baseball begins...in frustration

Last fall, the youngster's baseball league instituted a policy where any parent (or adult, for that matter, but they are all parents) who works with the kids has to have a background check. There have been too many stories in the paper over the years about pedophile coaches and kids being molested and dogs and cats sleeping together and so on, so they decided they had to do something. For that I applaud them. Better safe than sorry, and life is better without lawsuits.

Sometimes though, you would ask for just an ounce of common sense. Fall baseball isn't for everyone. Most of the kids who play in the spring play soccer in the fall, or football, or video games, or something other than baseball. It's only in spring that their thoughts turn to diamonds. The youngster just happens to like baseball, a lot, and would rather play it than soccer or football, though he might want to play football. I just keep telling him he has to eat more if he wants to go there. Being 12 and weighing 68 pounds doesn't get you far in football. Back to the point though. In the fall, coaches and some parents (me included) got checked out and were given badges to say they could work with kids on the field. Now, come spring, there are a lot more coaches and parents and kids and whatnot, because..well...it's spring. The new coaches have filled out their paperwork and supposedly the checks have been done. All that's left is the badges. They asked, "What do we do about the beginning of practices. We don't have badges yet?" "Some Guy" from the league said, "Don't worry. We'll let you practice the first week until we get the badges done."

Well, last night at the beginning of practice, "Some Other Guy" from the league came up and said, "Are you the coaches?"

Our guys said, "Yes we are."

"Where are your badges?"

"We don't have them yet. We didn't coach in the fall. We're supposed to get them next week."

"No badges? No coaching till you get them!"

"What???"

So we try to get in touch with "Some Guy" who said they could coach until they get the badges, but he's unavailable, and "Some Other Guy" is still standing there saying, "No, you can't coach. No, not even from this side of the fence."

Bottom line, the kids played catch for about half an hour and we went home. They're going to try to get it straightened out before Saturday, so maybe we can practice then. In the meantime, those that coached in the fall can have practices. Yes, I have a badge. If I had a lot more knowledge and ability, maybe I could have got the team through the evening, but I'm just not there. A man's got to know his limitations, and baseball coaching is just one of mine.