Monday, May 17, 2004
qzen42 feels 
T-Ball Rules
The title of this entry was not chosen lightly. T-Ball Rules is somewhat an intentional oxymoron. My son just played in his 1st T-ball game last Saturday. He did fine. He stopped a grounder @ short left field. He hit the ball out on his 1st try at bat.
When a ball was hit to him on the fly in right field he made the appropriate response...DUCK & COVER!!
T-ball is an interesting introduction to the sport of baseball. Mercifully, our neighborhood league is non-competitive. My son is lucky enough to be on a team where the coach is focused on fun, not competition. Coach Mike exhibits the kind of cool, calm patience necessary for a game where a percentage of the players are more fascinated with the FIELD than what's happening ON the field. Coach Mike is able to line batter after batter up @ the plate, sometimes several times with the same batter. Coach Mike remains calm when he watches the ball pass through the legs of three players. Coach Mike says "Great job!" if the throw from 2nd base winds up within the same zip code as 1st base.
Coaching a T-ball game, in my estimation, is a little like herding cats, or identifying cloud shapes. But one thing I did appreciate was the pure enthusiasm with which the kids play the game. Some are able to hit & throw quite well. Many of them remember to drop the bat when they run to 1st base. There are no free agents. No player strikes. Just pure enactment of an American institution.
When we asked our son whether he liked his 1st T-ball game or not, he said: "Oh, yes!"
"What did you like best about it?"
"I got to stand in the sand!!"
breathe.
evolve.
laugh.
