I missed the Saturday baseball workout on May 21 because we traveled to the Yellow Cliffs and cheered Joanne as she ran over The Wall in the half marathon. The following Tuesday I rode my bike over to school to refill the boy's lunch cards, and I was asked by one of the girls in Bennett's class to read them a story. I did, and when I was finished, I hung out for a few minutes of the remaining day until dismissal.
That is when I was caught by Mrs. Cooper who was waiting on the dismissal of her child as well. She is also a baseball parent, and she informed me about the workout I missed...
"It was so bad, oh my God! Nobody knew what they were doing, there was no organization, everyone was just standing around; you aren't allowed to miss anymore..."
I sighed, cocked my head and half smiled, listening to her rash of complaints about my absence.
While it was unfortunate to hear that Saturday was such a mess, and I made my best show of concern for Mrs. Cooper and her disappointment, it also made me feel a little pride growing inside that they couldn't get it done without me. I must be having an impact. The parents, while not too frequent in their feedback, must feel that what I am doing here is important. Even Mrs. Cooper, with her angry-parent tone I have heard many times before, was saying that my work there was missed on Saturday.
She finished by saying, "I mean really, the coach, well dad who was there, said go in the dugout, and the kid's said, what's a dugout?"
"Okay, okay, I got it, Mrs. Cooper; I'm sorry, I won't miss again." I reached for Bennett's hand, and lifted him onto the back of my bike, wondering the whole time why the know-it-all didn't just step in and take charge if Saturday was going so awry.
Later in the week, as I wrote the practice plans for the next week's session, I thought of Mrs. Cooper's comments. No kid should be out here without some Baseball 101. She's right, we spend a lot of time on throwing and hitting and catching, but they should at least know what the dugout is!
This past Saturday, in about 15 minutes time, we covered, fair, foul, strike, ball, strike zone, hit, walk, error, single, double, triple, home run, inning, top half, bottom half, run, fly out, ground out, line out and strike out. I even threw in RBI, HBP, umpire and of course, dugout.
They ate it up. Some of the kids knew the terms already, some were eager to share others that they knew, but all of the kids were attentive and patient, and they asked a lot of great questions too.
When "baseball class" was over, I sent them off to the fields to play their weekly games, and as I walked around, I had a rising sense of accomplishment as I heard the kids and dads reiterating the terms I had gone over earlier. Baseball 101 was paying off. The kids were playing hard and learning, all at the same time.
I sat down on the turf by the dugout to watch an inning of the T-Ball game and take in this meager success. Just then, a youngster - a six year old T-baller - waiting for his turn to hit, walked out of the dugout and straight towards me holding his glove in his hand, pointing to the words on the thumb of the glove.
"Hey coach, you seem to know a lot about baseball, can you tell me about this player Max Flex who signed my glove?"
I guess this Saturday is Baseball 102.
Paul Koch (@pkoch9999)
Precious! What a great opportunity for you Coach and for the kids! Thank you for sharing.
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