T-Ball

The first night, I thought nobody would show up to play.

The second night, I thought nobody would show up to help coach the score of kids who came the first night!

Parents are watching from the bleachers. A few grandparents, some siblings.

Muttering amongst themselves.  Critiquing?

Or just hoping that their child will hit the ball, be praised with a high five and run in the right direction?

Some are smiling, some are not. 

It's hot.  Really hot.  The wind will not quit. 

Somebody has to go potty.

Do I have an extra glove?

Somebody else has sand in their eyes. 

I hear somebody crying in the outfield.

Can I play 3rd base? 

Somebody's thirsty, can we get a drink? 

(Thank God their was a hose on the spigot)

I decide quickly that if I just pretend the adults aren't there and play ball with the kids, everything will be fine. 

And it is.

The third and fourth nights came and went. Different help came and went.  I was chasing a toddler in one direction and baseballs in the other, taking three-year-olds by the hand and running from home plate to first base, then waiting for the next ball to be hit and repeating the process over and over and over until everybody had a turn. 

Don't forget to go from second to third...no no no...over here, follow my voice!!

And the parents were still watching.

Some were smiling, some were not.... 

Somebody that I recognized stopped me in the post office after week #2 and told me quite exuberantly, "The kids are having so much fun learning T-Ball with you as coach, you've taught them so much!"

It caught me completely by surprise and I thought they were just being nice. 

I hope I said thank you.

I kept it to myself until now.  I had to watch and see for myself if they were really having fun. Or learning anything.  Tonight, when a Kindergartener caught a pop fly, stepping on the base to force an out, and a gleaming smile crossed his face, I thought maybe so....

And you know what?  I'm having fun, too.

We have one game left and our little red team has grown about 3 sizes. To my knowledge, nobody has a hit out on me yet.  At least not professionally.  I even got a compliment from an old hat in the game of coaching T-ball and that made my day.  Probably even more. 

As Yogi Berra once said, "If people don't want to come out to the ball park, nobody's gonna stop 'em." 

And I'm saying, if you do come out, put a smile on your face and let's hear some cheer for the little ones.  With a ball and a glove slung over their shoulder on a bat, they are the happiest creatures around.

And that makes it all worth it!  Heat and all.