Hard work and Baseball

I wrote this last year at my son’s baseball practice. I think all those rushing from games to games and practices to practices sometimes made me wish time would speed up so we could slow down.

Here we are this year. With no practices nor games and we are wishing for the other. One thing we missed dearly this year was baseball and volleyball. We will never take those busy evenings for granted again.

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there’s no place like home

I won’t mention names to protect the innocent.

Tonight, I had the honor of taking my 9 year old to baseball practice. Something I hadn’t done all season.
When we got to the park, we were 25 minutes early
He was eager to get out on the field

I assured him we had plenty of time

His coach said for him to just be on the field by 5:30

I was on a phone call
One that I normally wouldn’t make but needed to because a friend was in a situation no mom wants to ever be in
Eventually I got off the phone
It was 5:12

He was halfway out the car
Waiting for me
I got out and got his shoes tied
And we got his bat bag out
Before I could even get my chair

He was off to the field

I was curious and stayed back

I was carrying a chair after all (with no strap)
Helping a friend
And juggling my water

I was so curious
Why was he rushing?
No one was here

We were over 15 minutes early

Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard – Tim Notke

Another kid showed up

I would say another kid like my son

You see
My son isn’t the best on his team
He’s probably not even in the mid group
But he shows up
Every practice
Every game

I watched this other kid

He went up to home plate
And pretended to bat
He would say something like
“And the crowd goes wild”

He would swing over and over again

Eventually he hit what seemed to be an imaginary home run
His bat hit the ground
He ran to first
Then off to second
Rounded second to get to third
His hands were in the air

He was cheering himself on

I watched my son

He was over beside the dugout….. smiling

Boy in Dugout watching the game. — Here is my son is his last year in tee-ball.

Not to make fun
But because he thought it was great

My son had been over doing something similar
Playing with the ball
And pretending he was catching fly balls
A few more kids eventually came

They all started to warm up

What broke my heart

Is when 3 boys
Some of the best on the team
Decided they were going to warm up together
Instead of including the 2 kids that aren’t the best

It broke my heart

But
This post isn’t about that

It’s about dedication

Two of the kids on the team that aren’t the best
Made sure they were the first on the field
They didn’t need other kids to warm up with them
They got to work
What other people can’t see
And maybe don’t know

Is we took 2 years off
Off from everything
(You can read about that here)

The last couple of years has been more than hard for our family
And we didn’t want to spend endless nights at the ballpark

We couldn’t
But now that we are here
We are here.
My son
Practices his heart out
Then does private lessons each week

To close that gap

He has improved
And shows even more improvement than some of the others
He may not be there yet
But he definitely will be one day
Because he has heart
No matter what

The balls he missed
The balls he caught
The ones he hit

Or didn’t

He kept a smile on his face the entire time
And that’s what it’s all about

I’m so proud of him.

He doesn’t have to be perfect
Or have the perfect hit
Or perfect play
He’s perfect the way he is.