a break in the action
Yes, we did baseball last night and I think it did us all some good, just to get out and breathe a bit. The youngster studied until game time, ate Burger King burgers on the way to the game for dinner, played well and studied a bit more this morning. I'm hoping that'll be enough.
I'm little by little turning into a Little League coach, by default. I'll be the first to say I'm seriously underqualified. I love watching the game, but I don't know near enough to teach it. The thing is, we have two coaches, but one is on the road a lot or something, because he's rarely at the game (or, we've had two and his mug was at neither of them, but he was at most practices last month). Therefore the other guy needs help. There's one other dad that's more qualified than me (and willing to jump in and help), and he has been taking the first base coach responsibilities while the 'real' coach takes third. I've been keeping the dugout managable, making sure the on deck/in the hole guys know they're coming up, and keeping the substitution schedule happening, so guys know when they're playing and where. I can organize and manage a process with the best of them. Last night I was forced into a bigger role. We have a kid who wants to pitch and never had before, so he was going to pitch last night and they needed someone to warm him up and give him a few pointers....while our guys were batting, so we needed a first and third base coach as well. All eyes turned to me and I just said, honestly, "You really don't want me teaching him how to pitch. I can handle first base coach maybe, but you don't need me trying to tell him what he's doing wrong...or right." The result, my first inning as first base coach. Even there I felt like I was way out of my league, even if it is...little.
A side note...for that kid, it was a night of firsts. He did pitch the last two inings, so it was the first time he ever pitched, and he had never hit a home run before, but last night, he had two. No, it wasn't the youngster, but it was a big night for that guy. One he'll probably remember the rest of his life. The youngster, one for three with 2 RBI's and one mental mistake at second (not covering first on a bunt, which is a good example of the kind of stuff I love watch when it's done right, but wouldn't think to teach until I saw it not happening) but over all pretty good there, and the good guys won.
I'm little by little turning into a Little League coach, by default. I'll be the first to say I'm seriously underqualified. I love watching the game, but I don't know near enough to teach it. The thing is, we have two coaches, but one is on the road a lot or something, because he's rarely at the game (or, we've had two and his mug was at neither of them, but he was at most practices last month). Therefore the other guy needs help. There's one other dad that's more qualified than me (and willing to jump in and help), and he has been taking the first base coach responsibilities while the 'real' coach takes third. I've been keeping the dugout managable, making sure the on deck/in the hole guys know they're coming up, and keeping the substitution schedule happening, so guys know when they're playing and where. I can organize and manage a process with the best of them. Last night I was forced into a bigger role. We have a kid who wants to pitch and never had before, so he was going to pitch last night and they needed someone to warm him up and give him a few pointers....while our guys were batting, so we needed a first and third base coach as well. All eyes turned to me and I just said, honestly, "You really don't want me teaching him how to pitch. I can handle first base coach maybe, but you don't need me trying to tell him what he's doing wrong...or right." The result, my first inning as first base coach. Even there I felt like I was way out of my league, even if it is...little.
A side note...for that kid, it was a night of firsts. He did pitch the last two inings, so it was the first time he ever pitched, and he had never hit a home run before, but last night, he had two. No, it wasn't the youngster, but it was a big night for that guy. One he'll probably remember the rest of his life. The youngster, one for three with 2 RBI's and one mental mistake at second (not covering first on a bunt, which is a good example of the kind of stuff I love watch when it's done right, but wouldn't think to teach until I saw it not happening) but over all pretty good there, and the good guys won.
John put this out here at 7:33 AM
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