2009 at 12:39 amAh yes. My 12 YO had a terrible day, very unlike him. He was so down and out and last game, guy lays a fastball in for him. 3 run homer. Suddenly all is better in the world and he hits ANOTHER next at bat. Go figure.
April 27th, 2009 at 12:45 amI live my life vicariously through you. The sports, the kids, and that awesome frickin’ camera of yours . . . too cool for words.
April 27th, 2009 at 3:35 amOoh, such shutter speed (or whatever). If I clicked when the ball was in front of him, he’d be sitting in the dugout by the time my camera ACTUALLY took the picture.
Not to ignore the heartbreak of watching your sons play.
April 27th, 2009 at 6:18 amKudos to you for running back and forth between simultaneous games! Played that game last year between baseball and lob ball fields. Good times! Here’s to “Baseball Moms” everywhere! We ROCK!
April 27th, 2009 at 8:34 amI’m thinking “the team that just shows up to games and has fun” has the right mindset about organized sports and the other teams need to follow their lead… .
April 27th, 2009 at 10:21 amI love your posts about baseball. I have three boys and all three are playing this year. My oldest made an allstar team this year and we are going to have two day tournaments. Any advice on how to deal with the younger kids while stuck all the ballpark for two days straight?
April 27th, 2009 at 10:41 amHa! That is so like a loving child. A poor mom can’t even be right in her own blog!
April 27th, 2009 at 12:29 pmSpeaking as someone who had to “ump” my daughter’s softball scrimmage this weekend, it’s VERY hard to tell whether the ball is outside the plate or too low as it drops over the plate and all that other nonsense, especially from a position other than the batter’s or the ump’s standard position right behind the catcher.
So your photo and description are perfectly valid, catcher’s glove position notwithstanding.
And that full count homerun? Should be worth a retelling or three for your son. Good for him, and sorry for the other son’s loss, but he got a homerun in there too!
April 27th, 2009 at 12:31 pmObviously, we know nothing. After all, we are only mothers. How dare we try and pretend that we have life experiences or anything else inside these heads of ours!
April 27th, 2009 at 12:34 pmMan, I wish I could outsource you to foster some athletic zeal in my 4 year-old. I’m so clueless about this stuff I probably would play golf with a baseball bat. Tried to fake it this weekend by offering the child a foam bat and ball but he just hit his sister over the head with it. Alas . . .
April 27th, 2009 at 2:23 pmLove the update at the end! I wouldn’t have known either…
April 27th, 2009 at 3:16 pmWho but you could write about kids playing baseball, and I would LOVE reading it? We’re all about soccer and ping pong this year - and I am NOT writing about it.
April 27th, 2009 at 6:58 pmAt least you got a good shot of the umps butt.
April 27th, 2009 at 10:27 pmmy lord, that blonde one of yours is going to be a HEARTBREAKER. those dimples!
is your season over now, or are you still living at the field?
April 27th, 2009 at 11:22 pmps - I remember reading this great book about competitive figure skating - they had a part were they interviewed the mothers - one of top skaters mothers said she couldn’t stand to hear the competitions - let alone watch them- so she would go down to the bathrooms unders the stands and flush the toilets so she couldn’t even here the applause or the gasp! as someone falls — then run back up and sit there like she had been there all along.
I think bringing a flask is totally acceptable
April 27th, 2009 at 11:39 pmOnce again the moms know nothing
Congrats on the win and sorry to hear that the other team was crushed but as we know they will live to play again and maybe just maybe there will be no crushing
The weather by the way here is HOT
we have been hovering around 90 since Sat and will most likely reach 90 or better today but tomorrow will be in the mid 60’s. Gotta love the temp swings not. Give me a sping in the 70’s please
I was gone over the weekend and read all the posts but wanted to leave one comment. Happy Birthday to the little girl who is not so little any more. your post brought tears of joy to me and it also reminded me as to why i also HATE puppets. Who would have thought you could be made into a hand puppet. But the memories of that will also haunt me forever.
April 28th, 2009 at 10:46 amChris says: I am not sure that I can adequately explain how stressful it is to watch your child play competitive sports.
Your right. You can’t. But I totally understand.
Can I just copy your post and paste it to my blog? We had a tournament also but I am way to tired to download pictures and write a post about it. I really don’t think anyone would notice????
Have a great day,
April 28th, 2009 at 1:01 pmJulie
Sharing in the baseball madness right along with ya.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:50 pmNo, words cannot express the joy/stress/heartache when your child participates in competitive sports. My son participates in tennis. We spent this weekend at a tournament. He got stomped by a boy who is ranked nationally. My son just took up tennis a little over a year ago. Try explaining to a 13 yr old that there is no shame in losing to kid who’s ranked nationally and has a sponsorship by a national product.
May 3rd, 2009 at 9:33 pm